A new approach to the design of suspension roof systems

Abstract

Over the last century, the suspension roofs design has progressed until the advent of the shells theory in the first half of the 20th century, due to a rapid pace in technological advancement. A paradigm shift emerged with the new trend in structural design towards a new design process that cooperatively integrated economy, efficiency, and elegance. Different approaches in computation, design and reliability assessment of roof structures are discussed in this work to identify the key conditions that have significantly contributed to modern suspension roof design principles. A new algorithm to assess the reliability of suspension roofs at the design stage is proposed and a novel method for computational design and reliability evaluation of suspension roofs is presented in this paper. This method enables to solve some topical issues, such as assignment of initial geometric roof parameters and relevant problems, like numerical determination of reliability indices for statistically non-determined systems of suspension roofs with a big cut on elliptical plan.