FORM FINDING ANALYSIS OF MEMBRANE STRUCTURES BY REPETITION OF TEMPERATURE LOAD ANALYSIS

A simple form finding analysis method for membrane structures is presented in this paper. Firstly, differential equations are formulated for uniform stress surface and for physical membrane surface subjected to sufficiently large negative temperature load. It is shown that the two sets of equations are approximately equivalent in the vicinity of the equilibrium state. Then an algorithm is proposed for form finding of uniform stress surface by repetition of temperature load analysis using general purpose FEA software. The validity of the method is shown in the examples of saddle-shaped membrane, pneumatic membrane and membrane with boundary cables.