A Structural Analysis Method for Cable-Beam Composite Structure

A structural analysis method is proposed in this paper for cable-beam composite structure with a large number of cable elements; it can improve computational efficiency and accuracy. Firstly, we use a structural division method to divide the whole cable-beam structure into inner cablenet system and edge cablenet-beam system. Because inner cablenet is a pure cablenet structure with given shape and topology, balance matrix analysis method is used to help obtain the best pretension distribution of it with the evenness as objective. For edge cablenet-beam system, with obtaining equilibrium forces of inner cablenet’s pretensions as goal, an iterative pretension losses compensation calculation combined with nonlinear finite element method and balance matrix analysis method is used for edge cablenet to adjust its pretension distribution and make the whole cablenet system keep its preset ideal shape under influence of beams’ deformations. Because edge cablenet-beam system has a lot less cable elements than overall structure, its nonlinear finite element calculations are much easier and faster than those for the whole cable-beam composite structure. In order to verify the above method’s validity, it is used for a spaceborne cablenet deployable antenna example, and the computed results indicate that the method is feasible.