Non-uniform thermal behavior of single-layer spherical reticulated shell structures considering time-variant environmental factors: analysis and design

Contrary to conventional design methods that assume uniform and slow temperature changes tied to atmospheric conditions, single-layer spherical reticulated shells undergo significant non-uniform and time-variant temperature variations due to dynamic environmental coupling. These differences can affect structural performance and pose safety risks. Here, a systematic numerical method was developed and applied to simulate long-term temperature variations in such a structure under real environmental conditions, revealing its non-uniform distribution characteristics and time-variant regularity. A simplified design method for non-uniform thermal loads, accounting for time-variant environmental factors, was theoretically derived and validated through experiments and simulations. The maximum deviation and mean error rate between calculated and tested results were 6.1 °C and 3.7