Journal of Constructional Steel Research 61 (2005) 764785 www.elsevier.

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Factors affecting the design and construction of Lamella suspen-dome systems

S. Kitipornchaia,, Wenjiang Kanga, Heung-Fai Lama, F. Albermanib
a Department of Building and Construction, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong b Department of Civil Engineering, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia

Received 5 August 2004; accepted 13 December 2004

Abstract The suspen-dome system is a new structural form that has become popular in the construction of long-span roof structures. These domes are very slender and lightweight, their conguration is complicated, and hence sequential consideration in the structural design is needed. This paper focuses on these considerations, which include the method for designing cable prestress force, a simplied analysis method, and the estimation of buckling capacity. Buckling is one of the most important problems for dome structures. This paper presents the ndings of an intensive buckling study of the Lamella suspen-dome system that takes geometric imperfection, asymmetric loading, rise-tospan ratio, and connection rigidity into consideration. Finally, suggested design and construction guidelines are given in the conclusion of this paper. 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords: Suspen-dome; Buckling; Prestress; Geometric imperfection; Asymmetric loading; Connection rigidity

Corresponding author.

E-mail addresses: bcskit@cityu.edu.hk (S. Kitipornchai), W.J.Kang@student.cityu.edu.hk (W. Kang), paullam@cityu.edu.hk (H.-F. Lam), f.albermani@mailbox.uq.edu.au (F. Albermani). 0143-974X/$ - see front matter 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.jcsr.2004.12.007

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Fig. 1. Basic arrangement of the suspen-dome system.

1. Introduction In recent years, space structures have been developing rapidly. Plane lattices, lattice domes, and tensegrity structures are widely used all over the world. The suspen-dome system, which was developed by Kawaguchi et al. [13], is one of the most attractive space structures due to its excellent structural properties. The fundamental idea of the suspen-dome system is the stiffening of a single-layer dome with a tensegrity system, as is shown in Fig. 1. The topmost single-layer dome provides rigid support and decreases the exibility of the bottom tensegrity system, and thus reduces the required prestress force in the cables compared to that of the cable-dome system [1]. Simultaneously, the bottom tensegrity system reduces the stress in the members of the topmost single-layer dome. As a result, the buckling capacity of the overall system is enhanced. The suspen-dome system has been widely used, with the Hikarigaoka Dome and Fureai Dome in Japan [1], and the Kiewitt suspen-dome in Tianjin in China as examples [5]. A comprehensive analysis of the modied Kiewitt suspen-dome has been carried out in Refs. [5,9]. Although static [2] and dynamic [4] tests have been carried out, many aspects that are related to the structural characteristics of the suspen-dome have not been addressed in the literature, such as the design of cable prestress force, and the effects of asymmetric loading, connection rigidity, rise-to-span ratio, and geometric imperfection on the buckling behavior of the system. The primary aim of this paper is to comprehensively investigate the suspen-dome system, and to provide useful guidelines for engineers in the analysis, design, and construction of this type of structure. Many single-layer dome congurations, such as the Lamella, Kiewitt, and modied Kiewitt domes (see Fig. 2), can be used as the topmost single-layer dome of the suspen-dome system. The symmetrical conguration of the Lamella dome makes it very

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(a) Kiewitt dome.

(b) Modied Kiewitt dome.

(c) Lamella dome.

