Arches

Arches ideally are in a state of pure

compression

Cable under its own weight Arch under its own weight

Ideal shape: cosh

1
 Carrying a constant vertical load

Parabola

Arch with dead and self-load

• Suspension cable weight is usually small compared with distributed load it
carries.
• Arch self weight  is often comparable to constant distributed load w0
y
w0
h
d
 x
Ideal Arch shape equation:
w 
2
d2y w  dy 
  0  1  
 dx 
2
dx Rx Rx Rx

BC: y(0)=y(d)=0, y(d/2)=h

2
 Can solve by reduction of order,
but the solution is messy.
Solve for the cable shape by energy minimization.
Given sag h. Arch length L0 is not known.

d
(0,0) d
0
(xN,yN) x
(x1,y1) 1  ( xe , ye )
y (x2,y2) x
sL/N
1 1
V0    s  w0 x1  y1 V1    s  w0 ( x2  x1 )  ( y1  y2 ) .....
2 2
1
Vi    s  w0 ( xi 1  xi )  ( yi  yi 1 )
2
N 1

Vary 0 ,1,  N 1 and segment length s to minimize the total PE V  Vi

i 0

Constraints: (xN,yN)=(d,0) and max(yi)=h

160 Ideal Arch Shapes

140
Load is w (self wt) +w0 (overload)
120 160

140
100
120 self and overload
80 100 self weight
self and overload
overload self weight
80
60 overload
self and overload (2)
60
self weight (2)
40
40 overload (2)

20 20

0
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
0
-20 50 100 150 200 250 300 350

wL= w0d=W/2, w L=W, w0d=W

3
 Circular arches

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
-50 -20 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

• Easy to draw
• Easy to fabricate
• Easy to analyze

Geometric Comparison
160

140

120
self and overload
100
self weight
overload
80
self and overload (2)
self weight (2)
60
overload (2)

40 circ1
h circ2
20

0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350
-20 d
0 0 r
1  d2 
r    h, y  r 2  ( x  d / 2) 2  r  h
2  4h 
d
|  | 0  tan 1
2(r  h)

4
 Some ArchTypes
Statically Indeterminate

Fixed

Two-hinge

Statically Determinate

Three-hinge

Analysis: 3-Hinged
wy(x)

wx(y)
Ax Cx
Ay Cy
wy(x)
wy(x)

Bx
wx(y) Bx
By By
Ax Cx
Ay
h
Cy
Ax  Bx   wx ( )d  0
0
Cx  Bx  0
d /2 d

Ay  By   w ( )d  0
y
C y  By   w ( )d  0
d /2
y
0
h d /2 d
d
d
 Bx h   wx ( ) d   Cx h   (  d / 2) wy ( ) d  0
By
2 0
  wy ( )d  0
0
Cy
2 d /2