Research and design of structural form of spoke structure.

To design a spoke structure, basic knowledge of form finding and how architectural form will affect structural behavior is necessary. Hence this paper presents a research into the above two fields, by theoretical derivation and numerical simulation. First, the force-density method was introduced to find the initial state of equilibrium for the structure. Different from ordinary form-finding processes, the analysis in this article goes from shape to force and then back to shape, which successfully avoids the convergence difficulties often encountered when using general force-density method. Comparison was made among different structural forms of the single-layer and two-layer spoke structures, respectively in terms of planar projections of the inner and outer rings, the spatial shape of the outer ring, and cable truss forms, etc. Through these work, the feasibility of different structural forms and main factors influencing structural rigidity were investigated. Research shows that similar inner and outer rings are preferred for the spoke structure, and the height difference of saddle-shaped outer ring does little to improve structural rigidity. Though convex cable trusses can improve structural rigidity efficiently, they tend to lose lateral stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]