UNSPECIFIED. (1996) Optimal structural membranes .2. Form-finding of prestressed membranes using a curved quadrilateral finite element for surface definition. COMPUTERS & STRUCTURES, 61 (5). pp. 885-895. ISSN 0045-7949

Abstract

Form-finding of minimal surface membranes is investigated in this paper. A curved quadrilateral finite element (formulated in Part I) is used to provide a numerical representation of a thin surface (structural membrane) established between fixed or flexible boundaries. Pre-stress is introduced to generate the form. Application of the matrix-based finite element method to the vector-based dynamic relaxation algorithm is presented. When analysing minimal surfaces, the assumption of large strains is shown to lead to a stress deviation at equilibrium. Various techniques are proposed to improve the numerical stability of the solution algorithm. The resulting final numerical model adequately represents both large displacements and large summative strains. Comparisons between numerical and experimental solutions to several minimal surfaces demonstrate the accuracy of the proposed formulation. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.

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