Material consumption investigation of steel geodesic domes according to diameters and frequences changing

Throughout human history, one of the two known building systems to enable wide-span structures to pass without columns is vault structures and the other is dome structures. With the use of steel as a building material in the early 20th century, dome systems that were previously made of masonry or wood began to be built using steel materials. Today, steel domes are manufactured under many different geometric forms and names. Geodesic domes are the most preferred domes among steel frame domes due to their suitability for prefabrication. These domes were developed by Buckminster Fuller in 1954. Geodesic domes have many different areas of use. They can be built with different materials depending on the area of use. Geodesic domes are used greenhouses, hobby greenhouses, botanical gardens, winter gardens, glamping domes, event domes, residences, social facilities, climbing domes, animal shelters, skylights, cafes, restaurants, exhibition halls, concert halls, museums, scientific institutions and libraries etc. Geodesic domes are formed by connecting straight-axis prismatic frames to the nodal points located on the surface of the sphere according to certain mathematical conditions. As a result, a dome consisting of triangular surfaces is formed. In dome construction consisting of frame elements and nodal points, the steel material consumption per unit floor area varies depending on the dome geometry and the loads. However, the number of profile or the amount of profile length in the unit floor area depends on the geometric frequency and geometric proportional expression of the geodesic dome. In this study, the number of profile and corresponding profile lengths of 90 geodesic domes of different diameters will be calculated, based only on the geometric frequency and geometric proportional expressions of the geodesic dome, without taking into account the loads. The models will be examined the number of profile, profile lengths and losses according to diameter, geometric frequency and geometric proportional expressions.As a result of the examination, it will be determined how changed the number of required profile or required profile lengths for frame elements in steel geodesic domes. v This study will assist designer engineers for preliminary sizing in the static design of geodesic domes. Additionally, in case of a sudden price change in the construction material, it will be a guide to create an economical solution with changes in the building geometry. Keywords: Geodesic domes, material consumption, geometric frequency, geometric proportional expression