Performance of Persian brick masonry single-shell domes subjected to uniform pressure and concentrated load

In this paper, the best geometrical shapes of Persian brick masonry single-shell domes under uniform pressure have been obtained and then the failure concentrated load has been determined. Seven different cross-sectional shapes with three different spans were considered. Three-dimensional finite element analysis was performed with the assumption of non-linear behaviour for materials. The minimum ratio of the apex thickness to base thickness (k) for which the failure load to dome weight ratio was a maximum was taken as the index for the best shape. For uniform pressure, k = 0.2, k = 0.08 to 0.3, and k = 0.144 to 0.54 were the best ratios for semi-circular, pointed and four-centred domes, respectively. The failure load of domes with best shapes under concentrated loads was more than that of other shapes.