Stability of an elastic cytoskeletal tensegrity model

An elastic cytoskeletal tensegrity structure composed by six inextensible elastic struts and 24 elastic cables is considered. The model is studied, adopting delay convention for stability. Critical conditions for simple and compound instabilities are defined. Post-critical behavior is also described. Equilibrium states with buckling of the struts are also considered. It is revealed that critical Euler buckling load of the struts is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for the existence of bifurcated equilibrium states, caused by buckling of the struts.