Article

Journal of Vibration and Control

1–16

Dynamic response of rectangular ! The Author(s) 2018

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membrane excited by heavy rainfall DOI: 10.1177/1077546318797167
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Zhou-Lian Zheng1,2,3 , Guang-Xin Zhang2,3 , Dong Li3 and

Chang-Jiang Liu4

Abstract
This paper investigates the dynamic response problem of an orthotropic rectangular membrane structure excited by the
heavy rainfall. Firstly, a determined model is proposed to express the load of heavy rainfall imposed on the membrane
structure. Then, the geometrically nonlinear governing motion equations of the membrane structure are established
based on the von Kármán’s theory, and solved by the perturbation method. Consequently, the approximated analytical
solution of displacement can be obtained. Secondly, the experimental study of this dynamic response problem is carried
out. The theoretical model is validated by the experimental data based on the developed artificial simulated rainfall
impact system. Moreover, the effects of adding weight from the accumulated rain on structural characteristics are
analyzed. Additionally, the parameter discussions varying with rainfall intensity, material properties, pre-tension, struc-
tural size, and inclined angle are made in detail. This work provides a reliable theoretical model and experimental system
to study the dynamic response problem of membrane structures excited by heavy rainfall and the guidance for the
dynamic design, construction and maintenance of membrane structures in practical engineering as well.

Keywords
Heavy rainfall, membrane structure, dynamic response, perturbation method

1. Introduction method and multiple-scale perturbation method.

In recent years, the membrane structure has been widely
used in public buildings and landscape architectures
because of its rich styling and easy construction.
However, its local stiffness is little because of its thin
thickness and light weight. Thus, it has large deformation
for the membrane structure under the impact load such
as heavy rainfall. This will give rise to the loss of original
design function, even failure of the membrane structures
(Zheng et al., 2013). So, the dynamic response analysis
plays a vital role in the design of the membrane structure
(Liu et al., 2014; Young et al., 2005).
At present, dozens of theoretical achievements on
this subject have been acquired. Jenkins and Korde
(2006) confirmed linear vibration theory with experi-
mental results of circular membrane. Houmat (2006)
developed a trigonometric p-version of the finite-
element method which was based on a trigonometri-
cally enriched curved quadrilateral, and analyzed free
vibration of arbitrarily shaped membranes. Li et al.
(2017a) analyzed the free vibration problem of the rect-
angular membrane structure by means of the Galerkin
During the procedure of discretizing partial differential
equations with the Galerkin method, the symmetric
mode shapes were assumed. Subsequently, Li et al.
(2018) considered the modal coupling effect and intro-
duced the symmetric and asymmetric modes to study
1
Prefabricated Construction Applied Technology Promotion Center of
Chongqing Higher Vocational Colleges (Chongqing Jianzhu College),
People’s Republic of China
2
Chengdu JZFZ Architectural Design Co. Ltd, People’s Republic of China
3
School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University, People’s Republic of
China
4
College of Environment and Civil Engineering, Chengdu University of
Technology, People’s Republic of China
Received: 20 January 2018; accepted: 6 August 2018
Corresponding authors:
Zhou-lian Zheng, School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University,
Chongqing 400045, People’s Republic of China.
Email: zhengzl@cqu.edu.cn
Dong Li,School of Civil Engineering, Chongqing University,Chongqing
400045, People’s Republic of China.
Email: 20151601001@cqu.edu.cn
2 Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)
the nonlinear vibration of the membrane structure.
Bahrami et al. (2013) investigated the free vibration
of annular circular and sectorial membranes using the
wave propagation approach and presented a concise
approach for obtaining the natural frequencies. Zheng
et al. (2012) investigated nonlinear vibration deflection
of rectangular membranes using the large deflection
theory and the linear programming perturbation
method. It is worth mentioning that the influence of
added mass on the dynamic characteristics for the
membrane structure has been demonstrated to be sig-
nificantly obvious. Zhou et al. (2014) established a
framework to analyze the added mass for membrane
vibration in still air and vacuum using the boundary
element method and obtained the effects of added air
mass combined with the experimental results.
In addition, some experimental researches on this
class of problem have been conducted. Yang et al.
(2010) conducted an experimental study on the static
and dynamic interaction between membrane structures
and the wind environment. They introduced a separ-
ation method of the added mass and aerodynamic
damping and discussed the influence on the dynamic
characteristics. Zhou et al. (2013) performed a wind
tunnel test on the rigid model of Expo Boulevard and
carried out an analysis of the wind-induced responses
of the large-scale membrane structure using a numerical
integral method. A practical analysis method for
wind-induced responses of membrane structures was
performed in this study. Wu et al. (2015) performed
wind tunnel tests on different pre-tensions models of
closed-type saddle-shaped tensioned membrane struc-
tures, and derived the aero-elastic instability mechan-
ism of three-dimensional membrane structures. Guo
et al. (2015) performed an experimental study on the
dynamic response of rectangular orthotropic mem-
branes under concentrated and uniformly distributed
loads and derived some conclusions about the dynamic
response of rectangular orthotropic membranes.
Based on the literature summarized above, most of
the recent studies related to the dynamic response of the
membrane structure under impact loads neglect the
effect of heavy rainfall, which is one of the most
frequent and severe weather hazards. Due to the limited
stiffness of the membrane structure as well as the large
rainfall intensity and long duration, the heavy rainfall
can lead to the significantly large deformation and non-
linear vibration of the membrane structure. This vibra-
tion may cause the occurrence of cracks on membrane
material and the following failure of the membrane
structure. Thus, the severe effect of heavy rainfall on
membrane structural safety has to be considered.
However, to the best of our knowledge, it is hard to
find studies concerning the dynamic response of the
membrane structure under the impact of heavy rainfall.
Therefore, it is necessary to propose a theoretical model
to predict the mechanical behavior and design sugges-
tions for the membrane structure excited by heavy
rainfall.
This present paper investigates the dynamic response
of the rectangular membrane structure under the impact
of heavy rainfall experimentally and theoretically.
Firstly, the nonlinear stochastic governing equation is
proposed based on the random pulse process theory,
and solved by the perturbation method. Then, the dis-
placement of the membrane structure is obtained.
Secondly, the experimental study for this problem is per-
formed. The artificial simulated rainfall system has been
developed to impose the impact of heavy rainfall on the
membrane structure. The dynamic response parameters
including displacement, amplitude, and frequency are
extracted through wavelet transformation and fast
Fourier transformation. Finally, effects of varying the
material, pre-tension, inclined angle, size, and rainfall
intensity have been studied. Furthermore, the effects
of rain accumulated on the membrane surface on
the characteristics of dynamic response of the membrane
structure were discussed. The theoretical and experimen-
tal studies on dynamic response of the membrane
structure under heavy rainfall have practical significance
to engineering applications.
2. Theoretical model
2.1. Formulation of the problem
In Figure 1, an orthotropic rectangular membrane
structure is considered, whose thickness is h, length is
a, width is b, and the pre-tension along the x and y
directions are N0x and N0y , respectively. Assume that
the impact of heavy rainfall is a uniform impact load,
and the impact area is the whole plane of the membrane
structure.
Figure 1. The model of the rectangular membrane structure
under heavy rainfall.
Zheng et al. 3

