Numerical study on static properties and failure mechanisms of landing assembled Chinese solar greenhouses

To satisfy the requirements of fast construction, environmental protection and cost effectiveness, a new type of landing assembled Chinese solar greenhouse (CSG) was proposed recently. This kind of CSG consists of south roofs, north roofs and columns. In this study, a 2-D finite element model of a landing assembled CSG was developed. The in-plane structural responses of this greenhouse were investigated using ANASY. Firstly, the static properties of the CSG structure were studied under six load cases and the most unfavorable load case was obtained. Secondly, under the most unfavorable load case, the in-plane elastic-plastic failure mechanisms of the structure were investigated. Lastly, the effects of north roof angle, column angle, span width and section modulus on the load-carrying capacity of this type of CSG structure were discussed. The results showed that this type of CSG structure has a good load-carrying capacity to satisfy the design requirements. Snow load is the main control load and the structure is more sensitive to non-uniform snow load. Under non-uniform snow load, the global in-plane failure of the greenhouse occurs owing to in-plane elastic-plastic buckling produced by axial compression and bending moment, and the bending moment plays a more important role in the failure of the structure than the axial force. When other building parameters are fixed, the landing assembled CSG structure with a larger north roof angle and smaller column angle has a higher ultimate load-carrying capacity. The ultimate load-carrying capacity and span width present a quadratic function relationship (R-2 = 0.982). The section modulus has a significantly positive linear relationship to the ultimate load-carrying capacity (R-2 = 0.999). Analytical results will provide a reference for the theoretical research and engineering design of a landing assembled CSG structure.