Form-Finding of Nonregular Tensegrity Systems

Abstract

The potential applications of tensegrity structures are not only increasing in civil engineering but also in fields like biomechanics. The key step in designing tensegrity, the form-finding problem, has been investigated by many researchers but until now they have tended to focus on methods for regular shapes. Since there is an increasing need for design tools devoted to more various and complex systems, the objective of this paper is to present the form-finding of nonregular tensegrity structures with a numerical approach. It is based on the dynamic relaxation method with kinetic damping, and new tensegrity configurations in more intricate and creative forms can be obtained this way. During the form-finding process, either the force or length of some elements can be fixed by an appropriate choice of related stiffnesses. The application of the process is illustrated by several numerical examples. It can be concluded that an improvement in tensegrity form-finding has been achieved extending research from regular shapes toward “freer” shapes.