Fig. 2. Single-layer dome congurations that can be employed in the suspen-dome system.

convenient to be employed as the topmost single-layer dome of the suspen-dome system. Although this paper focuses on the Lamella suspen-dome system, many conclusions in this paper can be applied to a suspen-dome system with other conguration. This paper addresses several key issues of Lamella suspen-dome structures. A method for the design of the cable prestress force is presented rst, followed by a comparison between the Lamella suspen-dome structure and the corresponding singlelayer Lamella dome. An efcient analysis method is then presented for the purpose of studying the effects of cable prestress force and external load on the structural behavior of the suspen-dome system. A parametric study of structural characteristics and buckling capacity follows. Buckling is one of the most important problems for dome structures, and there have been cases when domes have suddenly collapsed due to an insufcient buckling capacity, such as the collapse of a dome with a span of 93.5 m in Bucharest, Romania in 1961. An examination of the effect of geometric imperfection, asymmetric loading, rise-to-span ratio, and connection rigidity on the buckling capacity of suspen-domes is carried out, and the results and ndings are summarized in this paper. 2. Cable prestress force design method for the suspen-dome system 2.1. The basic idea of cable prestress force in the suspen-dome system A suspen-dome system is not a tensegrity system. Tensegrity systems are spatial reticulated systems in a state of self-stress. All tensioned elements (tendons) constitute a continuous set, and strut elements constitute a discontinuous set. Each node receives only one strut element [6]. Unlike the tensegrity system, the suspen-dome system is stable before the cables are prestressed. Therefore, it does not require form-nding calculations. It is not appropriate to use the analysis methods that are employed for a tensegrity system, such as the traditional force density method [6] and the methods that are presented in Refs. [7,8], to analyze suspen-dome structures. The tensegrity (cablestrut) system stiffens the suspen-dome system in two different ways. First, the prestressed cables introduce an opposing force to the external gravity load. This idea can be explained through the simply supported beam example in Fig. 3. The moment that is induced by the external load in Fig. 3(a) is opposite to the moment that is

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(a) Uniformly distributed load.

(b) Cable prestress force.

(c) Uniformly distributed load and cable prestress force. Fig. 3. Bending moment diagrams of a simply supported beam under different loading conditions.

induced by the cablestrut system in Fig. 3(b). As a result, the maximum bending moment of the combined system in Fig. 3(c) is reduced. Another method is to treat the prestressed cables as equivalent pre-tensioned struts. In this way, the suspen-dome system works like a double-layer dome. It must be pointed out that the applied prestress force of the hoop and radial cables must be large enough to prevent cable slack, but not be so large as to buckle the struts. If the cables slack, then the lower end of the corresponding vertical strut will be free, which may induce a serviceability problem. 2.2. The cable prestress force design method According to the aforementioned discussions, the prestress force of the cables must be designed to provide enough vertical strut force against the external load, and to prevent cable slack. To make this paper self-contained, the cable prestress design method that is proposed in Ref. [5] is briey outlined here. The interested reader is directed to Ref. [5] for further details of this method. The basic idea of this method is to stress the hoop cables such that the induced upward force in a strut is proportional to the external load that is applied to the corresponding node. The ve-ring suspen-dome in Fig. 5(a) is employed as an example to illustrate this idea. From Fig. 4(a), the relationship between the axial forces in the hoop cable and the vertical

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(a) Side view of a section.

(b) Plane projection. Fig. 4. The cable prestress force design method.

strut can be expressed as: Nvji = 2Nhci cot i cos i 2 cos i 2 (1)

where Nhcj for j = 1, . . . , 5 is the prestress force in the hoop cables at the j th ring, and Nvji is the axial force of the struts at the j th ring, which is induced by the prestress forces of cables at the i th ring. For a given geometry, Eq. (1) can be simplied as: Nvji = K i Nhci where K i is given by: K i = 2 cot i cos i 2 cos i 2 (3) (2)

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(a) Five-ring suspen-dome.

(b) Three-ring suspen-dome. Fig. 5. The nite element models of the two suspen-dome examples with typical node and element numbers.

