Stress and Deformation Analysis of a U-shaped Thin Aqueduct Based on Shell Element

In order to study the stress and deformation characteristics of Jigongzui U-shaped thin shell aqueduct structure, shell element in ANSYS is proposed to establish the three-dimensional finite element model of the aqueduct for numerical calculation, and the relevant mechanical parameters are obtained by detecting the depth of concrete carbonization. The simulated results show that: (1) The concrete carbonization depth of Jigongzui aqueduct reached 20mm, accounting for about 20% of the total thickness of the channel wall; (2) With the increase of aqueduct water level, the deformation and stress of the aqueduct body gradually increase. The maximum deflection in the middle of the span is 6.98mm, which is less than the limit value of the specification, but the tension in some areas at the bottom of the middle of the span is obvious, exceeding the allowable tensile strength. It is suggested to strengthen the aqueduct body by pasting high-performance fiber materials to improve the stress distribution of the aqueduct body; (3) Shell  element has fast calculation speed and high efficiency when simulating similar U-shaped thin shell aqueduct, which can be popularized in simulating similar thin shell structures.