Desenvolvimento integrado de uma geodésica tensegrity metálica

Abstract

This thesis consists in the development and analysis theoretical, numerical and experimental of a geodesic metal structure from the Tensegrity category. This structural system consists in creating a volume in space using cables and bars that do not touch each other, and works, respectively, through tension and compression, giving the nameTensegrity. Throughout this work there is an integrated development of the dome through an experimental program, a numerical analisys, the obtaining of geometric parameters, the development of the constructive details and new proposals of architectonic conceptions for this kind of structure. The experimental program consists in static tests of application of symmetrical and assymetrical loads in a conceptiveprocessualmodel in an inedit way. In the numerical analisys, the same situations of load applications used in the experimental program are simulated. Compared the numeric values with the experimental ones, it is verified that: the values of the compression forces in the bars, and the tension values in the cables, were smaller in the experimental program than in the numerical analisys; there is a behavioral similarity between thevalues of nodal displacement. The specific geometric parameters of this structure, still unpublished, make possible the obtaining of the coordinates and lengths of the bars and cables of a tensegrity geodesic dome of any size. In this thesis is developed and presented the constructive details of the dome and the dimensions of its structuralelements (metal pipes bars, and cables of steel).