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Kulasinghe

SOME CONTRIBUTIONS TO ENGINEERING RESEARCH &

DEVELOPMENT IN SRI LANKA
CONCRETE SHELLS

The Development of Technology for the use of thin concrete shells for
Port Structures.

Several applications of thin shell structures were seen in the construction of buildings in the Port Development
work. This opportunity was made use of for the investigation of certain problems of design and construction of shell
structures, if this type of construction was to he used. In the nineteen fifties, when this work was started, the
information available in technical literature was not quite adequate for this purpose and a large amount of studies had
to be carried out resulting in sonic innovative solutions to design and construction problems.

Cylindrical Shells

There was a large number of coaling jetties constructed in reinforced

concrete where the deck reinforcement had undergone serious corrosion.
Investigations revealed that the concrete cover to the slab reinforcement had
deteriorated due to sulphate attack resulting in heavy corrosion of the
reinforcing steel. The deck slabs had to be removed and replaced as a
permanent measure although, as a temporary measure replacement of the
corroded steel and "guniting" a protective layer of cement sand mixture was
carried out. However a more permanent solution had to be found.

This was the commonest form of shell roof construction but there was no
previous experience of design and construction of such shells within the
country. The Author was, however, aware of the problems associated with their
design and construction. The design involved lengthy calculations, which took a
long time using the electromechanical calculating machines available at that
time. These calculations involved small differences of large numbers which
required working to about seven decimal places. Some short cuts, like the
beam theory were available but care had to be exercised in using these. It was
found that the method of construction developed enabled the calculations also External view of the 50 ft span x 20 ft. wide
to be simplified. cylindrical shell roof in the construction of
which the new technology was developed.
The construction problems in shell construction were -

1. The necessity to erect shuttering for the whole shell

before connecting.

2. The necessity to have three layers of reinforcement

to take the bending stresses in two directions and the
shear stresses at the end.

3. The difficulty of compacting the concrete near the steep edges.

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4. The need to have adequate water proofing treatment to protect the

reinforcement against corrosion and to provide adequate water
tightness of the shell roof.

The R & D work

carried out resulted in
Details of precast concrete cylindrical shell roof
the development of a
system of construction, which avoided all the above difficulties. The
first shell roof incorporating the new technique, a shell of 50 ft. span
and 20 ft. wide was built in 1957. The method consisted of assembling The Soft 50 ft. span x 20 ft. wide concrete shell roof
thin precast shell segments on to the edge beams by means of being jacked up.
prestressing cables passing through the segments using a

travelling centering covering the arch over a short length. Once all
the arches were assembled by prestressing on to the edge beams
they were connected together longitudinally. the cables passing
through the preformed ducts in the shell segments and anchored
to the precast end frames (traverses) of the shell. This resulted in
a thin arch of 20 ft. span and 50 ft. long. The two edge beams
were tied together by transverse ties to take the arch thrust of
the ties arch. The next operation was to tension the main post
tensioning cables in the edge beams and anchor them to the end
traverses, releasing the transverse ties at the some time. This
View from above showing the joints between the precast shell converted the long arch to a cylindrical shell of 50 ft. span and 20
in a group of three cylindrical shells at Galle harbour prior to ft width. This entire operation was carried out at ground level with
jacking UP. Note the double columns for supporting the edge the edge beams resting on the ground. The construction was
and valley beams. A study of technical literature at the time completed by jacking up the shell to the required height using
showed that these techniques had not been used elsewhere. jacks at the four corners and supporting it on columns at these
points.

This system of construction was used for the construction of a

series of shells, 1 00 ft. span and 33 ft. wide to form the warehouses at
the deep water quay in Galle Harbour Three shells forming a roof 100
ft. x 100 ft. were jacked up at a time to the required height. No water
proofing was used as the orthogonal system of prestressing ensured
crack free conditions by avoiding tensile stresses under all loading
conditions. The shell has required no maintenance other than the
periodical painting even after more then thirty five years. This method
of cylindrical shell roof construction has reduced the cost of such
structures considerably by avoiding conventional form work and
reducing the amount of steel and concrete and eliminating the
necessity for water proofing.

