[Dutchoven]

Fantastic idea here! Door jamb bricks act to buttress the dome at the front buttress at the opposite poles at the back and maybe two on the sides! Excellent should distribute the thrust perfectly! Kulas I think you should go this route!
Great thinking Dmun!
Dutch

Originally Posted by dmun

As you know from running your oven, the top of the firing chamber burns white first, and it takes a long while for the carbon to burn off the sides. I suspect that your buttressing might exacerbate this problem.

I'm thinking that having brick buttresses, at intervals, with the door opening functioning as two, and maybe four others to carry the stress of the dome weight to the floor, without adding to the overall mass of the oven. Cathedrals are built like this, with stout columns bearing the load, leaving space for windows and "curtain walls" in-between.

Forget about perlcrete having any tensile strength. Even fully cured you can dig your fingernail into it like cork.