The Islamic University – GAZA

Faculty Of Engineering
Architecture Department

Grid shell
Structure
Supervised by:
Dr. Sanaa Saleh

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 1

 Contents:
• Introduction
• Definition and goal
• Materials and ways of making a timber grid shell structure
• Structural principles of the grid shell
• Shell action
• Grid shell structures advantages
• Grid shell structures Difficulties
• Loads move
• Column shape and details
• Case study
• References

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 2

 Introduction

Definition
Introduction and goal

Materials
Shell structures are very efficient in spanning large distances with a
minimum of material. Their load bearing efficiency results from the
double curvature, which provides membrane action. This means that a Principles
distributed load on a thin shell will only lead to the development of
normal and in-plane shear stresses. Bending stresses can generally be Action
neglected and the stress field will be uniformly distributed over the
cross section. These effects result in a very efficient structure. It should Advantages
be noted that incompatible loading and support conditions often disturb
pure shell action .
Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition and report goal Definition

and goal

Materials
Timber grid shell structures are not often used, despite the advantages.
The complicated design process is considered the main problem in grid
shell design. The largest problem in this design process is the Principles
determination of the geometry of the structure.
During construction the grid shell lattice is bent and deformed, Action
approximating the desired shape. The geometry of the shape, which is
dependent on the bending behavior of the material, is not known in Advantages
advance.
To be able to predict the structural behavior of the grid shell, the design
Difficulties
model should be an accurate approximation of the outcome of the
construction sequence.
An iterative process which takes the bending behavior into account is Loads
needed to do this.
Columns and
details

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition

Definition of grid shell and goal

Materials
A grid shell is a structure which derives its strength from its double
curvature (in a similar way that a Fabric structure derives strength from Principles
double curvature), but is constructed of a grid or lattice.
The grid can be made of any material, but is most often wood (similar Action
to garden trellis) or steel.
A shell is a natural, extremely strong structure. A grid shell is
Advantages
essentially a shell with holes, but with its structure concentrated into
strips.
Difficulties
Grid shells were pioneered in the 1896 by Russian engineer Vladimir
Shukhov in constructions of exhibition pavilions of the all Russia Loads
industrial and art exhibition 1896 in Nizhny Novgorod
Columns and
details

Case study
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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 All Russia industrial and art exhibition 1896 in
Nizhny Novgorod 6
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 Introduction
Materials and ways of making a
Definition
timber grid shell structure and goal

- Materials: Materials

The grid can be made of many material,

but is most often wood (similar to garden trellis) or steel Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads
Timber Steel Columns and
details

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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
Timber 8
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
Steel 9
 Introduction

Definition
Materials and ways of making and goal

a timber grid shell structure Materials

ways of making a timber grid shell structure: Principles

There are two ways of making a timber grid shell structure:
1-the whole lattice can be built on the ground and then pushed up into a Action
double curve
2- a scaffolding of the right geometry can be constructed, allowing the
Advantages
lattice to be built up one lath at a time.
The construction sequence will dictate the connection design of the
timber laths and must therefore be determined with the design team. Once Difficulties
the lattice is in place, sheathing can be added to increase the stiffness of
the structure. Loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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Timber grid shells have two lives. In their built incarnations, they are Introduction
resilient, yet strong objects. In their genesis stages they are perhaps
more mysterious as, while being made up of a multitude of relatively Definition
stiff woven or overlapped linear elements, and goal
they behave more like stiff rubber. The particular properties of
timber allow it to be deformed into a shape, and then locked. Steel Materials
and concrete grid shells need to be fabricated into .
The laths are usually made from larch or oak and kept ‘green’ or Principles
‘wet’ so that they can flex without splitting during the construction
process.
Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
1-Push up way 2-Scaffolding details

Case study
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 1-Push up way

2-Scaffolding
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 12
 Introduction
Structural principles of the grid
Definition
shell and goal
The grid shell structural system is based on the use of
continuous laths which are pinned at Materials
their intersections. From an initial flat mat of laths, the structure
is shaped by bending the Principles
laths and deforming the mat by deforming the quadrangles of
the mat to rhombic shapes Action
. After the shape is formed, the nodes are tightened and the
structure is stiffened
Advantages
by diagonal bracing.