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where j is the inner angle of the neighboring hoop cables at the j th ring, j is the projection of the inner angle of the neighboring radial cables at the j th ring on the horizontal plane, and i is the angle between the radial cable at the i th ring and the vertical axis. The resultant upward force in the strut that is caused by the cable prestress force is given by K 1 Nhc1 K 2 Nhc2 at both the rst and second rings, as is shown in Fig. 4. Similarly, the cable prestress force in the hoop cables of the second and third rings induces an upward force K 2 Nhc2 K 3 Nhc3 in the strut at the second ring, and so on. For the ve-ring suspen-dome in Fig. 5(a), K i is almost the same for i = 1, . . . , 5. When the dome is loaded with a uniform nodal load, we can ensure that the vertical forces of all struts are the same if the magnitudes of the prestress forces at the hoop cables at the rst to the fth rings are in the proportion of 5:4:3:2:1. If the dome is loaded with nodal loads at different rings in a specied proportion (which is always the case when a uniformly distributed vertical load is applied to the roof of the dome), then the prestress forces for the hoop cables at different rings must be set so as to produce upward forces in the struts at different rings in the same proportion as those of the external nodal load. If the model in Fig. 5(a) is loaded with a vertical downward uniformly distributed load of 1.0 kN/m2, then the equivalent nodal loads for typical nodes two to six are 20.3, 16.3, 12.3, 8, and 4.1 kN. According to the proposed cable prestress force design method, the prestress force for hoop cables at rings one to ve should be set in the proportion of 61(=20.3 + 16.3 + 12.3 + 8 + 4.1):40.7(=16.3 + 12.3 + 8 + 4.1):24.4(=12.3 + 8 + 4.1):12.1(=8 + 4.1) : 4.1. 2.3. Realization of the cable prestress force design Two methods are usually used [15] in the construction of suspen-dome structures. These are the two-stage method (TSM) and the multi-stage method (MSM). In the TSM, the prestress force is applied at the rst stage, and the external load, which includes both dead and imposed loads, is applied at the second stage. In the MSM, the prestress force is not applied to the cables in one single operation, but at several stages. Part of the prestress force is introduced to the cables, and then part of the external load is applied. This process is repeated until the complete external load has been applied to the system. The TSM is simple and efcient, but the MSM allows engineers to make full use of the cable strength, and to control the deformation of the dome system during construction. Note that the roof of such dome structures usually consists of several layers. A partial external load can be applied to the system during construction by controlling the construction sequences of the different layers. If the TSM is employed, then the large cable prestress force may buckle the system before it is compensated for by the external load (e.g., the weight of the roof layers). Therefore, the buckling capacity of the system in the absence of an external load must be considered in the design. If the designed prestress force is close to the critical buckling prestress force, then the MSM must be used. In summary, the following procedures are recommended for the design and application of cable prestress force for the suspen-dome system. 1. Calculate the required cable prestress force by the method presented in Ref. [5] (briey outlined in this paper).

