Dynamics of Cable Structures

Initial infinitesimal modes of rigid body motions are used to form a reduced basis for nonlinear dynamic analysis of cable structures. This approach superimposed on the geometrically nonlinear truss formulation extracts slow motions from the general dynamic response of cable systems. In this way the problem is reduced considerably and solution of the equations becomes smoother. These two features are computationally desirable. The advantage of the proposed procedure is studied using numerical examples of a plane cable net and a cut-down version of the Geiger dome. Problems of time-history computation and periodic motion analysis are addressed in the examples.