Abstract
When large areas without many intermediate supports are to be covered, braced barrel vaults are economical. Fabrication of such vaults is easy and may be rendered easier if joint connectors are simples and lengths of members do not differ much. The easiest and the most economical arrangement is when all the connectors and members are identical. The barrel vaults having three way grid type bracing offer this facility. These vaults are also structurally efficient, in the past very little theoretical and experimental work seems to have been done on vaults with this particular type of bracing. Out of a variety of vaults using this type of bracing, two vaults, which are often encountered in practice, were chosen for experimental and theoretical investigation. Experimental investigation employed both direct and indirect methods of testing for various conditions along the longitudinal edges of the vaults. Computer programme using the stiffness method of analysis was developed to obtain exact theoretical results. The barrel vaults under investigation involved a large number of linear simultaneous equations for their solution. Block elimination technique had to be used for the solution of these equations. The programme is general and within its limitations, which were rendered obligatory due to the small storage capacity of the computer, can solve any linear skeletal space structure. Approximate methods of analysis retain their merit in being a designer's tool, when either a computer is not available or preliminary sections need to be calculated for shop indenting, estimating or competitive tendering. Three such methods viz. Shell Analogy Approach, Equivalent Hollow Beam Theory and Latticed Truss method have been used for the approximate analysis of the vaults. Certain comments and corrective suggestions have been made regarding these methods and are included in the thesis. The experimental and theoretical results have been compared and conclusions drawn.