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2. Check to ensure that there is no cable slack in any of the design load cases. 3. Check to ensure that the applied cable prestress force will not introduce buckling before the application of any external load. 3. Structural characteristics of a Lamella suspen-dome 3.1. The design model Based on the analytical results in Ref. [5], the contribution of cables and struts at the inner rings in resisting an external load is very small. Therefore, cables and struts at the two innermost rings are removed to form a cost-effective system, as is shown in Fig. 5(b). The three-ring dome that is shown in Fig. 5(b) is employed in this study to investigate the structural characteristics of the Lamella suspen-dome system. The rise-to-span ratio of the dome is 0.1, and the span is 48 m. The length of the vertical struts at the rst ring is 3 m, at the second ring is 2.7 m, and at the third ring is 2.4 m. A uniformly distributed load with a magnitude of 1.0 kN/m2 is applied to the top surface of the dome in the vertically downward direction. This distributed load is converted to a nodal load based on the corresponding tributary area. As a result, the nodal loads of the typical nodes one to seven in Fig. 5 are 11.5, 20.3, 16.3, 12.3, 8, 4.1, and 5.3 kN, respectively. Steel Circular Hollow Sections (CHS) with a diameter of 133 mm and a thickness of 6 mm are used as the principal members of the topmost single-layer dome, which allows the slenderness ratio of the dome members to vary between 23.2 and 139.4. Steel CHS with a diameter of 89 mm and a thickness of 4 mm are used as the vertical struts of the bottom tensegrity system, which allows the slenderness ratio of the strut members to vary between 79.8 and 99.8. The elastic modulus of the CHS is 210 GPa, and the cross sectional areas of all of the cables are 4.47 cm2 with an elastic modulus of 180 GPa. An analysis is carried out by the nonlinear nite element program ANSYS. All of the boundary nodes of the numerical model are pinned and restrained in vertical and tangential directions to the dome boundary. That is, the boundary nodes can move radially at the boundary. It must be pointed out that a very large horizontal force will be induced from the dome to the underlying structure if the boundary nodes are restrained in all directions. The cable prestress force is designed using the proposed method, and hoop cables are only used at the rst three rings. It is noted that the stresses of the cables at rings 1, 2, and 3 are in the proportion of 48.9(=20.3 + 16.3 + 12.3):28.6(=16.3 + 12.3):12.3. 3.2. Comparison between the Lamella suspen-dome and the Lamella single-layer dome Here, the mechanical properties of the Lamella single-layer dome and the Lamella suspen-dome, which is formed by stiffening the Lamella single-layer dome using a tensegrity system, are studied. The calculated element axial forces for the single-layer dome under an external load and the suspen-dome with and without an external load are summarized in Fig. 6. The gure shows that the axial stresses for the members of the suspen-dome are much smaller than those of the corresponding single-layer dome, especially for the members at the outmost ring.

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Fig. 6. Axial stresses for elements of the single-layer dome and the suspen-dome systems with and without external load.

With the help of the bottom tensegrity system, the stress of element 1, as marked in Fig. 5, decreases from 278 to 17.3 MPa in the presence of an external load. In addition to the stress consideration, Fig. 7 shows that the tensegrity system greatly reduces the nodal displacements. It is clear from the gure that the magnitudes of the displacements of the suspen-dome are much smaller than those of the single-layer dome. In general, the nodal displacements of the suspen-dome are less than 10% of those of the corresponding single-layer dome. The results of the analysis verify that the Lamella suspendome system is an efcient structural form compared with the single-layer dome system. 4. The superposition method for suspen-dome analysis Unlike the tensegrity system, the suspen-dome system is very rigid, and the nonlinear deformation is very small even under a large external load. As a result, the method of superposition can be applied in the analysis of this type of structure without introducing a large degree of error. To study the structural behaviors of the suspen-dome, an analysis is carried out in two phases. In Phase I, cable elements are employed in the nite element model to calculate the system deformation and internal member forces of all of the members under the action of cable prestress forces without an external load. In Phase II, using the original geometry, all of the cable elements are replaced by truss elements, and the nite element model is used to calculate the system deformation and internal member forces again under different load cases in the absence of cable prestress force. The overall structural responses of the suspen-dome system under different load cases can then be obtained by the superposition of the results from these two phases. With the help of the superposition method, it is easy to identify the contributions of the stress that is due to the cable prestress force and the

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Fig. 7. Nodal displacement-to-span ratio of the single-layer dome and suspen-dome systems with and without external load.

