Structural analysis of the roof's shell of the ancient general market of Verona, built in 1929

Shell concrete was used in the first decades of the 20th century in a not widespread way. Only the shortages of steel following the Second World War gave great impetus to the development of reinforced concrete, which can be easily shaped and enabled a radical change in possible structural forms through its tensile as well as compressive strength. This paper focuses on the roof’s shell of the ancient general market of Verona (Italy) built in 1929. It represents one of the early concrete shell roof designed by Italian engineers. In the building, the membrane roof covers an area of about 490 square meters and it is composed by a thin shell of 0.08 meter ribbed by16 RC beams. All the structure rests on a reinforced concrete ring to which the ribs are stuck, whereas the RC ring is borne by 32 RC pillars with a square section. The authors provide an initial short summary of the historical context of the structure, discussing the technical aspects of shell analysis and design. The aim is to compare results from codes existing at the time of the construction and those from current structural regulations in order to identify possible rehabilitation interventions.