Difficulties

Loads

(a) (b) Columns and

Figure 3.1: A flat mat of laths (a) is deformed to a spherical structure (b), by
bending the laths and deforming the
details
quadrangles of the mat to rhombic shapes.
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 Introduction
Shell action
The definition grid shell suggests that is a grid shell structure is Definition
in fact a shell. This is incorrect as will be explained here. For a and goal
continuous shell a distributed load results in shear and normal
Materials
stresses. This creates a rather rigid system as every element of
the continuous surface is locked in by the internal stresses and
transfers Principles
these to the neighboring elements with a grid shell, one could
say shell behavior is imitated by the system of continuous Action
members.
For a grid shell, the continuous layer is discretized by Advantages
transferring all material of the shell element into the edges. The
result is a system of four laths joined in the nodes, which can
Difficulties
only transmit forces in the direction of the laths and can resist
out of plane bending.
The (distributed) normal stress in the continuous shell element Loads
is transferred to the edges too, which results in normal forces
Columns and
on the laths. The normal stresses that
details
are present in the shell element are now accounted for.
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 Introduction
Without additional measures, a grid shell
structure can be seen as a series of slender Definition
parallel arches, which work together to resist and goal
the applied loads. When shell action is
Figure 3.2: Continuous
desired Materials
and grid shell
the shear forces that were present in the
shell
Principles
element should be accounted for by the
grid shell element. By linking the laths
diagonally, diagonal stiffness is introduced in Action
the grid shell and the shear forces can be
Figure 3.3: Grid shell
transmitted from one edge of the grid shell element with normal Advantages
element to the opposite one. The laths will forces
work together and the grid shell will perform Difficulties
more as a continuous
Diagonal shell.
stiffness can be provided in
several ways: Loads
• Rigid joints
• Cross ties Columns and
Figure 3.4: Grid shell details
• Rigid cross bracing
• A continuous layer element with diagonal bracing
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 Introduction

Grid shell structures Definition

and goal
advantages:
Materials
Grid shell structures offer some real advantages:
-they can be elegant in shape, -
Principles
-they’re immensely strong and they provide obstruction-free
internal space-
-Given the economy in the materials used. Action
-freedom in the design of forms of construction, both in the
horizontal projected or sector. Advantages
-Ease give natural light from a large area where.
- The ability to carry loads unbalanced. Difficulties
-fire resistance.
- have solid strength in storage even if the damage occurred at
Loads
critical points does not happen demolish the building.
Columns and
details

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 Introduction

Grid shell structures Definition

and goal
Difficulties:
Materials
Grid shell structures offer some Difficulties:
- crustaceans design requires a high skill in design. Principles
- Most of the contractors are not fully aware of the problems
constructed. Action
- more engineers are not fully aware of the well design. The
complex shapes which require many calculations. Note that the Advantages
large roofs of the crust be a difficult engineering problems and
generally the presence of computers at present solves these
problems very quickly. Difficulties
- difficulty of addressing the crust of concrete surfaces for the
purpose of the desired architectural effect Loads

Columns and
details

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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
The way Loads move : details

Case study
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 Introduction
Column that could used at grid shells
Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

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Joint shapes could used at grid shells Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

Case study
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 Introduction
Joint shapes could used at grid shells
Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

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 Ground details
Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
Corner detail with details
ring tie beam
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
Case study
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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

Case study
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Joints Introduction

-Four layers of laths complicated the construction scheme Definition

and goal
-Members needed to rotate and slide between two parallel
laths during the erection process, creating the parallelogram Materials
cells.
-for this , a pinned connection was needed between the Principles
middle two laths and slotted holes were needed in the outer
layers to allow for this movement
Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details

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Concrete ring beam Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

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Concrete ring beam Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH

Case study
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Case study Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Loads

Columns and
details
Multihalle Mannheim Case study
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Mannheim, Germany 1978 Introduction
Design by :Frei Otto and Ove Arup & Partners
The complex consists of a multi-purpose hall, where a range of Definition
activities can take place, such as exhibitions, flower shows, and goal
entertainment, concerts, theatre, sports activities, etc. In asecond
smaller hall a restaurant is situated. The halls are connected by a Materials
covered link.

