A general method for the analysis of cable assemblies with fixed and flexible elastic boundaries

Abstract The proposed method is based on the minimization of the Total Potential Energy (TPE) of the complete structural assembly by the method of conjugate gradients. The method has the advantage of compactness and converges relatively fast for structures with fixed boundaries. For flexible boundaries the rate of convergence is reduced due to the large differences in stiffness from member to member. A scaling technique has therefore been introduced. This results in a method of analysis which is more compact and also faster than the Newton-Raphson method. The loading has been assumed to be applied as concentrated loads at the cable joints. The theory has been verified by experimental work on model structural assemblies.