| Navigation |
| Geo-Dome Home |
| Forum Home |
| View All Threads |
| New thread |
| Member login |
| Title: | Wind & snow load | |
| Posted on: | 2/22/2010 11:37:16 AM | |
| Category | Questions and answers | |
| Author | htr | |
| Status | Open | |
| Views | 5584 | |
| Replies | (2) | |
| Hi, I''m interested in constructing a 5.1m 3v dome here in Central Otago New Zealand. hub & strut construction - hub 80mm PVC UV stable waste pipe, 70x40 pine struts with 65x5mm hanger bolts [ wood to steel dowels] connecting hub to strut.Covering either 8mm Multiwall polycarbonate of heavy duty Agphane 200 micron plastic cover [it''s UV stable] I''ve approached the local building authority who know little of dome construction. They asked me for information regarding the wind loading capability for a dome of the size I wish to construct and what its weight / load bearing capability would be [ie snow loading]. Can any one advise? HTR | |
 |
|
| [ Comments 2 ] |
| posted by admin | 06/03/2010 21:17:45 |
| It's quite complex to work out wind and snow loads on dome structures, most structural engineers can't get there heads round them so acquiring structural load information can be difficult. I think that you will have problems using PVC waste pipe for hubs as it's not designed to be load bearing. What you need to do is work out the stresses acting on your dome and the point at which they will break, maybe the building authority would accept some figures you have worked out yourself. You need to first get some basic data like: Total weight of the dome, how many hubs, forces generated by wind/snow etc. Then do some calculations to get a rough idea of what the dome will stand before it breaks. You could also build a test portion of dome and pile weights on it until it breaks to confirm if your calculations are anywhere close or not. If I come across any useful data I'll certainly put it on the site. Good luck with this anyway. | |
|
|
|
| posted by htr | 07/03/2010 08:38:29 |
| Thank you for that. Yes I've resolved to try a scale model first. Hubs will be 32 mm waste pipe and the remainder scaled to suit. More info latter. Might be my spring project so don't hold your breath waiting. HTR | |
|
|
|
Login to add resources
Copyright © 2013 Geo-Dome.co.uk. All Rights Reserved.