Mechanical Characteristics of Cable Truss Roof Systems

Abstract

Cable structures are lightweight structures of flexible type, cable members have only axial stiffness related to tension, they can carry neither bending nor compression. This study is the analysis of cable truss systems are composed of upper and low cables by connecting bracing cables, the structural principle is based on a tensegrity system by using bracing tension members, discontinuous compression members and continuous tension members. A hanging roof of cable truss system is too flexible against vertical loads, most cable members are stabilized by connecting the prestressed upper and lower cable by bracing cables. A cable truss roof system is formed by adding a set of cables with reverse curvature to the suspension cables. With the sets of cables having opposite curvature to each other, cable truss is able to carry vertical load in both upward and downward direction with equal effectiveness, and then a cable truss acts as load bearing elements by the assemble of ridge cables, valley cables and bracing cables. This paper will be shown the geometric non-linear analysis result of cable truss systems with various sag ratio for deflections and tensile forces, the analytical results are compared with the results of other researchers.

Mechanical characteristics of Circular cable roof systems

“…The retractable roof is designed as a full control system to overcome extreme outdoor environments such as extreme hot, cold weather, strong wind or sunlight, and also the cable roof greatly can reduce the roof weight compared to other rigid structural system [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. …”

“…Therefore, the geometric nonlinear analysis of cable systems does not exhibit typical nonlinear behavior, it is necessary to handle initial pre-stress forces, iterative numbers of load step, a data of convergence criteria, an artificial control data of negative cable and a choice of nonlinear iterative method. In this paper, it will be compared for the tensile force of cables and deflection of a roof for retractable circular cable structures according to the height of roof posts [3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10]. …”