An efficient numerical shape analysis for light weight membrane structures

The determination of initial equilibrium shapes is a common problem in research work and engineering applications related to membrane structures. Using a general structural analysis framework of the finite particle method (FPM), this paper presents the first application of the FPM and a recently-developed membrane model to the shape analysis of light weight membranes. The FPM is rooted in vector mechanics and physical viewpoints. It discretizes the analyzed domain into a group of particles linked by elements, and the motion of the free particles is directly described by Newton’s second law while the constrained ones follow the prescribed paths. An efficient physical modeling procedure of handling geometric nonlinearity has been developed to evaluate the particle interaction forces. To achieve the equilibrium shape as fast as possible, an integral-form, explicit time integration scheme has been proposed for solving the equation of motion. The equilibrium shape can be obtained naturally without nonlinear iterative correction and global stiffness matrix integration. Two classical curved surfaces of tension membranes produced under the uniform-stress condition are presented to verify the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed method.