Design of tensegrity structures: the kinematic method with forces in structural members

The advantage of the well-known kinematic form-finding method of tensegrity structures is its simplicity and possibility to include length constraints on structural members. The stability of the structures obtained using this method is, however, not guaranteed because it takes no account of the forces in structural members. In this paper, it will be shown that this method inherently assume that the magnitudes of force-to-length ratios in all cables and bars are equal. Thus, an approach for obtaining the optimal set of force-to-length ratios for a given tensegrity configuration that can be used with the kinematic form-finding methods for tensegrity structures for improved stability will be presented. The new approach will be described with an example. © Civil-Comp Press, 2011.