Prismatic tensegrity structures with additional cables: Integral symmetric states of self-stress and cable-controlled reconfiguration procedure

A simple energy method is put forward to determine the prestress distribution for symmetric tensegrity structures with multiple states of self-stress and a class of prismatic tensegrities with additional cables are introduced to show the accuracy of presented method. For the purpose of modifying structural shape as well as mechanical properties, a cable-controlled reconfiguration procedure is subsequently proposed for these structures. By defining the length adjustments as the control parameters, the reconfiguration procedure is regarded as a quasi-static process, consisting of a sequence of equilibrium configurations with varying control parameters. Then the nonlinear iterative algorithm based on the tangent stiffness of the structure is presented to simulate and follow this reconfiguration process. By way of example, a particular class of reconfigurations coined symmetrical reconfigurations are investigated carefully and the key features as well as the potential applications are given.