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

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Mannheim, Germany 1978 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

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 Introduction

Definition
and goal
The roof Materials

The Multihalle lies as an artificial hill in its surroundings. The grid Principles
shell is designed in such way that the shape continues the hilly
landscape of the garden. The enclosed building area of 3600 m2 Action
is air conditioned and it is covered with PVC coated fabric.
The grid has a maximum longitudinal span of 85m. It is built up
Advantages
out of a double layered mat of laths of Hemlock Pine.
This performed best in test with respect to shrinkage and creep.
It was also selected for its straight grain and availability in long Difficulties
lengths. The laths have a cross section of 50x50mm and are
spaced on 500mm. Approximately 72000m of lath was used to loads
construct the shell.
Columns and
details

Case study
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.
 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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 Introduction
Connection details
Typical node joint Definition
0
The laths are bolted together in the nodes. To provide slipping
of the outer layers during
and goal

erection, these layers have slotted holes. After erection, shear Materials
resistance is needed, so the
bolts are tightened to provide sufficient friction. Testing Principles
indicated that tension in the bolts
would decrease in time, due to shrinkage of the timber. To
Action
prevent this, spring washers are
applied
Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Photo of a typical node Typical node joint (Burckhardt
joint13 et al 1978) Case study
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Joints in the laths Introduction

The laths are prefabricated into laths up to 40m by finger jointing. Definition
The joints used were 20mm with a 6mm root, to suit the and goal
machines of the factory. Quite a lot of joints broke during
Materials
site handling and erection due to this short connection length.
The laths were repaired by nailing 50x25mm lapping pieces to
each side. This was also used to lengthen the laths into the Principles
required length.
Action

Advantages

Difficulties

Edge column connection

loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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 Introduction

Definition
As with the Essen grid shell, the Mannheim grid was supposed to and goal
be lifted into shape by cranes. Calculations however, showed
that four 200 tones cranes were needed over a period Materials
of three weeks. The high costs of this forced the contractors to
think of other options. Finally, the grid shell was erected by Principles
pushing up the lattice from underneath. Fork lifts were used to
lift the scaffolding towers .By using these, the horizontal Action
movement of the scaffolds as the shape of the lattice changed
could be followed easily. To spread the forces on the grid, H- Advantages
shaped timber spreaders were used. A ball joint between the
scaffold and spreader provided rotation to fit the curve of the
shell. To reduce costs, as few scaffolds as Difficulties
possible were used. This resulted in quiet long spans between
the scaffolds. To eliminate low loads
areas between the scaffolds, flying struts were used.
Columns and
details

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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Under construction (Burckhardt et al 1978) Scaffolding towers (Burckhardt et al 1978)

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Intermediate strut (Burkhardt et al 1978) Applying the roof skin Case study
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 38
Weald and Downland grid shell Introduction

The Weald and Downland grid shell, shown in Figure 5.13 and Definition
Figure 5.14 is built at the Weald and Downland Open Air Museum in and goal
Singleton in the UK, and was finished in 2002.
This museum has over 45 historical buildings from South East Materials
England, which have been rescued and rebuilt there. The museum
needed a new building for study and practice of building Principles
conversation, especially the timber framing tradition in England.
Also a new conservation store for collection items was needed to Action
extend the collection of timber structures into the
21st century, the new building should be an example for modern
Advantages
rural buildings. The result of the combination of skills of the
architect Edward Cullinan Architects, the engineer Buro Happold
and the carpenter, Green Oak Carpentry Company, truly is a display Difficulties
of modern craftsmanship (Harris & Kelly, 2002).
The basement of the building is sunken into the hillside and houses loads
the conservation store. The workshop is situated on the ground
floor and is roofed by the grid shell. The roof has the shape of a Columns and
triple-bulb hourglass, to mirror the rolling details
shapes of the West Sussex Downs.
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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
The Weald & Downland grid shell details

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 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

