Investigation of partial collapse of a cylindrical roof

Cylindrical roofs constructed by continues cold forming, mostly use of skin structures, must be precisely analyzed not only for symmetric buckling but also for anti-symmetric buckling as well during displacement and stress calculations. The overall buckling mode is symmetric in the circumferential direction when the shell is shallow but becomes asymmetrical when the shell becomes deeper. On the otherhand, due to anti-symmetric loading (mostly due to snow or sand accumulation), anti-symmetric buckling failure occurs. In this study, partial collapse of the roof system of a two bay one-storey industrial building is investigated by means of finite element analyses which consider material and geometric nonlinearities. It was clearly observed that failure of end plates that connect the roof to supports is the main cause of the collapse.