Numerical simulation algorithm for the forming process of tensile cable-strut structure

Numerical simulation of forming process is an issue that finds the solution of a series of unstable equilibrium states of cable-strut tensile structures with specific unstressed length. This is a long well unsolved theoretic question, which mostly lies in the couple of mechanism and elastic deformation. On the basis of the unstressed length, the theoretic parabolic curve element was adopted to simulate the cable with elastic tension and deformation. The vector of unbalance nodal force was subsequently formulated with the explicit branch-node matrix of topology in force-density method. And the dynamical relaxation method was used to solve the nonlinear equation to avoid the singular stiffness of equation. Numerical examples indicated that the proposed algorithm could calculate the unstable equilibrium state and simulate the forming process with the unstressed length of the active cables changing, and has some theoretical significance.