In this paper, the number of random pulses during

2.2. Heavy rainfall load unit time is assumed as constant l0 , and the corres-
In order to obtain an accurate and clear determined ponding arrival time for the kth impact pulse is the
load model of heavy rainfall, this part initially intro- constant
duces the impact load in the view of the random pro-
cess. Then, the determined load model can be proposed k ¼ k=l0 ð7Þ
after the reasonable assumption and parameter selec-
tion of the random load model. Consequently, the mean value l0 t is selected as the
In nature, the random variables such as arrival time, number value of random pulses process NðtÞ during the
raindrop diameter, kinematic viscosity, drop velocity of period t, namely
raindrop, etc. are possessed by the heavy rainfall.
In this paper, the pivotal variables including pulse NðtÞ ¼ l0 t ð8Þ
amplitude and arrival time are introduced initially as
random variables. Based on the theory of random It is assumed that pulse shape function is a Dirac
processes, the random pulse process can be expressed function
as (Krylov, 2002)
!ðt, k Þ ¼ ðt  k Þ ð9Þ
X
N ðtÞ
pðx, y, tÞ ¼ Yk !ðt, k Þ ð1Þ According to the law of conservation of momentum
k¼1
Z 1 Z 1
Yk !ðt, k Þdt ¼ Yk ðt  k Þdt ¼ mv ð10Þ
where Yk denotes random pulse amplitude, k denotes 1 1
arrival time of random pulse, !ðt, k Þ denotes pulse
shape function, and NðtÞ denotes the number of where m denotes mass of each raindrop, v denotes vel-
random pulses process. ocity of each raindrop.
In general, the random pulses process of rainfall can The equation (9) can be transformed into equation
be assumed to obey the Poisson distribution (Krylov, (10) by the property of the Dirac function
2002), where its probability function is defined as
Z 1 Z kþ
P½Nðt þ dtÞ  NðtÞ ¼ lðtÞdt ð2Þ Yk ðt  k Þdt ¼ Yk ðt  k Þdt ¼ mv ð11Þ
1 k

