Finite Element Analysis of Cable-truss Structures

[Abstract] Finite element techniques are applied to analyze truss structures containing pretensioned cables. This paper focuses on the study of the influence of cable property and pretension on trusses and the variation of cable tension in undeformed and deformed configurations. This work shows that cable pretension, elastic modulus, and cross-sectional area have significant effect on truss performances. Stability and optimization associated with structural design of trusses are briefly discussed. The paper presents some case studies of cable-truss structures, in which commercial FE packages ANSYS and NASTRAN have been utilized.