Reference Type:  Journal Article
Record Number: 1
Author: Zhang, Z. H., Cao, Q. S., Dong , S. L. and Fu, X. Y.
Year: 2007
Title: Structural design of a practical suspendome
Journal: Advanced Steel Construction
Volume: 4
Issue: 4
Pages: 18
Start Page: 323
Short Title: Structural design of a practical suspendome
DOI: 10.18057/IJASC.2008.4.4.4
Keywords: Space structure, suspendome, tensegric system, prestress, sports building, buckling, eigenmode, geometrically nonlinearity, imperfection
Abstract: Structural design of a practical spherical suspendome with the diameter of 122m was carried out in China Construction (Shenzhen) Design International (CCDI) in 2006. The suspendome structure is a new type of large-span spatial structure which is widely used in the sports buildings. Several suspendome structures have been constructed as the structural roof in the sports arena in China in recent years. As is known to all, prestresses in the cable-strut system are crucial to the tensegric system, and the determination of prestress level and distribution is somewhat complicated. However, no provisions has been provided by current chinese design codes of practice for the suspendome structure. This paper gives out the detailed prestress design procedure for the practical sports arena which is to be built in Jinan City, China. General purpose finite element package ANSYS is utilized for the analyses. The self-internal-force mode and the prestress level ratio among three ring cables are investigated to determine the prestress in the cable. Linear static analyses are then carried out to validate the prestress efficiency. It has been shown that prestress defined by this way has much influence on the deformation and the internal force of the upper reticulated shell structure. The linear elastic buckling and the geometrically nonlinear stability analysis are also presented. The snap-through phenomenon of the structure is investigated to determine the critical load carrying capacity of stability. The infulence of live load distribution patterns and imperfections on suspendome is addressed in details. The results from the studies can not only be refered for direct design use, and also for the design of similar hybrid structures.
Author Address: Ph. D., China Construction (Shenzhen) Design International, NO.138, Kangjian Road, Shanghai, China, 200235