Calculation Method for Cable-Beam Shell Structures

Abstract

This paper presents a calculation method suitable for cable-beam shell structures. It is based on both nonlinear finite element and force density methods. The main idea is to define the solution sequence for stress – strain state problem of above mentioned structures by nonlinear finite element method. Every successive solution involves the previous one as an initial estimate in convergent domain. To find an initial estimate for the first solution a force density method is used. The proposed method is tested on a new large space umbrella reflector.