Form-finding of tensegrity structures with arbitrary strut and cable members

• An advanced form-finding method of tensegrity structures is presented.
• Proposed method can determine appropriate candidates for struts.
• The discontinuity condition of struts is used to determining candidates.
• The present method does not require any symmetry condition of tensegrity.
• The form-finding process is performed by using a genetic algorithm.

An advanced form-finding method for tensegrity structures is presented. In the present study, determining an appropriate candidate for strut members using the discontinuity condition of struts is performed. Additionally, the self-equilibrium and stability properties of tensegrity structures are obtained by using the force density method combined with a genetic algorithm. The proposed algorithm is effectively capable of searching for appropriate strut candidates with limited information in nodal connectivity. Appropriate member types and a feasible set of the nodal coordinates and the force densities can be found efficiently. Based on numerical examples, it is found that the proposed method is very efficient and robust in searching the self-equilibrium configuration of tensegrity structures.