Stabilities of cable-stiffened cylindrical single-layer latticed shells

Abstract

A cable-stiffened cylindrical single-layer latticed shell that is reinforced by cable-stiffened system has superior stability behaviour compared with the ordinary cylindrical latticed shell. The layouts of cable-stiffened system are flexible in this structural system, and different layouts contribute different stiffness to the structure. However, the existed few research primarily focused on the simplest type of cable layouts, in which the grids of the latticed shell are diagonally stiffened by prestressed cables in-plane. This current work examines the stability behaviour of the cable-stiffened cylindrical latticed shells with two different types of cable layouts using nonlinear finite element analysis. A parametric study on the effect of cross-sectional of the cables, pretension in cables, joint stiffness, initial imperfections, load distributions and boundary conditions is presented. The findings are useful for the reference of the designer in using this type of structural system.