Abstract
The special environment on the moon provides new challenges to structural engineers for building structures satisfying special requirements for habitation. A method of defining geometric configurations of inflatable combined cable–membrane structures is proposed in the present paper. The geometric configuration is formed from a group of spherical membranes. The purpose of the multi-spherical surface layout is to reduce the stress level of the membrane while maintaining a sufficiently large compartment for habitation. A finite element analysis procedure is developed for finding the final geometric configuration from an initial configuration. The proposed method provides an alternative approach for constructing large-scale structures for the lunar habitation. Three numerical examples are provided to illustrate the idea and demonstrate the effectiveness of the analysis procedure.
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