Dynamic response of rectangular membrane excited by heavy rainfall

Abstract

This paper investigates the dynamic response problem of an orthotropic rectangular membrane structure excited by the heavy rainfall. Firstly, a determined model is proposed to express the load of heavy rainfall imposed on the membrane structure. Then, the geometrically nonlinear governing motion equations of the membrane structure are established based on the von Kármán’s theory, and solved by the perturbation method. Consequently, the approximated analytical solution of displacement can be obtained. Secondly, the experimental study of this dynamic response problem is carried out. The theoretical model is validated by the experimental data based on the developed artificial simulated rainfall impact system. Moreover, the effects of adding weight from the accumulated rain on structural characteristics are analyzed. Additionally, the parameter discussions varying with rainfall intensity, material properties, pre-tension, structural size, and inclined angle are made in detail. This work provides a reliable theoretical model and experimental system to study the dynamic response problem of membrane structures excited by heavy rainfall and the guidance for the dynamic design, construction and maintenance of membrane structures in practical engineering as well.

Experimental and numerical investigation on dynamic responses of the umbrella membrane structure excited by heavy rainfall

“…According to the law of conservation of momentum, the load of raindrop depends on the velocity and mass of the raindrop (Zheng et al, 2019). The static pressure of rainfall can be briefly calculated by a simple modelwhere QD is the equivalent static pressure (N/m 2 ) of a single raindrop with D diameter (mm), m is the mass (kg) of a single raindrop, v is the raindrop velocity (m/s), A=πD2/4 is contact area of a single raindrop (mm 2 ), and t is the time of a raindrop acting on the membrane.…”

“…The technical parameters of the artificial rainfall system, which is provided by the manufacturer, are shown in Table 2. A gauze is applied to expanding the effective rainfall area and make raindrops more consistent with natural rainfall (Zheng et al, 2019). The height of the rainfall device is set to be 7.5 m, which can satisfy the raindrop terminal velocity and effectively avoid the atomization of raindrops at the end (Yu et al, 2015;Zhao et al, 2014).…”

“…Zhang et al (2018) and Li et al (2018) studied the stochastic vibration of the planar membrane under random impact load. Zheng et al (2019) investigated dynamic response of the planar rectangular membrane structure under rainfall. The research results indicated that accumulated rain could cause significantly large deformation and nonlinear vibration.…”

Hailstone-induced dynamic responses of pretensioned umbrella membrane structure

“…However, membrane structure is a flexible structure with light weight, large span, and small stiffness, which is very sensitive to external loads, such as wind, rain, and hailstone (Hincz and Gamboa-Marrufo, 2016). Thus, membrane structure is prone to large vibration under impact loading, which goes against to the structural stability and even lead to structural failures (Liu et al, 2019a; Zhang et al, 2019; Zheng et al, 2019). The analysis of many engineering accidents shows the relaxation of membrane surface caused by lateral load (e.g.…”

“…Li et al (2017, 2018) studied stochastic vibration of planar rectangular orthotropic membrane structure under impact load theoretically and experimentally. Zheng et al (2019) investigated the dynamic response of planar rectangular orthotropic membrane structure excited by the heavy rainfall by analytical and experimental methods.…”