100 ft. span x 33 ft. wide shell roofs being jacked up in

groups of three roofs for warehouse in Galle harbour.
They require no maintenance except periodic paining,
Hyperbolic Paraboloid even after 35 years.
shells of the Saddle shape

Saddle shaped Hyperbolic Paraboloid shells have been found very suitable
for the roofs of factories, workshops and similar buildings where large columns
free areas are required. These had desirable features like a longitudinal
curvature enabling drainage of water towards the ends, a curved cross section
convex downwards and the possibility of generating the surface by means of
skew straight limes moving along parabolic curves at the ends. however, this
property which required the prestressing wires being placed skew to the
longitudinal axis of the shell prevented their construction on the long line of
prestressing. A wire which started at the left hand corner of the shell had to go

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to the centre of the other end. The practice had been to cast the shell in
individual moulds made strong enough to take the reaction from the
prestressing wires. The wires had to be released from the moulds before
demoulding, which meant that the concrete had to attain the necessary
strength for this purpose. This required heat curing as no effective accelerators
were available at that time. (late fifties and early sixties) With the use of the
long line, the demoulding could be done without the detensioning of the wires,
but the problem was the changing of the wires from one point in a cross
section to another along the length of the shell. This was achieved by
introducing diaphragms at each end o f the shell which had anchor hooks to fix
the wires in the correct position. This enabled the casting of one shell per
mould every day and a large number of these shells were cast in a 400 ft. long
stressing bed. The shells were 2 inches thick, 5 ft. wide and covered spans up
to 50 ft. giving a very economical solution to roofing of workshops, factories
and similar buildings. A number of buildings including the 50 ft. wide S.E.C.
Workshops at Peliyagoda and the 100 ft. x 100 ft. columns free space for a
Hydraulic Model Testing Laboratory were built in the sixties.

Hyperbolic Paraboloid Umbrella Shells: Solution of the Corner

Droop Problem.

Umbrella shaped Hyperbolic

By including diaphragms at each end of the Paraboloid shells are very
shell per mould every day was possible and a suitable for roofing large areas
large number of these shells were cast 1n a economically in view of the small
400 ft. long stressing bed. The shells were 2 amount of concrete and steel
inches thick, 5 ft. wide and covered spans up required per unit area of floor.
to 50 ft. The resulting structure is also
A number of buildings including 50 ft. wide aesthetically elegant. The
S.E.C. Workshops at Peliyagoda and the 100 possibility of covering large
ft. x 100 ft. columns free space for a areas by a repetition of these
Hydraulic model testing Laboratory were built shells is also a desirable feature. Umbrella type hyperbolic parabolic shells were used to
in the sixties There were however, certain
problems which had not been built the car park outside the CPC, in 1954. This
solved by the time they were considered for application in the late structure achieved a solution to the problem of corner
fifties. One was the large edge beams required when constructed in droop that had troubled previous designers including
reinforced concrete and the corner droop proh1cm. (the downward the famous Professor T.Y. Lin of Berkley.
deflection of the four corners). These problems had not been solved at that time but solutions were necessary before
they could be constructed successfully in the Port. The opportunity created by the necessity for constructing a covered
car park, which was aesthetically pleasing, was made use of for constructing

three umbrella shells, each 4Oftx3O ft in plan. The techniques required for the
construction were developed in the course of construction. The heavy
reinforced concrete edge beams normally used, were replaced with lighter
prestresed beams. the post tensioning cables being terminated at intermediate
points, in addition to the ends of the beams. This induced a prestress varying
along the beam which approximately matched the membrane stresses along
the edges of the shell. This also corrected the corner droop of the shells, which
had troubled previous designers of these shells including the famous Prof. T Y
Lin of Berkley. California. He was carrying out model tests, which the Author
saw later, to find the solution to this problems. It was a pleasure for the Author
to inform him of the solution, when the Author met him at the Shell Conference
in Madrid in 1959, where the Author presented his paper on "Umbrella Type
Hyper Parabolic shell roofs with prestressed edge beams". This was a
significant contribution to the design and construction of these shells.

