Numerical Analysis of Tensile Structures with Minimum Surface Based on Survey of Soap Film Models

Abstract

Tensile structures have modified some basic aspects of architectural and structural design. Structural shapes are, in fact, usually defined on the basis of architectural and functional criteria, and structural safety is tested subsequentially. But this procedure cannot be followed in the case of tensile structures, for which only the boundary conditions can be assigned; these conditions are then tested to ascertain that they are structurally valid. A scientific method which can determine the shape of tensile structures and strengths not only represents a new technical achievement, but also opens up a whole new and extremely intriguing problem in the structural mechanics field. This paper proposes to set forth such a new method, using as its starting point the shape derived from a soap film model. Using this method, cer tain initial hypothesis may be tested and problems of morphology and statics may be solved using mathematical programming techniques.