SHELL ROOFS

 A Shell roof may be defined as a structural curved skin covering a given plan
shape and area, the main points being:
a) Primarily a structural element
b) Basic strength of any particular shell inherent in its shape.
c) Quantity of material required to cover a given plan shape and are is
generally less than other forms of roofing.
 The basic materials which can be used in the formation of a Shell roof are
concrete, timber and steel.
 Concrete Shell roof consist of a thin curved reinforced membrane cast in
situ over timber formwork whereas timber shells are usually formed from
carefully designed laminated timber and steel are generally formed using a
single layer grid.
 concrete Shell roof although popular are very often costly to construct
since the formwork required is purpose made from timber and which is in
itself a Shell roof and has a little chance of being re-used to enable the cost
of the formwork to be apportioned over several contracts.
 A wide variety of Shell roof shapes and types can be designed and
constructed but they can be classified under three headings:
i. Domes
ii. Vaults
iii. Saddle shapes and Conoids
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 a) Domes
 In their simplest form these consist of a half sphere but domes based on
the ellipse, parabola and hyperbola are also possible.
 Domes have been constructed by architects and builders over the centuries
using individually shaped wedge blocks or traditional timber roof
construction techniques.
 It is therefore the method of construction together with the materials
employed rather than the geometrical setting out which has changed over
the years.
 Domes are double curvature shells which can be rotational and are formed
by a curved line rotating around a vertical axis or they can be translational
domes which are formed by a curved line moving over another curved line -
see Figs V.9 and 10.
 Pendetive domes are formed by inscribing within the base circle a polygon
and cutting vertical planes through the true hemispherical dome.
 Any dome Shell roof will tend to flatten due to the loading and this
tendency must be resisted by stiffening beams or similar to all the cut
edges.
 As a general guide domes which rise in excess of one-sixth of their diameter
will require a ring beam.
 Timber domes like their counter-parts are usually constructed on a single
layer grid system and covered with a suitable thin skin membrane.
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 b) Vaults
 These are shell of single curvature and are commonly called barrel vaults.
 A barrel vault is basically a continuous arch or tunnel and was first used by
the Romans and later by the Norman builders in United Kingdom.
 Geometrically a barrel vault is a cut half cylinder which presents no
particular setting out problems.
 When two barrel vaults intersect the lines of intersection are called groins.
 Barrel vaults like domes tend to flatten unless adequately restrained and in
vaults restraint will be required at the ends in the form of a diaphragm and
along the edges- see Fig. V. 11.
 From a design point of view barrel vaults act as a beam with the length
being considered as the span which if it is longer than its width or chord
distance is called a long span barrel vault, or conversely if the span is
shorter than the chord distance is termed a short barrel vault.
 Short barrel vaults with their relatively large chord distances and
consequently large radii to their inner and outer curved surfaces may
require stiffening ribs to overcome the tendency to buckle.
 The extra stresses caused by the introduction of these stiffeners or ribs will
necessitate the inclusion of extra reinforcement at the rib position,
alternatively the shell could be thickened locally about the rib for distance
of about one-fifth of the rib spacing- see Figs. V. 11.
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  In large barrel vault shell roofs allowances must be made for thermal
expansion and this usually takes the form of continuous expansion joints as
shown in Fig. V. 12 spaced at 30000 centres along the length.
 This will in fact create a series of individually supported abutting roofs
weather sealed together.
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 c) Conoid shells
 These are similar to barrel vaults but are double curvature shells as
opposed to the single curvature of the barrel vault.

 Two basic geometrical forms are encountered:

i. A straight line is moved along a curved line at one end of a straight

line at the other end. The resultant shape being cut to the required
length.

ii. A straight line is moved along a curved line at one end and a different
curved line at the other end.

 Typical shapes are shown in Fig. V.13.

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 d) Hyperbolic paraboloids
 These a double-curvature saddle-shaped shells formed geometrically by
moving a vertical parabola over another vertical parabola set at right angles
to the moving parabola-see Fig, V.14.

