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Deployment simulation of cable-strut structures considering cable sliding

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Abstract

The influence of cable sliding on the deployment of foldable cable-strut structures was studied in this paper. In order to develop an effective program for the cable sliding program, two-node cable element based on the analytical solution of elastic catenary was studied. Then the cable sliding stiffness was defined as the ratio of the variation of the cable force to the variation of the cable length. To validate the proposed numerical method, analyses of two examples given in references were carried out. The results show that the method given in this paper is accurate and effective, which can be used to model the cable sliding in cable structures. Finally, the deployment process of a foldable cable-strut structure, which is composed of four-bar linkages and cables, was discussed. It can be found that the effect of cable sliding on the behavior of cable-strut structures is significant. The length changes of active cables are smaller when the cable sliding is considered. Moreover, the nodal coordinate changes also become faster when the numerical model is with cable sliding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Concrete and Prestressed Concrete Structures of Ministry of Education, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    JianGuo Cai, Jian Feng & Kai Wang

  2. National Engineering Research Center for Prestress, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210096, China

    JianGuo Cai & Jian Feng

Authors
  1. JianGuo Cai
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  2. Jian Feng
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  3. Kai Wang
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Correspondence to Jian Feng.

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Cai, J., Feng, J. & Wang, K. Deployment simulation of cable-strut structures considering cable sliding. Sci. China Technol. Sci. 55, 3263–3269 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-5034-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11431-012-5034-z

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