Global stability analysis of a cable-stiffened glulam-latticed shell

Abstract

Compared to metallic materials, wood is environmentally friendly with low carbon emissions, making it increasingly popular in engineering applications such as glulam-latticed shells. However, the strength and elastic modulus of glulam are typically less than those of metallic materials, which leads to a lower stability performance of glulam-latticed shells than that of metal-latticed shells. To enhance the stiffness and stability of glulam-latticed shells, this study introduces aluminium-glulam gusset joints and cable-stiffened systems into a glulam-latticed shell and investigates the global stability performance of this new structural system. The stiffness characteristics of the newly developed aluminium–glulam gusset joints are first discussed. Subsequently, a finite element model considering the joint stiffness characteristics is built and linear and nonlinear buckling analyses are conducted. Based on the finite element analysis results, a parametric analysis is conducted to determine the factors influencing the stability performance of the cable-stiffened glulam-latticed shell, and approximate calculation formulas for the bearing capacity of the cable-stiffened glulam-latticed shell are proposed. The results confirm that the cable-stiffened system improves the stability and bearing capacity of the glulam-latticed shell. Moreover, the proposed approximate calculation formula for the bearing capacity of this type of structure is confirmed to be effective in predicting its bearing capacity.