 The saddle shape created is termed a Hyperbolic paraboloid because

horizontal sections taken through the roof will give a hyperbolic outline and
vertical sections will result in a parabolic outline.

 To obtain a more practical shape than the true saddle the usual shape is
that of a warped parallelogram or straight line limited hyperbolic
paraboloid which is formed by raising or lowering one or more corners of a
square as shown in Figs V.14 and 15.

 By virtue of its shape this form of shell roof has a greater resistance to
buckling than dome shapes.

 Hyperbolic paraboloid shells can be used singly or in conjunction with one

another to cover any particular plan shape or size.

 If the rise- that is the difference between the high and low points of the
roof – is small the result will be a hyperbolic paraboloid of low curvature
acting structurally like a plate which will have to be relatively thick to
provide the necessary resistance to deflection.

 To obtain full advantage of the inbuilt strength of the shape the rise to
diagonal span ratio should not be less than 1:15; indeed the higher the rise
the greater will be the strength and the shell can be thinner.
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 By adopting a suitable rise-span ratio it is possible to construct concrete

shells with diagonal spans of up to 35000 with a shell thickness of only
50mm.

 Timber hyperbolic paraboloid roofs can also be constructed using

laminated edge beams with three layers of 20mm thick tongued and
grooved boards.
  The top and bottom layer of boards are laid parallel to the edges but at
right angles to one another and the middle layer is laid diagonally.

 This is to overcome the problems of having to twist the boards across their
width and at the same time bend them in their length.
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 Construction of shell roofs
 Concrete shell roofs are constructed on traditional formwork adequately
supported to take the loads.

 When casting barrel vaults it is very often convenient to have a movable

form consisting of birdcage scaffolding supporting curved steel ribs to carry
the curved plywood or steel forms.

 Top formwork is not usually required unless the angle of pitch is greater
than 45o.

 Reinforcement usually consist of steel fabric and bars of small diameter, the
bottom layer or reinforcement being welded steel fabric followed by the
small diameter trajectory bars following the stress curves set out on the
formwork and finally a top layer of steel fabric.

 The whole reinforcement arrangement is wired together and spacer blocks

of precast concrete or plastic are fixed to maintain the required cover of
concrete.

 The concrete is usually specified as a mix with characteristic strength of 25

or 30 N /mm2.

 Preferably the concrete should be placed in one operation in 1m wide strips

commencing at one end and running from edge beam to edge beam over
the crown of the roof.

 A wet mix should be placed around the reinforcement followed by a floated

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drier mix.

 Thermal insulation can be provided by laying insulating blocks over the

completed shell prior to laying the roof covering.
 FOLDED PLATE ROOFS
 This is another form of stressed skin roof and is sometimes called folded
slab construction.

 The basic design concept is to bend or fold a flat slab so that the roof will
behave as a beam spanning in the direction of the fold.

 To create an economic roof the overall depth of the roof should be related
to span and width so that is between 1/10 and 1/15 of the span or 1/10of
the width, whichever is the greater.

 The fold may take the form of a pitched roof, monitor roof or a multi-fold
roof in single or multiple bays with up stand or down stand diaphragms at
the supports to collect and distribute the slab loading - see Fig.V.16.

 Formwork may be required to both top and bottom faces of the slabs.

 To enable concrete to be introduced and vibrated openings or ‘windows’

can be left in the upper surface formwork and these will be filled in with
slip-in pieces after the concrete has been placed and vibrated.
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 TENSION ROOF STRUCTURES
 Suspended or tensioned roof structures can be used to form permanent or
temporary roofs and are generally a system or network of cables, or in the
temporally form they could be pneumatic tubes, which are used to support
roof covering materials of the traditional form of continuous sheet
membranes.

 With this form of roof the only direct stresses which are encountered are
tensile stresses and this apart from aesthetic consideration is their main
advantage.

 Due to their shape and lightness tension roof structures can sometimes
present design problems in the context of negative wind pressure and this
is normally overcome by having a second system of curved cables at right
angles to the main suspension cables.

 This will in effect pre-stress the main suspension cables.

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