Vol. 2, No. 5, 2007

Download this article
Download this article For screen
For printing
Recent Issues

Volume 19
Issue 4, 541–746
Issue 4, 541–572
Issue 3, 303–540
Issue 2, 157–302
Issue 1, 1–156

Volume 18, 5 issues

Volume 17, 5 issues

Volume 16, 5 issues

Volume 15, 5 issues

Volume 14, 5 issues

Volume 13, 5 issues

Volume 12, 5 issues

Volume 11, 5 issues

Volume 10, 5 issues

Volume 9, 5 issues

Volume 8, 8 issues

Volume 7, 10 issues

Volume 6, 9 issues

Volume 5, 6 issues

Volume 4, 10 issues

Volume 3, 10 issues

Volume 2, 10 issues

Volume 1, 8 issues

The Journal
About the journal
Ethics and policies
Peer-review process
 
Submission guidelines
Submission form
Editorial board
 
Subscriptions
 
ISSN 1559-3959 (online)
ISSN 1559-3959 (print)
 
Author index
To appear
 
Other MSP journals
A marching procedure for form-finding for tensegrity structures

Andrea Micheletti and William O. Williams

Vol. 2 (2007), No. 5, 857–882
Abstract

We give an algorithm for solving the form-finding problem, that is, for finding stable placements of a given tensegrity structure. The method starts with a known stable placement and alters edge lengths in a way that preserves the equilibrium equations. We then characterize the manifold to which classical tensegrity systems belong, which gives insight into the form-finding process. After describing several special cases, we show the results of a successful test of our algorithm on a large system.

Keywords
tensegrity structures, stability analysis, rank-deficiency manifold, marching processes, limit placements
Milestones
Received: 9 May 2006
Accepted: 9 October 2006
Published: 1 July 2007
Authors
Andrea Micheletti
Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile
Università di Roma Tor Vergata
Via Politecnico 1
00133 Rome
Italy
William O. Williams
William O. Williams
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213-3890
United States
http://www.math.cmu.edu/~wow/williams