Analysis of the stress-erection process of Strarch frames considering the joint connection properties

• The stress-erection process of Strarch frame is studied.
• Stress-erection process is predicted by proposed simple equation.
• Various joint connection conditions are considered.
• The joint connection conditions are little effect to the stress-erection.
• The proposed method is appropriate for the stress-erection process of Strarch.

In this paper, the unique stress-erection process for constructing stressed-arch (Strarch) frames is studied for various joint connection conditions. To analyze the stress-erection process of a Strarch frame, an analysis method is developed using a large deformational elasto-plastic beam-column element, considering Eulerian finite rotation and various joint connection properties. The explicit quasi-static dynamic relaxation method is used for the numerical method. The numerical results are compared with simple equations that are proposed to predict the jacking and member forces, and good agreement is obtained. Using the proposed numerical method, the required tendon jacking and member forces are successfully predicted. As a result, the effect of a semi-rigid connection in the flexible top chord is relatively small for Strarch systems. The difference in the axial force when a hinge connection is used is small compared with the allowable axial force and can be ignored. Therefore, it is reasonable to model the flexible top chord as a plane truss system with an initial imperfection rather than as a beam-column system.