Ten years of progress in shell and spatial structures

Abstract

IASS (International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures) organizes every year in a different country an international symposium. At each anniversary of IASS corresponding to a decade, the host country of the symposium is Spain where the headquarters of the Association is situated. The 30th Anniversary was celebrated between 11-15 September 1989 in Madrid with a symposium at which the progresses of the last decade were presented and discussed. It turned out that in contemporary structural engineering, for long span structures, steel space frames, cable supported tents and pneumatic membranes are increasingly preferred to reinforced concrete. In the field of natural draught cooling towers, however, the reinforced concrete shell is still the most appropriate type.