un-specific structural shape bending capacity

[altswear]

hey there.

I have a wind vane that is effectively a thin sheet of stainless steel bent into a quarter circle, meant to re-direct airflow.

I am trying to figure out if there are any standards or equations for determining the longest these vanes can span before buckling. Does anyone have experience with this? For flexural design on unsymmetric shapes, they simply say to use Fy < Fcr through "analysis" and for compressive design there are no provisions for non-standard shapes

Take a look at the attachment for a better picture. Thanks for any input!

 

[BAretired]

You are depicting a small scale Long Span Barrel Vault (see below). The usual span and rise are shown in the second sketch. You may be able to extend the span based on load testing or careful analysis. The exact loading in your case is a bit tricky, so load testing is recommended.

BA

 

[altswear]

thanks a lot. Unfortunately I don't really have means to implement testing. I'm learning that what I'm trying to design for is called a turning vane and there are turning vane manuals specific to my application. I will give that path a go as well.