Structural Analysis of Off-World Masonry Arches

Abstract

The complexities of settling another world have long been a subject of speculation across a wide range of disciplines; for structural engineers, this speculation largely centers on how we would build the structures within which life can exist on our inhospitable rocky neighbors. What form would these structures take; how would they be built, and of what material would they be constructed? Particularly appealing is the possibility of building off-world structures out of masonry; this material could be obtained on site rather than shipped in from Earth, and could offer protection for its inhabitants against hazards such as extreme temperatures and radiation. In this study, a structural analysis is performed for a segmental arch subject to the conditions associated with a habitable structure on the Moon or Mars- lower gravity, protective regolith covering, internal pressurization, and extreme temperature fluctuations- and built from local materials. Equations were derived for the internal forces and external reactions under these load conditions using linear beam theory, building off of previous studies applying this theory to arch geometry. These equations were then applied to determine viable designs for a long-span segmental arch with and without a regolith layer in each environment. A series of possible dimensions for Martian arches were catalogued based on the derived equations. For one particular working case for a Martian arch, a schematic design was created based on this analysis, with guidelines on materials and the construction process. Lunar arches were also analyzed, but were found to be all but infeasible when subject to the studied loading conditions.