SHELL STRUCTURES

• A SHELL STRUCTURE IS A THIN CURVED

MEMBRANE OR SLAB USUALLY OF REINFORCED
CONCRETE THAT FUNCTIONS BOTH AS
STRUCTURE AND COVERING.
• THE TERM “SHELL” IS USED TO DESCRIBE THE
STRUCTURES WHICH POSSESS STRENGTH AND
RIGIDITY DUE TO ITS THIN, NATURAL AND
CURVED FORM SUCH AS SHELL OF EGG, A NUT,
HUMAN SKULL, AND SHELL OF TORTISE.
• LATTICE AND PORTAL FRAME BUILDINGS
CONSIST OF A STRUCTURAL FRAME WHICH
SUPPORTS SLAB, ROOF AND WALL COVERING.
THIS FRAME SERVES PURELY AS THE
STRUCTURAL SUPPORT AND PROVIDES
PROTECTION AGAINST WEATHER.
• THE ROOF AND WALL COVERING ADD NOTHING
TO THE STRENGTH AND THE RIGIDITY OF
STRUCTURAL FRAME.
SINGLE OR DOUBLE CURVATURE SHELLS:
• SINGLE CURVATURE SHELL: ARE
CURVED ON ONE LINEAR AXIS AND
ARE A PART OF A CYLINDER OR CONE CONOID
IN THE FORM OF BARREL VAULTS
AND CONOID SHELLS. BARREL VAULT
• DOUBLE CURVATURE SHELL: ARE
EITHER PART OF A SPHERE, OR A
HYPERBOLOID OF REVOLUTION.
• THE TERMS SINGLE CURVATURE AND
DOUBLE CURVATURE DO NOT
PROVIDE A PRECISE GEOMETRIC
DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE FORM HYPERBOLOID
OF SHELL BECAUSE A BARREL VAULT PARABOLOID DOME
IS SINGLE CURVATURE AND SO IS A
DOME.
• THE TERMS SINGLE AND DOUBLE
CURVATURE ARE USED TO
DISTINGUISH THE COMPARITIVE
RIGIDITY OF THE TWO FORMS AND
COMPLEXITY OF CENTERING
NECESSARY TO CONSTRUCT THE
SHELL FORM.
 SURFACES OF REVOLUTION:

SURFACES OF REVOLUTION ARE GENERATED BY

THE REVOLUTION OF A PLANE CURVE, CALLED
THE MERIDIONAL CURVE,
• ABOUT AN AXIS, CALLED THE AXIS OF
REVOLUTION.
• IN THE SPECIAL CASE OF CYLINDRICAL AND
CONICAL SURFACES, THE MERIDIONAL CURVE
CONSISTS OF A LINE SEGMENT.
• E.G. : CYLINDERS, CONES,
• SPHERICAL OR ELLIPTICAL DOMES,
• HYPERBOLOIDS OF REVOLUTION, TOROIDS.
• RULED SURFACES ARE GENERATED BY SLIDING
EACH END OF A STRAIGHT LINE ON THEIR
OWN GENERATING CURVE.
• THESE LINES ARE NOT NECESSARILY AT RIGHT
CONOID, GENERATED BY STRAIGHT
ANGLE TO THE PLANES CONTAINING THE END LINE TRAVELING ALONG ANOTHER
CURVES. STRAIGHT LINE AT ONE END AND
CURVED LINE AT OTHER END. COOLING TOWER, GENERATED BY
JOEDICKE 1963 STRAIGHT LINES GOULD 1988
FORMS OF CURVATURE
SPACES OF TRANSLATION :

• SURFACES OF TRANSLATION ARE

GENERATED BY SLIDING A PLANE
CURVE ALONG ANOTHER PLANE
CURVE, WHILE KEEPING THE
ORIENTATION OF THE SLIDING
CURVE CONSTANT.
• THE LATTER CURVE, ON WHICH
THE ORIGINAL CURVE SLIDES, IS
CALLED THE GENERATOR OF THE
SURFACE.
• IN THE SPECIAL CASE IN WHICH
THE GENERATOR IS A STRAIGHT
LINE, THE RESULTING SURFACE IS
CALLED A CYLINDRICAL SURFACE.
• IF TWO PARABOLAS ARE SIMILAR,
THE SURFACE BECOMES A
SURFACE OF REVOLUTION,
CALLED PARABOLOID OF
REVOLUTION.
TYPES OF SHELL STRUCTURE
FOLDED PLATE SHELLS:
• THE DISTINGUISHING FEATURE OF THE
FOLDED PLATE IS THE EASE IN FORMING
PLANE SURFACES. A FOLDED PLATE MAY BE
FORMED FOR ABOUT THE SAME COST AS A
HORIZONTAL SLAB AND HAS MUCH LESS
STEEL AND CONCRETE FOR THE SAME
SPANS.
• BARREL VAULTS ARE PERHAPS THE MOST
USEFUL OF THE SHELL STRUCTURES
BECAUSE THEY CAN SPAN UPT O 150 FEET
WITH A MINIMUM OF MATERIAL. THEY ARE
VERY EFFICIENT STRUCTURES BECAUSE THE
USE THE ARCH FORM TO REDUCE STRESSES
AND THICKNESSES IN THE TRANSVERSE
DIRECTION.
 ADVANTAGES AND DIS-ADVANTAGES OF SHELLS:
ADVANTAGES:
• 1. VERY LIGHT FORM OF CONSTRUCTION. TO SPAN 30.0 M SHELL THICKNESS REQUIRED IS 60MM
• 2. DEAD LOAD CAN BE REDUCED ECONOMIZING FOUNDATION AND SUPPORTING SYSTEM
• 3. THEY FURTHER TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE FACT THAT ARCH SHAPES CAN SPAN LONGER
• 4. FLAT SHAPES BY CHOOSING CERTAIN ARCHED SHAPES
• 5. ESTHETICALLY IT LOOKS GOOD OVER OTHER FORMS OF CONSTRUCTION.

