Analysis of Tensegrity Rotationally Repetitive Space Structures Using the Substructuring Method

Abstract

In this paper, a substructuring method is presented for calculating the displacement of cable domes. This method obtained matrices as a canonical form in cyclic structures using graph theory. This method helps to avoid the generation of the entire matrices. Then, a solution for the eigenproblem is presented and nonlinear equations are solved by the Newton–Raphson method. In this paper, the cable domes are prestressed rotationally repetitive structures that are cyclically symmetric, having cable part and compression strut part. For clarifying the benefits of the proposed method, both the usual method and the substructuring method are performed for some examples. Results show that the time and memory are considerably (more than 80%) saved in the substructuring approach.