where lðtÞ denotes the number of random pulses during

unit time. Since most of the impact loads can be Assume that a raindrop is an ideal sphere, and the
assumed to be a stationary process, the parameter lðtÞ mass of raindrops can be identified as
remains the constant l0 (Krylov, 2002), namely
lðtÞ ¼ l0 . The probability function can be derived as 1
m ¼ D3 ð12Þ
6
n
ðl0 tÞ
PN ðn, tÞ ¼ el0 t ð3Þ
n! where m denotes mass of each raindrop,  denotes
density of each raindrop, and D denotes the diameter
and the corresponding mean value and standard vari- of each raindrop.
ance is Substituting equation (12) into equation (11) yields

E½NðtÞ ¼ l0 t ð4Þ 1
Yk ¼ D3 v ð13Þ
6
and
According to the Newton equation, the maximum
DN ðtÞ ¼ l0 t ð5Þ velocities of the raindrops can be derived (Mou, 1983)
as follows
Moreover, the correlation function can be derived 8
further as < v ¼ 0:496
> pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi2 ðD  1:9 mmÞ
10 28:32þ6:524 lg 0:1Dðlg 0:1DÞ 3:665
RN ðtÞ ¼ E½Nðt1 ÞNðt2 Þ ¼ l20 t1 t2 þ l0 minðt1 , t2 Þ ð6Þ >
: pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ðD 4 1:9 mmÞ
v ¼ ð17:20  0:844DÞ 0:1D
where t1 , t2 denotes the different time. ð14Þ
4 Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)

Based on the equations (11) and (12), it can be found

that the pulse amplitude can be determined by the
2.3. Derivation of governing equations
diameter of raindrops. In this paper, the impact load The large deflection random vibration governing
of heavy rainfall is assumed as a uniform load. equations of the rectangular orthotropic membrane
Consequently, the diameter of each raindrop in space structure are derived based on the von Kármán’s
distribution are all assumed as constant D0 , and the large deflection theory and D’Alembert’s principle
corresponding pulse amplitude is assumed as the (Hedrih, 2014). The impact of heavy rainfall is a com-
constant Y0 . bination of single-point impact of a series of raindrops.
The impact load of heavy rainfall is caused by Accordingly, the equations are applied to solve the
the instantaneous impact of a large number of rain- problems of heavy rainfall
drops. The raindrop size distribution (RSD) shows
@2 w @w @2 w @2 w
the distribution of raindrops of different diameters  þc  ðNx þ N0x Þ 2  ðNy þ N0y Þ 2
@t 2 @t @x @y ð19Þ
corresponding with certain rainfall intensity. The
most widely used RSD is the Marshall–Palmer expo- ¼ pðx, y, tÞ þ g
nential distribution (M-P distribution) (Marshall and  2 2 2 2
Palmer, 1948) 1 @4 ’ 1 @4 ’ @ w @ w@ w
þ ¼  2 2 ð20Þ
E1 @y4 E2 @x4 @x@y @x @y
nðDÞ ¼ n0 expðDÞ ð15Þ
where N0x , N0y denote initial tension
2
in the x and y dir-
@2 ’
ections, respectively. Nx ¼ h @@y’2 , Ny ¼ h @x 2 denote add-

