Reliability Assessment of Shallow Domes Using a Semi-Empirical Evaluation Procedure

Like other structures, shallow domes have imperfections from the prescribed values obtained by specifications during the construction process. Specifications define some tolerance values for imperfections. Despite consideration of these values, the critical load of a dome varies for each imperfection pattern. So the reliability plays an important role in domes safety. Theoretical evaluation procedure is the most accurate one to obtain reliability function, but it is only applicable to small structures. Semi-empirical evaluation procedure, on the other hand, is more implemented. In the present research reliability of real domes with stochastic initial imperfections has been investigated by comparing finite elements method, theoretical and semi-empirical results. Also, it has been shown that the automatic perturbed analysis is not sufficiently reliable for domes. So it is recommend that a suitable safety factor be applied on the automatic perturbed load or the method utilized in this paper be used to obtain the critical load – reliability diagram.