A Direct Method for Buckling Analysis of Single Layer Lattice Structures

Abstract

Numerous authors have studied the buckling behaviour of single layer lattice structures. Issues such as the buckling analysis in the elastic and plastic ranges, and the effects of imperfections in the failure mechanism of the structure have been investigated. However, there is still an uncertainty at the time of performing the buckling design of individual elements within the structure. This uncertainty stems from the need to approximate the effective length of each individual member. In addition, the approximate design criteria established by the different codes, and in particular Eurocode 3, are generally applicable to planar frames, but uncertain for spatial structures. This paper presents a direct one-step method for the buckling analysis of single layer lattice structures. The method avoids the use of the effective length factor of each individual element. The key point is to perform a non-linear analysis of the structure starting from an initial deformation state that includes the initial imperfections of the elements. Such an initial deformation state is obtained from the first buckling mode of the structure by a suitable scaling procedure based on an energy approach. The resulting initial deformed shape is introduced along with the external loads in a fully non-linear structural analysis that yields the resulting element stresses including the buckling effects. The performance of the method is checked by means of a series of numerical examples. The stiffness characteristics of the connections have been obtained, and included in the analysis, thus showing their influence on the behaviour of the structure.

Simplified numerical method for latticed shells that considers member geometric imperfection and semi-rigid joints

“…Numerous studies have been conducted to investigate the mechanical behavior of joints in space structures. Lopez et al (2007aLopez et al ( , 2007b, Loureiro et al (2002), Ma et al (2008), Kato et al (1998), and Fan et al (2011) verified that the rigidity of joints was an important factor that influenced the behavior of a 1 single-layer latticed dome. Fan et al systematically conducted experimental and numerical analyses to investigate the influence of joint stiffness on the mechanical behavior of latticed shells (Fan et al, 2011;Ma et al, 2013aMa et al, , 2013bMa et al, , 2015.…”

Form finding of assembled lattice structure considering the effect of joint stiffness

“…Then, various types of joints have experimented for their respective mechanical performances, which have shown different effects on reticulated shells. According to a prototype test, the bending stiffness of the joint was determined [8], and the joint bending stiffness was brought into the overall structural analysis model. The differences of stable bearing capacity between the perfect lattice shell and the lattice shell with geometric initial imperfects were compared.…”

Investigations on the mechanical behavior of suspend-dome with semirigid joints

“…Many studies were conducted to analyze the mechanical behavior of joints in space structures [10] . López et al [11] [12] , Ma et al [13] , Fan et al [14] , and Kato et al [15] verified that the rigidity of joints is an important factor that influences the behavior of a single-layer latticed dome. Fan [8] [16][17] [18] systematically conducted experimental and numerical analyses to investigate the influence of joint stiffness on the mechanical behavior of latticed shells.…”