Contact interactions between soil and a corrugated metal sheet in soil-shell structures under construction

Abstract During the construction of soil-shell objects, large deformations of the shell, which is made of corrugated metal sheet, occur. This enables geodetic techniques to be used when monitoring such objects. On this basis, displacements of selected points of the shell are determined, and it is then possible to obtain bending moments, as shown in this paper. Based on measurements using strain gauges in the circumferential band of the shell, internal forces in steel are estimated. The algorithm given in the paper enables the impact of soil on the shell in the examined objects to be analysed. The proposed method of analysing forces in the contact layer becomes especially useful when the static conditions of the model of a shell, which is considered as a bar submerged unilaterally in the soil medium, are met. The paper indicates the possibility of using both measuring techniques. Calculations include a smaller share of axial forces on the contact impact during the laying phase of the backfill. The paper provides examples of the analysis of built shells and record-breaking objects, with an assessment of the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm. Good mapping of contact forces, which were calculated on the basis of bending moments, was indicated even when there was not a dense grid of measuring points. An important advantage of the algorithm involves reduction of the circumferential band that is separated from the soil-shell system to the bar, which is an element resulting from the division of the structure into subsystems.