The experimental study on the vibration of membrane structure under impact load.

The present paper investigated the characteristic of the vibration of a membrane structure under impact load based on a series of experiments. Eight cases with different pretension forces by varying the pretension load in the lateral direction were carried out. The impact loads were applied on the center position of the membrane. The results of frequency, vibration amplitude, and damping ratio were discussed. It is shown that there is a main vibration mode with different main frequencies in the vibrations and the duration is the same under the different impact loads. The frequency is linear to the pretension force, and the amplitude of the vibration decreases by an exponential function determined by the parameter of the damping ratio. When the pretension force exceeded a threshold (6.2% of strength), the maximum amplitude and vibration duration tend to be a fixed value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]