DIS-ADVANTAGES:
• 1. SHUTTERING PROBLEM
• 2. GREATER ACCURACY IN FORMWORK IS REQUIRED
• 3. GOOD LABOUR AND SUPERVISION NECESSARY
• 4. RISE OF ROOF MAY BE A DISADVANTAGE
 CASE STUDY- SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE:
SYSTEM SPANS AND EFFECTIVE SPANS:
• THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE SPANS UP TO 164 FEET.
• THE ARCHES ARE SUPPORTED BY OVER 350KM OF TENSIONED
STEEL CABLE.
• THE SHELL THICKNESS GOES FROM 3 TO 4 INCHES.
• ALL SHELLS WEIGHT A TOTAL OF 15 TONS.
• THIS INVOLVED LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS AND BUILDING A
PODIUM 82 FEET (25 M) ABOVE SEA LEVEL. MORE THAN 39,239
CUBIC FEET (30,000 M3) OF ROCK AND SOIL WERE REMOVED BY
EXCAVATORS.
• THE FOUNDATION WAS BUILT ATOP OF A LARGE ROCK THAT SAT
IN SYDNEY HARBOUR. THE SECOND STAGE SAW THE BUILDING OF
THE SHELLS, THE PODIUM STRUCTURE, THE STAGE TOWER, AND
THE NECESSARY MACHINERY.
• CABLE BEAMS WERE BUILT AND REINFORCED BY STEEL CABLES TO
RELEASE THE STRESS OF THE WEIGHT. THE STRENGTH OF THE
CABLES WAS TESTED BY LOADING ADDITIONAL WEIGHTS. WHEN
THE BUILDERS WERE SATISFIED THAT THE CABLES WOULD
SUPPORT, THE BEAMS WERE MADE EXTENDABLE BY OTHER
BEAMS.
• THE "SHELLS" WERE PERCEIVED AS A SERIES OF PARABOLAS
SUPPORTED BY PRECAST CONCRETE RIBS.
• THE FORMWORK FOR USING IN-SITU CONCRETE WOULD HAVE
BEEN PROHIBITIVELY EXPENSIVE, BUT, BECAUSE THERE WAS NO
REPETITION IN ANY OF THE ROOF FORMS, THE CONSTRUCTION OF
PRE-CAST CONCRETE FOR EACH INDIVIDUAL SECTION WOULD
POSSIBLY HAVE BEEN EVEN MORE EXPENSIVE.
• THE DESIGN TEAM WENT THROUGH AT LEAST 12 ITERATIONS OF
THE FORM OF THE SHELLS TRYING TO FIND AN ECONOMICALLY
ACCEPTABLE FORM (INCLUDING SCHEMES WITH PARABOLAS,
CIRCULAR RIBS AND ELLIPSOIDS) BEFORE A WORKABLE SOLUTION
WAS COMPLETED.
• IN MID-1961, THE DESIGN TEAM FOUND A SOLUTION TO THE
PROBLEM: THE SHELLS ALL BEING CREATED AS SECTIONS FROM A
SPHERE.
• THIS SOLUTION ALLOWS ARCHES OF VARYING LENGTH TO BE CAST
IN A COMMON MOULD, AND A NUMBER OF ARCH SEGMENTS OF
COMMON LENGTH TO BE PLACED ADJACENT TO ONE ANOTHER,
TO FORM A SPHERICAL SECTION.
CONSTRUCTION

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE

STEEL REINFORCING

SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE ON

COMPLETION OF PODIUM 2
2. SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE ON
COMPLETION OF PODIUM 1
 FINISHES:
• ACTUAL CLAY, BRICK, AND STONE VENEER
• GRANITE OR MARBLE CLADDING
• EXPOSED AGGREGATE FINISH
• SAND BLASTED FINISH
• FORM LINER PATTERNS
• THE SYDNEY OPERA HOUSE USES WHITE GLAZED GRANITE TILES.
• 1,056,000 TILES WERE USED TO COVER THE MASSIVE STRUCTURE.