• International journal of steel structures
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.1654-1665
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• 2018

In an irregular prism tensegrity, the number of force equilibrium equations is less than the number of unknown parameters of nodal coordinates and member force ratios. As a result, the form-finding process normally becomes nonlinear with additional conditions or needs to be carried out with the use of iterative procedures. For cases of irregular prism tensegrity which involves large number of members, it was found that previously proposed methods of form-finding are not practical. Moreover, there is a need for a form-finding approach which is able to cater to different requirements on final configuration. In this paper, the length relation condition is introduced to be used in combination with the force equilibrium equation. With the combined use of length relation and equilibrium conditions, a linear form-finding approach for irregular prism tensegrity was successfully formulated and developed. An easy-to-use interactive form-finding tool has been developed which can be used for form-finding of irregular prism tensegrities with large number of elements as well as under diverse specific requirements on their configurations.

• Advances in Computational Design
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• v.2 no.1
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• pp.71-87
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• 2017

This study focuses on the efficiency and applicability of dynamic relaxation methods in form-finding of membrane structures. Membrane structures have large deformations that require complex nonlinear analysis. The first step of analysis of these structures is the form-finding process including a geometrically nonlinear analysis. Several numerical methods for form-finding have been introduced such as the dynamic relaxation, force density method, particle spring systems and the updated reference strategy. In the present study, dynamic relaxation method (DRM) is investigated. The dynamic relaxation method is an iterative process that is used for the static equilibrium analysis of geometrically nonlinear problems. Five different examples are used in this paper. To achieve the grading of the different dynamic relaxation methods in form-finding of membrane structures, a performance index is introduced. The results indicate that viscous damping methods show better performance than kinetic damping in finding the shapes of membrane structures.

• Architectural research
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.143-152
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• 2012

A form-finding procedure is presented for planar tensegrity structures. Notably, a simple decision criteria is proposed to select the desirable candidate position vector from the unitary matrix produced by the eigenvalue decomposition of force density matrix. The soundness of the candidate position vector guarantees faster convergence and produces a desirable form of tensegrity without any member having zero-length. Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the capability of the proposed form-finding process.

• Architectural research
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.207-214
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• 2013

A form-finding technique is proposed for three-dimensional spatial structures. Two-step discrete finite element (FE) mesh generator based on computer aided geometric design (CAGD) is introduced and used to control the shape of three-dimensional spatial structures. Mathematical programming technique is adopted to search new forms (or shapes) of spatial structures. For this purpose, the strain energy is introduced as the objective function to be minimized and the initial volume (or the initial weight) is considered as constraint function. Numerical examples are carried out to test the capability of the proposed form-finding techniques and provided as benchmark tests.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.42 no.2
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• pp.191-210
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• 2012

The Force Density Method (FDM) is a well known and extremely versatile tool in form finding of cable nets. In its linear formulation such method makes it possible to find all the possible equilibrium configurations of a net of cables having a certain given connectivity and given boundary conditions on the nodes. Each singular configuration corresponds to an assumed force density distribution. Its improvement as Non-Linear Force Density Method (NLFDM) introduces the possibility of imposing assigned relative distances among the nodes, the tensile level in the elements and/or their initial undeformed length. In this paper an Extended Force Density Method (EFDM) is proposed, which makes it possible to set conditions in terms of given fixed nodal reactions or, in other words, to fix the positions of a certain number of nodes and, at the same time, to impose the intensity of the reaction force. Through such extension, the (EFDM) enables us to deal with form findings problems of cable nets subjected to given constraints and, in particular, with mixed structures, made of cables and struts. The efficiency and the robustness of method are assessed through comparisons with other form finding techniques in dealing with characteristic applications to the prestress design of cable systems. As a further extension, the EFDM is applied to structures having some parts not yet geometrically defined, as can happen in designing new creative forms.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.27 no.4
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• pp.313-320
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• 2014

