Topology-Finding of Tensegrity Structures Considering Global Stability Condition
Publication: Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146, Issue 12
Abstract
This study proposes a general framework for topology-finding or topology optimization of tensegrity structures. The existing topology-finding formulation of tensegrity structures based on mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) was improved and transformed into a formulation based on mixed-integer semidefinite programming (MISDP) which considers the global stability condition of tensegrity. We illustrated and analyzed two undesirable phenomena, loss of prestress stability and loss of integrity, caused by the missing global stability condition in previous MILP-based approaches. A branch-and-bound algorithm combined with a primal-dual interior-point algorithm is employed to solve the proposed MISDP model. Some numerical examples illustrated the improvements and effectiveness of the proposed approach. The proposed approach successfully can avoid the two undesirable phenomena and ensure the global stability of the found tensegrity structures. By using different stability conditions in the topology-finding process, the proposed approach can find general stable tensegrity structures and superstable tensegrity structures.
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Data Availability Statement
All data, models, and code generated or used during the study appear in the published article.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFC0806100), the Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province (Grant No. LR17E080001), and the 2018 Zhejiang University Academic Award for Outstanding Doctoral Candidates. The EPFL Applied Computing and Mechanics Laboratory (IMAC) is acknowledged for its support during the review process of this article.
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Published In
Journal of Structural Engineering
Volume 146 • Issue 12 • December 2020
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© 2020 American Society of Civil Engineers.
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Received: Dec 23, 2019
Accepted: Jun 24, 2020
Published online: Sep 20, 2020
Published in print: Dec 1, 2020
Discussion open until: Feb 20, 2021
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