Equilibrium consistent anisotropic stress fields in membrane design

Abstract

This paper deals with the control of mesh distortions which may appear during the form finding procedure of membrane design. The reason is the unbalance of surface stresses either due to the interaction of edge and surface or incompatibilities along the sewing lines of adjacent membrane patches. An approach is presented which is based on a rational modification of the surface tension field. The criterion is based on the control of the element distortion and derived from differential geometry. Several examples demonstrate the success of the method.