Compression Ring for a Dome 1

[eawarfo]

I have a roof structure 25ft in diameter in the shape of a dome that will require a 2ft diameter compression ring. The dome will have ribs constructed of HSS tubes and will connect to a steel compression ring fabricated out of plates. Does any body know of any good references to look at to get a good feel for the forces that would be in the compression ring? I have Risa 3D and Staad Pro but I would like something other than a computer to analyze the forces in the ring.

 

[jike]

Sounds like a very small Schewedler dome!

There are two ways that I have used to analyze this type of dome by hand:

Method of joints
and
Membrane Stresses

 

[pricklyPete]

I would second eawarfo's request for a good reference on a simple hand calculation method to get a rough idea of the forces in a compression ring.

 

[eawarfo]

Thanks for the responses.

 

[JStephen]

Roark's Formulas for Stress and Strain includes circular rings with N uniform radial loads, which sounds like what this would be.