stress that is due to the external load. Accordingly, engineers can calculate the allowable external forces under a given load case without slacking any cable. The dome example in Fig. 5(b) is employed to verify the superposition analysis method. The axial stresses and nodal displacements in Phases I and II, and the superposition of Phases I and II are given in Tables 1 and 2, together with the calculated results from a geometric nonlinear analysis. It is clear from Table 1 that the percentage errors for the calculated stresses are generally close to 1%, except for element 4, for which the percentage error is the largest and is equal to 8.33%. This can be explained by the fact that the magnitude of stress at element 4 is much smaller than it is at other members. Therefore, a small change in the magnitude of stress will result in a relatively large percentage error. Similarly, Table 2 summarizes the calculated displacements for all four cases. The percentage errors are generally very small with the largest being 5.36% at typical node 6. It can be concluded that the geometric nonlinear effects of the suspen-dome system under such loading conditions are not signicant, and the proposed superposition method allows engineers to calculate the structural responses with acceptable accuracy. 5. Parametric study of buckling capacity and structural characteristics 5.1. Buckling under cable prestress force without an external load If the prestress force on the cables is too large, then the system may buckle in the absence of an external load. The three-ring model in Fig. 5(b) is employed again as an example. Linear eigenvalue buckling analysis is carried out, and the calculated eigenvalue is 1.96. Thus, the structure will buckle in the mode that is shown in Fig. 8 if a cable

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Table 1 Member stresses calculated by the superposition method and the nonlinear analysis method (106 N/m2 ) Element no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Phase I 125.600 83.704 17.376 35.701 16.384 1.052 10.049 11.646 7.532 1.816 0.435 1.121 Phase II 143.120 13.384 22.936 40.829 43.376 28.039 33.075 32.183 24.918 16.835 9.894 11.719 Phase I + II 17.520 70.320 40.312 5.128 26.992 26.987 23.026 20.537 17.386 15.019 10.329 12.840 Nonlinear analysis 17.338 70.496 40.491 4.7338 27.325 27.453 22.948 20.547 17.341 15.014 10.287 12.631 Error (%) 1.05 0.25 0.44 8.33 1.22 1.70 0.34 0.05 0.26 0.03 0.41 1.65

Table 2 Nodal displacements calculated by the superposition method and the nonlinear analysis method (mm) Node no. 2 3 4 5 6 7 Phase I 20.5 44.7 59.9 51.1 44.7 43.4 Phase II 44.8 57.6 62.2 59.8 50.0 40.3 Phase I + II 24.3 12.9 2.3 8.7 5.3 3.1 Nonlinear analysis 24.5 13.1 2.4 9.0 5.6 3.0 Error (%) 0.82 1.53 4.17 3.33 5.36 3.33

prestress force that is 1.96 times the design value is employed. This eigenvalue is low, and a multi-stage construction method is recommended in this case. 5.2. Effects of connection rigidity, asymmetric load, and rise-to-span ratio The effects of connection rigidity, asymmetric load, and the rise-to-span ratio on the buckling capacity and structural characteristics of the suspen-dome system are studied. The eigenvalue buckling analysis predicts the theoretical buckling capacity (the bifurcation load) of an ideal linear elastic structure. However, imperfections and nonlinearities prevent most real-world structures from achieving the theoretical elastic buckling capacity. Nevertheless, the eigenvalue buckling analysis does provide an upper bound for the critical load, together with the buckling mode, which gives engineers valuable information about the buckling behavior of the system. The eigenvalue buckling analysis results of the suspendome and the corresponding single-layer dome under different conditions are summarized in Table 3. 5.2.1. Connection rigidity Rigid connections are always employed in the construction of single-layer domes, because the buckling capacity of pin-connected single-layer domes is very low.

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Fig. 8. Buckling mode under cable prestress force without external load.

Table 3 Buckling load factors of single-layer domes and suspen-domes with different connection conditions, loading cases, and rise-to-span ratios Dome Single-layer dome (Rigid/Full-span load) Single-layer dome (Rigid/Half-span load) Single-layer dome (Pin/Full-span load) Single-layer dome (Pin/Half-span load) Suspen-dome (Rigid/Full-span load) Suspen-dome (Rigid/Half-span load) Suspen-dome (Pin/Full-span load) Suspen-dome (Pin/Half-span load) Rise-to-span ratio 0.06 0.10 2.50 2.36 0.15 0.12 4.12 4.51 0.15 0.13 6.54 6.06 0.63 0.54 8.98 7.94 0.63 0.54 0.15 9.84 10.22 1.87 1.59 10.58 10.96 1.87 1.60 0.2 10.87 12.63 3.84 3.25 10.67 12.73 3.83 3.26 0.3 9.20 11.17 7.96 6.78 8.27 10.16 7.96 6.78

