01-22-2013, 07:41 AM
i true petko666 if you are going to be getting into tensile structures, you might as well get the whole way.. the prestress governs your shape, your form, also your analysis, as the amount of prestress you put on the structure dictates your deflections, and in a way the stability of the entire structure. Predicting the load incident on these kind of structures is also critical since it will eventually change your prestress. This is a ridiculous back-and-forth effort for most engineers, as there is no right-or-wrong nor some code or thumb-rules to follow in their designs.
But on the other hand, with tent structures such as these, you have a very high curvature for the structure, also its going to be designed as temporary, so you can make do with a lot of loading for permanent structures - or not... as the client / design dictates.
Then there is detailing, which will be very different as compared to conventional structures, and much different considering that its a structure that is going to be taken down and put up a lot many times. This changes the detailing of the structure.
Another thing. Forten 2000 is a pretty old software to use in today's date. ixForten 4000 is out and it analyses steel and membrane together, and that should be the approach for such a tent, as the stability of the structure is going to be dictated and dependent on the cables and the membrane. Also, excessive deflections may be permissible in the steel, but will not work for the membrane, and if you are doing that across softwares it will be hell to put deflections of the steel structure back to your membrane program and run an analysis again!!
get someone with a bit of experience. Just getting the mesh will not solve the problem.
But on the other hand, with tent structures such as these, you have a very high curvature for the structure, also its going to be designed as temporary, so you can make do with a lot of loading for permanent structures - or not... as the client / design dictates.
Then there is detailing, which will be very different as compared to conventional structures, and much different considering that its a structure that is going to be taken down and put up a lot many times. This changes the detailing of the structure.
Another thing. Forten 2000 is a pretty old software to use in today's date. ixForten 4000 is out and it analyses steel and membrane together, and that should be the approach for such a tent, as the stability of the structure is going to be dictated and dependent on the cables and the membrane. Also, excessive deflections may be permissible in the steel, but will not work for the membrane, and if you are doing that across softwares it will be hell to put deflections of the steel structure back to your membrane program and run an analysis again!!
get someone with a bit of experience. Just getting the mesh will not solve the problem.