where nðDÞ denotes RSD at the volume level, itional tension in the x and y directions, respectively.
n0 denotes number density, traditionally, ’ðx, y, tÞ denotes the Airy stress function. h denotes
n0 ¼ 8  103 ind:  m3  mm1 .  denotes slope factor, thickness of membrane structure.  denotes the aerial
 ¼ 4:1 I0:21 . I denotes rainfall intensity. density of membrane structure. g denotes the gravita-
M-P distribution represents the number density of tional acceleration. c denotes the damping coefficient.
raindrops per volume. Integrating v on both sides of E1 and E2 denote elastic modulus in the x and y direc-
equation (15) yields tions, respectively. wðx, y, tÞ denotes deflection of mem-
brane. pðx, y, tÞ denotes random impact load.
NðDÞ ¼ nðDÞ  v ¼ n0 v expðDÞ ð16Þ The boundary conditions of the rectangular mem-
brane structure with four edges fixed can be expressed
where NðDÞ denotes number density of raindrops, and v as follows (Liu et al., 2014)
denotes the maximum velocity of a raindrop of some At x ¼ 0 or a
diameter.
8
Thus, the pulse amplitude during unit time can be > wðx, y, tÞjx¼0,a ¼ 0
>
>
finally identified as >
< @w2 ðx, y, tÞ
jx¼0,a ¼ 0 ð21Þ
> @x2
Yk ¼ Y0 n0 v expðDÞ ð17Þ >
> 2
>
: @ ’ðx, y, tÞ j
x¼0,a ¼ 0
Substituting the equations (7), (8), (9), and (17) into @x2
equation (1), the equation of the impact load of heavy At y ¼ 0 or b
rainfall assumed as uniform impact load can be 8
obtained as > wðx, y, tÞj0,b ¼ 0
>
> 2
>
>
< @w ðx, y, tÞ
  j0,b ¼ 0
X
l0 t
k @y2 ð22Þ
pðx, y, tÞ ¼ Y0 n0 v expðDÞ t  ð18Þ >
>
l0 >
> @2 ’ðx, y, tÞ
k¼1 >
: j0,b ¼ 0
@y2
Based on the assumption and derivation presented The initial conditions of the rectangular membrane
above, the determined equation can be obtained to structure can be expressed as follows
express the impact pulses from heavy rainfall clearly, At t ¼ 0
and will be applied to solve the nonlinear vibration 8
equations of membrane structure in the next part. < wðx, yÞjt¼0 ¼ 0
Furthermore, the determined impact load model can @wðx, yÞ ð0 5 x 5 a, 0 5 y 5 bÞ ð23Þ
: jt¼0 ¼ 0
be validated by experimental study and expected to be @t
utilized in impact-vibration problems.
Zheng et al. 5

Assume that deflection function and stress function Substituting equation (30) into equation (31), yields
satisfying the boundary conditions equations (21) and
 
(22) can be expressed as (Katsikadelis, 2002) 1 @4  1 @4  m2 n2 4 2mx 2ny
þ ¼ cos þ cos
E1 @y4 E2 @x4 2a2 b2 a b
X
1 X
1
wðx, y, tÞ ¼ Tmn ðtÞ  Wmn ðx, yÞ ð24Þ ð32Þ
m¼1 n¼1
Assume that the solution of equation (32) can be
1 X
X 1 expressed as
’ðx, y, tÞ ¼ Umn ðtÞ  mn ðx, yÞ ð25Þ
m¼1 n¼1 2mx 2ny
ðx, yÞ ¼ 1  cos þ 2  cos
a b ð33Þ
where Wmn ðx, yÞ denotes vibration mode function. þ 1 x3 þ 2 x2 þ 3 y3 þ4 y2
mn ðx, yÞ, Tmn ðtÞ and Umn ðtÞ denote unknown functions.
Substituting equation (24) and equation (25) into Substituting equation (33) into equation (32), yields
equation (20), yields
16m4 4 2mx 16n4 4 2ny
1 cos þ 4 2 cos
X 1 
1 X  4
a E2 a b E1 b
1 @4 mn ðx, yÞ 1 @4 mn ðx, yÞ   ð34Þ
þ  Umn ðtÞ 2 2 4
m n 2mx 2ny
m¼1 n¼1
E1 @y4 E2 @x4 ¼ cos þ cos
( 2 2 ) 2a2 b2 a b
X1 X 1
@2 Wmn ðx, yÞ @ Wmn ðx, yÞ @2 Wmn ðx, yÞ
¼ 
m¼1 n¼1
@x@y @x2 @y2 Comparing both sides of equation (34), yields
 T2mn ðtÞ E 2 n2 a2
1 ¼
ð26Þ 32m2 b2
E1 m2 b2
2 ¼
It can be indicated from equation (26) that 32n2 a2
Umn ðtÞ ¼ T2mn ðtÞ. Thus, equation (25) can be expressed Substituting the boundary conditions equation (21)
as and equation (22) into equation (33), yields

X
1 X
1
1 ¼ 3 ¼ 0
’ðx, y, tÞ ¼ T2mn ðtÞ  mn ðx, yÞ ð27Þ
m¼1 n¼1 2 E2 n2
2 ¼
8b2
Taking an item of equation (24) and equation (27),
 E1 m2
2
respectively to calculate 4 ¼
8a2
wðx, y, tÞ ¼ TðtÞ  Wðx, yÞ ð28Þ
Substituting 1 , 2 , 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , into equation (33),
’ðx, y, tÞ ¼ T2 ðtÞ  ðx, yÞ ð29Þ yields