However, pin connections are often used in double-layer lattice domes or doublelayer plane lattice structures, because the additional layer stiffens the structure. With the help of the tensegrity system, the suspen-dome system performs like a double-layer dome system. Therefore, pin connections can be used in the construction of the suspen-dome system. This argument is supported by the eigenvalue buckling analysis results in Table 3, which show that the buckling capacity of the pin-connected suspen-dome is higher than that of the pin-connected single-layer dome.

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Fig. 9. A suspen-dome under a half-span load.

Table 3 also shows that the buckling capacity of the pin-connected suspen-dome is lower compared with that of the rigidly connected suspen-dome, as is expected. From a design viewpoint, the ball joint is treated as a pin connection, and the welded hollow ball connection is treated as a rigid connection. As the ball joint is more convenient for construction, its employment is recommended when the span is not too large. For example, ball joint connections were employed in the construction of the suspen-dome in Tianjin in China, which has a span of 35.4 m [5]. However, if the span is large, say 50 m, then welded hollow ball connections are recommended from the buckling viewpoint. The buckling modes of the system under rigid and pin connections are shown in Fig. 11(a) and (b), respectively. It is clear from the gure that the buckling is localized at the central region for the pin-connected suspen-dome (see Fig. 11(b)), and is far away from the center of the dome in the rigidly connected suspen-dome (see Fig. 11(a)). One possible way to increase the buckling capacity of a pin-connected suspen-dome system would be to strengthen the central region with an additional layer, as is suggested in Fig. 13. 5.2.2. Asymmetric load Another factor to be considered in this study is asymmetric load. One type of asymmetric load is the half-span load, which is shown in Fig. 9. A half-span load can be resulted during construction, and can also be induced by snow. Another possible cause of asymmetric load is wind load. A wind-load model based on the wind tunnel test that was developed by Lin and Albermani [10,11] (see Fig. 10) is used. The angles AB and BC depend on the rise-to-span ratio. When the rise-to-span ratio is small (which is usually

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Fig. 10. Wind-induced pressure over a dome.

the case), the angle AB is small, and the horizontal component of the wind-induced force is very small. Therefore, the horizontal effect of asymmetric load on the system can be omitted, and the wind mainly introduces an upward force to the dome system. Table 3 shows that the buckling capacities of the Lamella suspen-dome system under a full-span load and half-span load are very similar. Fig. 12 shows the buckling modes for the rigidly and pin-connected suspen-dome systems under a half-span load. The buckling modes are very similar to those with the full-span load in Fig. 11. 5.2.3. Rise-to-span ratio Apart from the aforementioned factors, the rise-to-span ratio is also an important factor that affects the buckling capacity of suspen-dome systems. For a pin-connected suspendome system, Table 3 shows that the higher the rise-to-span ratio, the higher the buckling capacity will be. However, a similar trend cannot be found in the rigidly connected suspendome system. If the rise-to-span ratio is smaller than 0.2, then an increase in rise-to-span ratio will result in an increase in buckling capacity. If the rise-to-span ratio is larger than 0.2, then the buckling capacity will decrease as the rise-to-span ratio increases. From Table 3, it can be seen that a single-layer dome with a small rise-to-span ratio has a small buckling capacity. When the rise-to-span ratio is small, say, less than 0.15, the suspen-dome has the greatest advantage over the single-layer dome. Apart from buckling capacity concerns, changes in the inner force of suspen-dome members under different rise-to-span ratios are also studied. To clearly show the effects of the rise-to-span ratio under the action of an external load in the absence of a cable prestress force, only the results of Phase II of the superposition analysis method are shown, and the Phase I results are omitted.

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(a) Rigid connection.