A tensegrity structure consists of a set of continuous cables in tension and a set of discontinuous struts in compression. The tensegrity structure can be classified into self-stressed and pre-stressed pin-jointed structure. A key step in the design of tensegrity structures is the determination of their equilibrium configuration, known as form-finding. In this paper, three effective methods are presented for form-finding of tensegrity structures. After performing form-finding process, a set of force density and corresponding topology results can be obtained. Then the force density method combined with a genetic algorithm is adopted to uniquely define a single integral feasible set of force densities. Numerical examples are presented that demonstrate the excellent performance of the algorithms.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.62 no.1
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• pp.85-95
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• 2017

This paper presents an explicit analytical iteration method for form-finding analysis of suspension bridges. By extending the conventional analytical form-finding method predicated on the elastic catenary theory, two nonlinear governing equations are derived for calculating the accurate unstrained lengths of the entire cable systems both the main cable and the hangers. And for the gradient-based iteration method, the derivation of explicit calculation for the Jacobian matrix while solving the nonlinear governing equation enhances the computational efficiency. The results from sensitivity analysis show well performance of the explicit Jacobian matrix compared with the traditional finite difference method. According to two numerical examples of long span suspension bridges studied, the proposed method is also compared with those reported approaches or the fundamental criterions in suspension bridge structural analysis, which eventually confirms the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach.

• Journal of Korean Association for Spatial Structures
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• v.2 no.1 s.3
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• pp.75-84
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• 2002

In this study, the 'force density method' for shape finding of cable net structures is presented. This concept is based on the force-length ratios or force densities which are defined for each branch of the net structures. This method renders a simple linear 'analytical form finding' possible. If the free choice of the force densities is restricted by further condition, the linear method is extended to a nonlinear one. The nonlinear one can be applied to the detailed computation of networks. In this paper, the general inverse matrix is introduced to solve the nonlinear equilibrium equation including Jacobian matrix which is rectangular matrix. Several examples for linear and nonlinear analysis applied additional constraints are presented. It is shown that the force density method is suitable for form finding of cable net and the general inverse matrix can be applied to solve the nonlinear equation without Lagrangian factors.

• Journal of the Computational Structural Engineering Institute of Korea
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.457-464
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• 1999

The object of this study is form finding, stress-strain analysis and cutting pattern analysis of membrane structures under the following assumptions : (1) material is linearly elastic (2) stress state is plane stress. The cable and membrane structures undergo large deformation because of its highly flexibility, therefore, we must take account of its geometric nonlinearity. The analysis procedure is consisted of three steps considering geometric nonlinearity unlike any other structures. First step is the form finding analysis to determine the initial equilibrium shape. Second step is the stress-strain analysis to investigate the behaviors of structures under various external loads. Once a stationary shape has been fount a cutting pattern based on the form finding analysis may be generated for manufacturing procedure. In this paper, form finding, stress-strain analysis and cutting pattern analysis is carried out for applying to Seoguipo worldcup soccer stadium roof structures and optimal cutting pattern analysis technique is proposed.

• The Korean Journal of Archival Studies
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• no.8
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• pp.181-211
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• 2003

The purpose of this study is to reveal the context within which EAD was developed, to review the elements and the structure of EAD 1.0 version and to introduce EAD as new standard for encoded archival finding aids in Korea. Encoded Archival Description(EAD) has been developed in 1993 in order to facilitate exchange of ISAD(G) descriptive information. EAD is currently administered and maintained jointly by the Society of American Archivists and the United States Library of Congress. While development was initiated in the United Stares, international interest and contribution are increasing. EAD is a encoding standard designed specifically for marking up information contained in archival finding aids. From its inception, EAD was based on SGML, and, with the release of EAD version 1.0 in 1998, it is also compliant with XML in order to facilitate easier internet access to SGML-encoded finding aids. EAD is the first tool to preserve the multilevel and hierarchical description manifest in finding aids by providing structures in which to describe entire record collections and increasingly smaller subcomponents thereof such as series, subseries, folders, and even items. Archival institutions can form a EAD consortium and also create a union database of EAD finding aids for the geographically dispersed collections. The EAD DTD provides a flexible way for archives to convert finding aids that exist in paper form into electronic documents or to create new finding aids in electronic form.