ABSTRACT
This paper presents the development of a theoretical model to study the influence of thermal, shrinkage and creep straining on the geometrically linear axisymmetric behaviour of spherical shallow concrete domes. The model accounts for both membrane and bending behaviour. Although geometric non-linearity is essential for formulating buckling theories, an understanding of the geometrically linear response under
these indirect strains is needed before turning to their non-linear behaviour. Herein, shrinkage and creep are considered as long-term gradual effects, while temperature is considered as a short-term or instantaneous effect. A variational principle is used to derive the governing equilibrium equations and boundary conditions, which are solved using the multiple shooting method (Stoer & Bulirsch 2002). A numerical example and a parametric study are used to articulate and to provide some insight into the behaviour of shallow domes under these effects.
