Reinforced concrete thin-wall dome after eighty years of operation in a marine climate environment

The paper presents a description of the construction elements of the Gdynia Seaport main hall dome. Firstly, it provides information about the technical condition of the dome's structure. Secondly, it examines the strength analysis of the thin-walled reinforced concrete dome covering. Throughout the last 80 years the building has been exposed to an unfavourable marine climate. The analysis of the state of stress and deformations of several construction elements was carried out using a special model worked out with help of the FEM considering the combination of loads: deadweight, wind and snow, as well as the additional combination: deadweight and hurricane wind of velocity 200 km/h(55.5 m/s). The computed results of static quantities were also obtained according to F. Dischinger's method, which was used in design of the RC Gdynia Seaport dome in 1932. The computational analysis and the assessment of the technical state made it possible to make a decision concerning further safe operation of the building.
To sum up, it can be concluded that the results obtained with the FEM analysis, together with the analysis of the technical state of the 80-year-old dome, made it possible to carry out an assessment of the factor of safety of the dome's reinforced concrete elements. That in turn made it possible to come to a decision on the possibility of its further operation without causing any major local damage. What is more, it confirmed that it was permissible to construct a new dome after the tearing-down of the old one.