Concrete Roads

A decision was made by the Port Commission to open a road along the sea
front to connect Galle Face Road with the main access road leading up to the
Queen Elizabeth Quay. This provided an opportunity to construct three, four

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hundred feet lengths of concrete road. One was a pretensioned prestressed

concrete slab and another was a post-tensioned prestressed concrete slab.
Both slabs were four inches thick and the post-tentioned slab used the
"Kulasinghe CPC" system for the post-tensioning cables. The third section was
in conventional unreinforced concrete. These sections of the Marine Drive,
which is now known as the Chaitya Road, were completed in 1956. They have
performed very well during the last forty two years. They have required no
major maintenance in spite of the very heavy traffic along this road.

These concrete roads were built to demonstrate their suitability for climatic
conditions prevailing in this country as against bitumen surfaced roads which
have to be repaired at frequent intervals. Unfortun4tely the road authorities
have not appreciated the valve of concrete roads and ignored their suitability
for the conditions in

this country. They have the wrong idea that

a very thick concrete is required arid
therefore they are expensive. It has been
demonstrated that concrete roads making
use of Rollcrete", a roller compacted
concrete process is very suitable for
conditions in countries similar to Sri Lanka.
It is also very economical to use and hence
its wide use in India. It is interesting to
mention that roller compacted concrete was
used for the construction of jetty decks in
the Port as far back as 1 950. This is
probably the first time the process was used
for the compaction of concrete. In this
process, used for roads, a lean dry mix of
concrete is compacted by a vibrating roller
The concrete roadway of new marine drive giving a low cost high strength materials
having low shrinkages.
incorporated three sections each for 100 ft.
long concrete, two in pre tensioned and post
tensioned pre stressed concrete the other in Other Shell Structures
mass concrete. The suitability of concrete for
roads in the harshest climatic conditions, has In addition to the shells mentioned
been demonstrated and concrete roads are in above other important shells built by the
use in India, but not in this country. S.E.C. the NERD Centre and the CECB have
to be mentioned. A view of tile beautiful Kalutara Bodhi
Chaitva Built 1970-71. This 100 ft.
diameter shell concrete structure was the
The Kalutara Bodhi Chaitya
first hemispherical thin shell build in the
country.
The Kalutara Bodhi Chaitya was built in the late sixties as a thin shell of 100 ft.
diameter with a thickness of 51/2 inches. This was the first thin hemispherical shell built in this country. The design
and construction were carried out by the State Engineering Corporation whose computer (the first in the country)
enabled the complicated calculations to be carried out without resorting to approximations that become necessary
when working with calculators. This was especially so during the time the design was carried out. The construction
was by conventional methods involving the construction of form work for the whole shell before placing the steel
reinforcing and concrete. It is one of the most beautiful monumental structures in this country.

The Mahaweli Maha Seya at Kotmale.

The construction of the Kotmale reservoir inundated a number of

temples in the area which led to a decision to construct a monumental
stupa in a prominent site close to the Kotmale dam so that it could be
seen over a wide area. This required a large structure and the final
choice was a chaitya with a diameter of two hundred feet constructed
as a thin semi spherical shell to reduce cost and also improve its
usefulness. The design of a shell of these dimensions presented many
serious problems. They were the danger of buckling, the thermal
stresses created by the difference in temperature between the side
exposed to the sun and the sheltered side and the vertical and
horizontal loading which the shell is subjected to. The calculations
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View of the Maha weli Ma/a Seya at Kotmale, during involved in the design were quite complex and the safety requirements
construction: a thin hemispherical shell structure with demanded very accurate analyses. A unique method of constructions
a diameter of 200 ft. was built using several innovative had to he developed to enable such a large and think structure to be
techniques in design and construction. It was almost built. The method adopted was to
impossible to construct this 200 foot diameter thin shell
using conventional method of construction. build a skeletal shell to
the same shape of the
shell itself with the steel reinforcement required for the structure. The
formwork for the shell concrete was supported on the reinforcement
skeleton and concreting was carried out in rings of four feet height.
This involved calculations to determine the stresses in the skeleton and
in the concreted section of the shell at every stage. This was tedious
and required a high degree of skill.

