In-plane buckling of prismatic funicular arches with shear deformations

The in-plane buckling behavior of funicular arches is investigated numerically in this paper. A finite strain Timoshenko beam-type formulation that incorporates shear deformations is developed for generic funicular arches. The elastic constitutive relationships for the internal beam actions are based on a hyperelastic constitutive model, and the funicular arch equilibrium equations are derived. The problems of a submerged arch under hydrostatic pressure, a parabolic arch under gravity load and a catenary arch loaded by overburden are investigated. Buckling solutions are derived for the parabolic and catenary arch. Subsequent investigation addresses the effects of axial deformation prior to buckling and shear deformation during buckling. An approximate buckling solution is then obtained based on the maximum axial force in the arch. The obtained buckling solutions are compared with the numerical solutions of Dinnik (Stability of arches, 1946) 1] and the finite element package ANSYS. The effects of shear deformation are also evaluated.