Behavior of Pre-Stressed Arch Subjected to Sliding Load

This paper investigates the behavior of a pre-stressed arch under a sliding load, where the initial configuration can be obtained from the buckling of a straight column. The shape of the pre-stressed arch can be varied by increasing the end shortening. Subsequently, a sliding load is applied at a certain height level. The orientation of the applied load maintains the right angle with respect to the tangential line of the arch. By moving the load horizontally, the behavior of the arch can be explored. The governing differential equations of the problem can be obtained by equilibrium equations, constitutive relation, and nonlinear geometric expressions. The exact closed-form solutions can be derived in terms of elliptic integrals of the first and second kinds. In this problem, the arch can be divided into two segments where each segment is a part of a buckled hinged-hinged column mounted on an inclined support. The shooting method is employed to solve the numerical solutions for comparing with the elliptic integral method. The stability of the pre-stressed arch is evaluated from vibration analysis, where the shooting method is again utilized for solving the natural frequencies in terms of a square function. A simple experiment is set up to explore the equilibrium shapes. Poly-carbonate sheet is utilized as the pre-stressed arch. From the results, it is found that the results obtained from elliptic integral method are in excellent agreement with those obtained from shooting method. The equilibrium shapes from the theoretical results can also compare with those from the experiment. The pre-stressed arch can lose its stability and snap into an upside-down (inverted) configuration depending on the ratio of rise to span-length and loading height. The instability of the arch is not only detected during the pushing of the sliding load but a pulling load can also cause unstable behavior of the arch.