(b) Pin connection. Fig. 11. Buckling modes of suspen-domes with rigid and pin connections under a full-span load (Rise-to-span ratio = 0.1).

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(a) Rigid connection.

(b) Pin connection. Fig. 12. Buckling modes of suspen-domes with rigid and pin connections under a half-span load (Rise-to-span ratio = 0.1).

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Fig. 13. Stiffening the central region of a suspen-dome system with an additional layer.

Fig. 14. Stresses of hoop cables at different rings of the suspen-dome system with different rise-to-span ratios.

A series of analyses is carried out using the dome example in Fig. 5(b) with different rises (the span is constant) to study the effect of different rise-to-span ratios. As shown in Fig. 14, the stress of the outermost hoop cable will signicantly increase when the riseto-span ratio is reduced. The rate of increase also depends on the rise-to-span ratio. In general, the rate of increase is larger for smaller rise-to-span ratios. This trend implies that the outermost hoop cables attract large forces when the rise-to-span ratio is small. Fig. 15 shows that the stress of hoop element 1 for the suspen-dome is lower than it is for the single-layer dome, and that the difference is larger for a small rise-to-span ratio. Therefore, a small rise-to-span ratio is preferred, as it allows engineers to make full use of the cable strength. Furthermore, a large rise-to-span ratio implies a long strut length (see Fig. 17(b)). As all of the struts are under compression, a buckling problem may result if the struts are too long. The radial displacements of the boundary nodes of the suspen-dome and single-layer dome with different rise-to-span ratios are calculated and summarized in Fig. 16. When

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Fig. 15. Stress of element 1 for suspen-domes and single-layer domes with different rise-to-span ratios.

the rise-to-span ratio decreases, the displacement of the single-layer dome increases considerably. Large radial displacements at the boundary nodes will introduce large horizontal forces to the underlying structure. This may result in a fabrication problem. From Fig. 16, it can be seen that the increase in displacement that is due to the decrease in the rise-to-span ratio is relatively gentle for the suspen-dome compared with the singlelayer dome. It can be concluded that the tensegrity system is very important for the stiffening of the structure, and thus reduces displacement, especially when the rise-to-span ratio is small. In conclusion, rise-to-span ratios of less than 0.15 or so are generally recommended in the design of suspen-dome systems. As the tension forces for cables at the outmost ring are large compared with those at the inner rings, larger diameters for hoop cables at the outmost ring are preferred. 5.3. Geometric imperfection Dome structures are very sensitive to geometric imperfection, which is unavoidable during fabrication. Several methods are available to analyze geometric imperfection. One is the random geometric imperfection method [12], in which randomly generated imperfection distribution samples are studied. The sample with the smallest buckling capacity is identied, and the corresponding buckling capacity is treated as the approximated critical capacity of the system. Another method is the fundamental mode imperfection method [12], in which the imperfection distribution is assumed to be consistent with the rst buckling mode. Generally, the buckling capacity that is calculated

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Fig. 16. Radial displacement-to-span ratios of the boundary nodes of suspen-domes and single-layer domes with different rise-to-span ratios.

(a) Small rise-to-span ratio (0.125).

(b) Large rise-to-span ratio (0.4).

Fig. 17. Examples of suspen-dome structures with different rise-to-span ratios.

by the fundamental mode imperfection method is the lowest of all the other modes, and is therefore the most critical. In this paper, nonlinear elastic analysis is carried out to compare the buckling capacities of the domes with different magnitudes of maximum nodal imperfections, which are considered using the fundamental mode imperfection method. Geometric nonlinear analyses are carried out. The geometric changes that are caused by prestress force and geometric imperfection are all reected during the analysis. The NewtonRaphson method and the arc-length method [13,14] are used to obtain the total loaddisplacement equilibrium path. The topmost single-layer dome of the suspen-dome in Fig. 5(b) is used as an example to show the importance of geometric imperfection. Rigid connections are used in this single-layer dome, but the boundary nodes, at which the displacements are restrained in