Case study
Inside view of the grid shell
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 41
The roof Introduction
The triple-bulb hourglass roof is 48m long and between 11-16m
wide. It has an internal height of 7-10m. The roof is clad with Red Definition
Cedar boards and polycarbonate glazing. and goal
The grid is built up out of 50x35mm oak laths in four layers, like the
grid shell in Mannheim, to provide good out of plane resistance. The Materials
laths have a spacing of 500mm in areas with high load, and
1000mm in other areas. Original designs were made with 500mm Principles
spacing for the whole structure. Careful examination of the forces
and stresses by computer analysis lead to increasing of the spacing,
Action
which saved construction time and reduced costs significantly.
Shear blocks are screwed between the different layers to provide
composite action between the layers. Advantages
To increase stability, diagonal bracing is applied. In the lower parts
the bracing laths run in longitudinal direction, at the top in Difficulties
transverse direction. These also provide support for the cladding
boards. loads
The cladding consists of polycarbonate glazing, which covers the
upper part of the roof, and Western Red Cedar boards. This closed Columns and
part is insulated with a multi-layered composite details
insulation material.
Case study
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Typical node joint
Introduction

Definition
and goal

For the connection between the laths a special connector was Materials
designed. It consists of three
plates, connected with four bolts. The middle plate has a pin Principles
in the centre,
keeping the connection into place. The outer layers can slide Action
freely in their direction during
shaping of the structure. Two of the four bolts can be used to
Advantages
connect the diagonal bracing.
The connecter proved to be very successful and has been
patented. Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details

Case study
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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
Typical node joint
Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Assembly of a typical node joint
Case study
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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 Edge connection Introduction
At the edges the grid shell is connected to the floor of the
structure. The laths are bolted between two layers of plywood Definition
and connected to the floor beams. and goal
The floor and floor beams are cut into shape (Figure 5.16) and
Materials
the first layer of plywood boarding is connected to the Glulam
floor beams with angle brackets prior to the erection of the
roof. Principles
Holes are drilled in the boarding aligned with the holes in the
brackets. Figure 5.17 shows one of the positions of Action
the brackets.
After the grid is lowered, blocks are installed on this location Advantages
to fix the sandwich structure firmly to the brackets on the
inside (Figure 5.18).
Also the gaps between the layers are filled up with timber Difficulties
where the grid overlaps the boarding to create a solid section
four times the depth of a lath. loads
The second layer of plywood is attached and the laths and
plywood layers are bolted together (Figure 5.19). Columns and
The whole sandwich is bolted to the brackets on the details
inside to create a rigid edge connection. Case study
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 45
 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Floor and beams are cut into shape Location of the brackets
Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Connection to the edge Edge detail
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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles
Start of lowering Finished connection
Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Flat mat of laths Adjustable jack
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SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH
 Introduction

Definition
and goal

Materials

Principles

Angled jacks Action

Advantages

Difficulties

loads

Columns and
details
Halfway down Completed form
Case study
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References
Barnes, MR 1999, Form finding and analysis of tension
structures by dynamic Relaxation

[2] Burkhardt, B, et al 1976, Multihalle Mannheim, Stuttgart:

Institut für leichte
flächentragwerke (IL13)

[3] Douthe, C, Baverel, O, Caron, JF 2006, Form finding of a

grid shell in composite materials

[4] Hoefakker, JH, Blaauwendraad, J 2005, Theory of Shells,

Lecture notes CT5143, Delft University of Technology, Delft

[5] Killian, A, Ochsendorf, J, Particle-spring systems for

structural form finding

[6] Leuppi, J 2002, Parametric design for the structural

elements of timber rib
shells, Space Structures 5 volume 1, Thomas Telford, London
SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 49
[7] Timoshenko, SP, Goodier, JN 1934, Theory of Elasticity,
McGraw-Hill Book
Company

[8] Toussaint, MH 2007, A Design Tool for Timber Gridshells,

Msc thesis

[9] Vorst, HA van der, Wesseling, P, Wilders, P 1992,

Numerieke methoden voor
differentiaalvergelijkingen, Lecture notes WI3097, Delft
University of
Technology, Delft

[10] Welleman, JW 1992, Combined spring element in Tilly, TU

Delft Report, Delft
University of Technology, Delft
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Thank

SUPERVISED BY: DR SANAA Y SALEH 51