Design and Analysis of Geodesic Tensegrity Structures

The structural design and optimisation principles are discussed in relation to a range of skeletal structures composed of cable, strut and occasionally, beam elements. Geodesic Tensegrity structures are developed as a subset of the skeletal structures for which special considerations are given to the intrinsic geometry and structural relationship principles which define such structures. The report is mainly focused on structural design applications, for example, dome structures and modular structures suitable for developing as large scale agricultural greenhouse systems. As well as developing and discussing a range of novel structural designs, advanced analytical and computational methods are presented, suitable for the analysis of large scale symmetric or periodic structures, for which considerations of symmetry lead to a significant reduction in the computational complexity of such problems.