FROM ROOFS TO RESILIENT FOUNDATIONS: ELEVATING THIN-SHELL STRUCTURES FOR DISASTER MITIGATION

Abstract

Thin shells are well known for their structural advantages such as excellent load-sharing, yet in the civil engineering industry, their usage primarily focuses on the roofing applications of buildings, and consequently many of their structural benefits remain untapped. In this project, a novel concept of retrofitting thin shells as raft foundations for disaster resilient applications is explored, as current heavy loading of foundations under harsh weather and earthquakes can compromise structural safety. Through FEM analysis on 10 thin shells designed from fundamental geometries, natures and conventional roof examples, under stringent loading conditions, 3 designs were found highly practical with minimal stresses less than 40 N/mm², which is the concrete’s yield strength. Designs are respectively identified as Model 1 (36.58 N/mm²), Model 2 (21.83 N/mm²), Model 3 (17.29 N/mm²). ANN techniques were used to validate the models and proved the datasets with correlation approaching 1 and near-zero MSE for Models 1 and 3. With shapes being optimized through gradient based optimization, Models 1 and 3 attained minimal displacement at 30th iteration with optimal thicknesses of 304mm (using T32-300 rebar) and 256mm (using T20-300 rebar). Thus, it validates those thin shells are versatile building blocks for foundations that require bearing large loads. The proposed novel approach can support UN SDG 11 and SDG 13 by providing disaster-risk-resilient solutions.