Non-linear hygrothermal structural analysis of the elliptical dome of the church in the Universidad Laboral, Gijón, Spain

Abstract

The Church of the Laboral University of Gijón has the world’s largest elliptical masonry roof with a 40.8 m major axis. This large structure is vertically self-supported with 20 pairs of masonry ribs crossing each other and horizontally supported by means of two elliptical ring beams at the top of the dome. In order to study this historic building, this paper presents the overall three-dimensional structural numerical analysis of the roof. It includes nonlinearities due to materials, geometry, and contacts between structural elements of the building. Temperature, moisture content, and dead loads are included in the hygrothermal structural analysis of the dome. In this nonlinear numerical analysis displacements, stress, cracking, and crushing are evaluated. The influence of moisture content on the structure performance and other relevant conclusions are presented.