Suspen-Dome System: A Fascinating Space Structure

With the recent trend in long span space structures, suspen-dome as a roof structure is becoming popular. Therefore, as the construction of long span structures increases in the world today, the effectiveness of suspen-dome structure should be considered in order to undertake further development of the system which may be required to improve its design and construction. One direction of the improvement of such structures is to seek new materials other than using the traditional steel to yield better results. This paper is a review of the suspen-dome system, including its characteristics, its use in space construction, its success as well as the possibility of replacing steel with other materials for better results. From the review, it is found that using steel cables in suspen-dome structure has some shortcomings which can be eliminated by the use of other materials. It is suggested that Carbon Fibre Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) can be the material because of its advantages over steel as indicated in the paper.