Incremental analysis of cable nets

The structural analysis of cable nets is performed in two different steps; a first stepconcerns the characterization of the initial form, the so-called form finding. In the paper a generalizationof the force density method is proposed, that uses the exact catenary element, thus yieldingan exactly equilibrated configuration [1, 8]. The second step involves the structural non linear analysisof the net, in which the non linearity due to large displacements and to the conservative loadsacting on the structure is considered. The initializing solution for the second incremental analysis isthe form obtained in the first step. The cable element adopted is the generalized catenary elementdeveloped in [2]. A mixed procedure is performed for the incremental analysis, in which either theposition of the nodes of the net or the thrusts in the cables are the unknowns. The method presents avery fast convergence rate and a good accuracy of the solution.