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Fig. 18. The load factordisplacement curves of a single-layer dome with different maximum nodal imperfections.

all directions, are pinned. For each geometric imperfection case, the basic nodal loads (dened in Section 3.1) of the typical nodes one to seven in Fig. 5(b) are 11.5, 20.3, 16.3, 12.3, 8, 4.1, and 5.3 kN, respectively. The buckling load is obtained by scaling the basic load by the buckling load factor, and the displacement of the center node (node seven) is monitored during the analysis. The load factordisplacement curves for different geometric imperfection conditions are summarized in Fig. 18. It is clear from the gure that the buckling capacity of the single-layer dome is rapidly reduced in the presence of geometric imperfections. In a case when the geometric imperfection has a maximum nodal imperfection of 5 cm, which is only 1.0/1000 of the span, a 35% reduction in buckling capacity is recorded. As geometric imperfection is unavoidable in construction, thus an adequate safety factor for buckling must be specied. A nonlinear buckling analysis is carried out for the suspen-dome system with geometric imperfection taken into consideration. The boundary nodes of the dome are pinned, and are restrained in the vertical direction and the tangential direction of the dome boundary. The analysis results for cases of different maximum nodal imperfections are summarized in Fig. 19. It is clear from the gure that the buckling capacity of the suspen-dome decreases when the maximum nodal imperfection of the geometric imperfection increases, as is expected. When the maximum nodal imperfection increases beyond the value of 10 cm (with the imperfection-to-span ratio = 2.1/1000), the ultimate load factor achieves the limited value of approximately 5.0. Note that the ultimate load factor of the dome without geometric imperfection is 9.4, and therefore, the factor of safety for buckling should be set to 2 in this case. According to the specications of the Chinese lattice dome [16], the maximum geometric imperfection that is caused by construction must not exceed span/300. For the

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Fig. 19. Buckling capacity of suspen-domes with different imperfection-to-span ratios.

model in this study, the span is 48 m, and thus the maximum geometric imperfection can be controlled below 16 cm. At this value of maximum nodal imperfection, the buckling capacity of the system reduces by almost 50%. 6. Conclusions A comprehensive parametric analysis of the Lamella suspen-dome system is carried out, and the results show the superior mechanical properties of the Lamella suspen-dome system over the corresponding single-layer dome. The bottom tensegrity system helps the dome structure to increase the buckling capacity, decrease member stresses, and increase stiffness. Based on the comprehensive nonlinear buckling analyses, it can be concluded that geometric imperfection plays an important role in the buckling capacity of the suspendome system. According to the numerical study that is presented here, geometric imperfection can reduce the buckling capacity of a suspen-dome system by up to 50%. Apart from geometric imperfection, the connection rigidity and rise-to-span ratio are also important factors that affect the buckling capacity. The pin-connected suspen-dome system has a lower buckling capacity, especially for suspen-dome structures with small rise-to-span ratios. Although rigid connections are difcult to construct compared with pin connections, they are highly recommended for suspen-dome structures from a buckling viewpoint, especially when the span is large. In this study, it is found that the buckling capacities of the Lamella suspen-dome system under the full-span and half-span loads are not evidently different.

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A small rise-to-span ratio, say, less than 0.15 or so, is recommended for suspen-dome systems. For shallow suspen-dome structures, the stresses for cables at the outmost ring rapidly increase under the action of an external load. Therefore, it is necessary to use hoop cables with a relatively large diameter at the outmost ring. The proposed superposition analysis method is efcient in the study of the suspendome system under different load cases. This method allows engineers to calculate the contributions of member stress from the cable prestress force and the external load, and thus estimate the required cable prestress force that is needed to prevent cables from slacking under different load cases. Acknowledgement The work described in this paper was fully supported by a grant from CityU (Project No. 7001521). References
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