Temperature Distribution and Structural Behavior of Box-Sectional Arch Structures Under Solar Radiation

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The temperature change of large-span steel arch structures normally appears when the structures are exposed to solar radiation, which may result in large displacement and stress. Therefore, there has been growing attention to both temperature distribution and structural response of the structures under the solar radiation. In order to investigate the response of large-span box-sectional steel arch structures formed by rectangular steel tubes, one rectangular steel tube specimen was designed and its temperature was measured under solar radiation. A numerical method was presented according to transient thermal analysis and then verified by experimental results. Both experimental and numerical results showed that the solar radiation had a significant effect on the temperature distribution of rectangular steel tubes. Considering the solar radiation, the temperature of rectangular steel tubes is about 18.1 o C higher than the corresponding ambient air temperature in summer. Moreover, the temperature distribution under solar radiation is extremely nonlinear. In order to study the structural response induced by the temperature change due to the solar radiation, a steel arch structure model is designed and the structural response due to temperature change is also investigated on this model. The results showed that the solar radiation has a remarkable effect on the thermal load response of large-span steel structures. The effect of the solar radiation has to be considered in the design process of large-span steel arch structures.

Non-Uniform Temperature Fields and Effects of Steel Structures: Review and Outlook

“…A large number of studies for practical engineering show that the temperature fields of space structures are significantly non-uniform [30][31][32], and the non-uniformity is positively correlated with the intensity of solar radiation [8]. The temperature effects of space structures, which includes thermal stress and deformation, caused by non-uniform temperature fields are more significant than those under traditional uniform temperature loads, and the high degree of deformation directly affects the structural construction quality [33]. The non-uniform thermal load is obtained on the basis of the simulated temperature field, and the maximum member stress and maximum nodal displacement of the reticulated shell structure of Caofeidian Coal Storage under non-uniform thermal loads are 80.4 mm and 68.9 MPa, which are 42.65% and 55.21% higher than the calculation results when considering atmosphere temperature variation only [34].…”

Experimental Investigation of Thermal Response of Encased Composite Beams

“…Previous researches showed that such thermal loads can cause serious undesirable effects like concrete cracking [1]. Several experimental researches were conducted to evaluate the thermal response of concrete beams [2][3][4][5][6][7][8], while other experimental researches were directed to study these effects on steel beams [9][10][11]. However, the experimental researches that investigate the effect of the atmospheric thermal loads on composite beams are few in the literature [12].…”