Nonlinear Static Analysis of Cable Roof Structures with Unified Kinematic Description

Abstract

A finite element analysis technology applicable to the prediction of the static nonlinear response of cable roof structure is presented. The unified kinematic description is employed to formulate the present cable element and different strain definitions such as Green-Lagrange strain, Biot strain and Hencky strain can be adopted. The Newton-Raphson method is used to trace the nonlinear loaddisplacement path. In the iteration process, the compressive stress of a cable element is not allowed. For the verification of the present cable element, four numerical examples are tackled. Finally, numerical results obtained by using the present cable element are provided as new benchmark test results for cable structures under static loads.