View showing the complete 200ff diameter

hemispherical shell after construction. Glazed ceramic
tiles are being laid for external protection.
This unique method of construction
was successful and economical. It was almost impossible to construct this 200 ft.
diameter thin shell using conventional methods of construction. Setting out the shell
was also a difficult task as an accuracy to ensure a maximum deviation of one inch
from the true surface had to be ensured to avoid local buckling of the shell. The design
calculations for the shell formed the M.Sc. thesis of the Structural Engineer who
worked on it with the Author under very close guidance. This structure is one where
those involved in the design and construction can be justifiably proud of. The design
and construction was handled by the Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau.

Sambuddha Jayanthi Chaitya on Chaitya Road

Another monumental structure for which the Author was responsible in the
Sambuddha Jayanthi Chaitya built on Chaitya Road partly constructed by the Colombo
Port Commission and completed by the Colombo Port Authority.
The Varaya Chaithya started by the
CPC to commemorate the Buddha
Jayanthi in 1956, is also a shell
structure supported on a deep hollow
slab carried on two 0 intersecting
arches The hollow slab 60ft. x 60ft.
provides space for a library, a shrine
room, preaching hail and public
space. The seawall foundations of
the arch was placed under the sea,
under compressed air with air-lock
access. Total height is 250 ft. and Kulasinghe Auditorium of the NERD
arch span is 150 ft. Centre. The NERD centre Auditorium is another concrete shell,
200 feet diameter; and one inch thick. The shell roof is
The other interesting shell constructed using a novel method is the a parabolic of revolution, concave upward. A similar
100 ft. diameter tension shell of the "Kulasinghe Auditoriuni' of the structure built later by the NERD centre at the
NERD Centre. This shell is in the shape of a paraboloid of revolution University of Peradeniya as shown.
concave upward with a thickness of less than one inch. The method of
construction was as follows.

The outer reinforced concrete ring beam of 100 ft. in diameter and
a similar concentric inner ring beam of 10 ft. diameter were built on the
ground. The two ring beams were connected by closely spaced radial
pre-stressing cables which were tensioned to a predetermined value.
The outer ring beam was jacked up using sixteen jacks placed at the
sixteen columns spaced along the periphery. The jacking up was
continued till the inner ring beam lifted off the ground. The jacking was
continued, while placing temporary weights on the inner ring beam, till

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the inner ring beam was five feet below the outer ring beam. The
jacking up was continued further till the outer ring beam reached the
designed height of 1 5 ft. The sixteen columns supporting the outer
ring beams were extended as the jacking proceeded till it rested on the
columns at the height of 15 ft. A skin of fibber glass was attached to
the underside of the radial wires and a thin concrete of about one inch
was laid on the fibre glass which acted as form work. The temporary
weights on the inner ring beam were removed progressively to
maintain its sag of 5 ft. below the outer ring beam. Water proofing of
the thin shell completed the tension shell structure. This novel method
of construction resulted in a very low cost. This shell provides a low
cost roof for large areas without internal columns.

The two-ring bean is connected by closely spaced radial An

pre stressing cables, which were tensioned to Lanka L
predetermined value. The outer ring beam was jacked factory s
UP using sixteen jacks placed at sixteen columns precast c
spaced along the periphery. Vierende
trusses.
purlins w
roof.

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