CHAPTER 10 - Experimental Investigation of Shells

Abstract

This chapter focuses on experimental investigation of shells. The investigation of thin shells has been purely on a theoretical basis, and it is now of importance to try to establish the validity of the theories propounded by comparing their correlation with experimental results. Tests on full-scale shells are of necessity few as the loading of such structures is difficult and costly. Experimental investigators of shells, therefore, usually resort to small-scale tests and the investigations described in this chapter are of this type. In attempting to verify these theories by experimental tests, it would be natural to construct the model shells using such perfectly elastic materials. This investigation was one of a series of experiments carried out on single feather-edge shells made of sand cement mortar, reinforced with mild steel wire. The material as such is, thus, representative of reinforced concrete being imperfectly elastic. However, in the low range of load applied to this shell, the cement mortar is reasonably linearly elastic.