Numerical Modelling of Engineering Soil Shell Structure

Abstract

NTRODUCTIONSoil steel structures are engineering objects used as bridge structures: flyovers, footbridges, culverts, tunnels, underpasses, access roads and passages for wild animals. Many of them are used as municipal facilities, usually they are closed ducts (pipes) or they can be used for transport, e.g. conveyor casings. They are built-in and have a form of a shell covered with specially condensed soil. They are designed in such a way that they are durable thanks to the beneficial cooperation between the main elements of Abstract:The purpose of this article is to provide examples of models used in ground and shell design in engineering facilities made using corrugated sheets, such as roads and rail. Despite the small size of culverts designed for transport use, sophisticated computational models are applied to faithfully reproduce them. To calculate internal forces and displacements resulting from the utility load, spatial 3D models with a very large number of elements are used. The paper discusses simplified 2D models allowing to accurately represent an object and its operation. The focus is on discussing three ways of discretization of a shell in the form of: corrugated metal, rod mesh and orthotropic shell.