Geodesic shells are a class of shell coatings used in construction, the construction of the geometric shape of which is based on the method of breakdown a spherical surface with geodesic lines dividing the surface of a sphere into polyhedra in various ways.
Single-contour geodesic shells consist of various types of flat or curvilinear plates (breakdown elements), forming a surface approaching a sphere. A dodecahedron or icosahedron is commonly used as a base. Double-contour geodesic shells consist of two interconnected surfaces: lamellar and most often rod.
A significant contribution to the development of structures for geodesic domes was made by R. B. Fuller (USA) and G.N. Pavlov (Russia). Under the leadership of R. B. Fuller, various methods were developed for dividing the sphere (for example, Multifaceted, for designing domes of large spans). G.N. Pavlov developed a methodology for designing geodesic shells and network construction algorithms.
Geodesic domes are currently used in large public buildings. They are used as hangars, warehouses, homes in difficult climatic conditions.
The geodesic dome of R.B. Fuller (exhibition pavilion in Montreal)
Geodesic dome virtual project of G.N. Pavlov
GeoTran - software for the design and strength analysis of such structures. It is developed as Windows applications.
GeoTran includes:
2) PolyTran - a set of programs for translations of geometric models of geodesic shells from ArhiCAd to Patran for strength analysis by the finite element method. As a result, geodesic shells can be used in engineering projects.
GeoDome Library - geodesic shell design programs - parametric ArchiCAD objects for modeling geodesic shells. You can see examples, design methods in ArchiCAD.
GeoTran - software of design and analysis of geodesic shells - 3D modeling of geodesic shells and domes in ArchiCAD, translation of geometric models from ArchiCAD to the Patran preprocessor, finite element analysis in Nastran/Marc/Dytran solvers (modeling external loads, stress and strain analysis). Includes GeoDome - a database of parametric ArchiCAD objects for the design and breakdown of geodesic shells and PolyTran - a library of programs for translations of geometric models from ArchiCAD to Patran.
Logical classification of geodesic shells and domes - for a more detailed study of the capabilities of the GeoDome Library read the article: Lakhov A. Ya. Logical classification of geodesic shells and domes. ARPN Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Vol. 12, No. 5, March 2017.