Folded Plate Structure

a thin-walled building structure of the shell type. Folded plate structures consist of flat components, or plates, that are interconnected at some dihedral angle. Structures composed of rectangular plates are said to be prismatic. In modern construction practice the most widely used folded plate structures are made of cast-in-situ or precast reinforced concrete (including prestressed and reinforced-cement structures). The structures are used as roofs for industrial and public buildings.

The main advantage of folded plate structures over other shells (such as cylindrical) is the simplicity of manufacture. Approximate static calculations of folded plate structures are based on the membrane theory of shells; more exact static calculations are based on limit equilibrium and on P. L. Pasternak’s and V. Z. Vlasov’s general theory of shells.