Assume that the vibration mode function satisfying E2 n2 a2 2mx E1 m2 b2

boundary conditions equation (21) and equation (22) ðx, y, tÞ ¼ 2 2
cos þ
32m b a 32n2 a2 ð35Þ
can be expressed by the multiple trigonometric series 2ny  E2 n 2 2 E1 m2 2
2 2
(Meirovitch, 1997) cos þ x þ y
b 8b2 8a2
mx ny Substituting equations (28), (29), and (35) into equa-
Wmn ðx, yÞ ¼ Wðx, yÞ ¼ W ¼ sin sin ð30Þ
a b tion (19), yields according to the Galerkin method
Z aZ b
where m and n denoting the sine half-wave number in d2 TðtÞ dTðtÞ
the x and y directions, respectively, are odd numbers. W2 2
þ cW2
0 0 dt dt
Substituting equation (28) and equation (29) into  2 2

@ W @ W
equation (20), yields  N0x 2 W þ N0y 2 W TðtÞ
@x @y
 2 2 2  2 2 2
1 @4  1 @4  @ W @ W @2 W E1 m  2 ny @ W
þ ¼  ð31Þ  h sin W
E1 @y4 E2 @x4 @x@y @x2 @y2 4a2 b @x2
6 Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)

  Expanding equation (40) and comparing the coeffi-

E2 n2 2 2 mx @2 W
þh sin W T3
ð tÞ dxdy cient of "0 , "1 ,"2 ,. . . a series of linear differential equa-
4b2 a @y2 tions about T0 ðtÞ,T1 ðtÞ,T2 ðtÞ. . . can be obtained as
Z aZ b
follows
¼ ½pðx, y, tÞþgWdxdy ð36Þ
0 0 8 2
> 0 d T0 ðtÞ dT0 ðtÞ 2
Integrating both sides of equation (36), yields > " : dt2 þ 2 dt þ !0 T0 ðtÞ ¼ XðtÞ
>
>
>
< 1 d T1 ðtÞ
2
" : dt2 þ 2 dTdt1 ðtÞ þ !20 T1 ðtÞ ¼ !20 3 T30 ðtÞ
d2 TðtÞ c dTðtÞ m2 2 b2 N0x þ n2 2 a2 N0y >
þ þ TðtÞ >
> "2 : d dt
2
T2 ðtÞ
þ 2 dTdt2 ðtÞ þ !20 T2 ðtÞ ¼ 3!20 3 T20 ðtÞT1 ðtÞ
dt2  dt a2 b2 >
> 2
:
6m2 n2 4 h2 þ 6m2 n2 4 h1     
þ TðtÞ3 ð37Þ
ð41Þ
a2 b2
16
¼ ½pðx, y, tÞ þ g According to the perturbation method, the solution
mn2
of equation (41) can be expressed as
Letting 8 R þ1
>
> T0 ðtÞ ¼ 1 hðsÞXðt  sÞds
m2 2 b2 N0x þ n2 2 a2 N0y >
!20 ¼ , < T ðtÞ ¼ R þ1 hðsÞ g ðt  sÞds
>
a2 b2 1 1 1
ð42Þ
6abm2 n2 2 ð1 þ 2 Þ > T ðtÞ ¼ R þ1 hðsÞ g ðt  sÞds
>
3 ¼ , >
> 2 1 2
:
hðm2 b2 N0x þ n2 a2 N0y Þ     
h2 c 16
"¼ , ¼ , XðtÞ ¼ ½pðx, y, tÞ þ g where hðsÞ is the impulse response function of linear
ab 2 mn2
differential operator approximately
Equation (37) can be simplified as
d2 d
L0 ¼ þ 2 þ !20
d2 TðtÞ dTðtÞ dt2 dt
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
þ 2 þ !20 ½TðtÞ þ "3 TðtÞ3  ¼ XðtÞ ð38Þ e s
dt2 dt hðsÞ ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin !20  2 s
!20  2
g1 ðtÞ ¼ !20 3 T30 ðtÞ
2.4. Solution of governing equations
g2 ðtÞ ¼ 3!20 3 T20 ðtÞT1 ðtÞ
It can be found that equation (38) is a nonlinear partial
differential equation with the function of TðtÞ. We use Using the equation (39) to calculate TðtÞ approxi-
the perturbation method including small parameter " to mately, taking the first order of ". TðtÞ ¼ T0 ðtÞþ
solve equation (31). The perturbation method can "T1 ðtÞ. Thus,
transfer the nonlinear equation into a set of linear equa- Zt qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi !
tions by means of expanding the function in multiple e s 16
T0 ðtÞ ¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin !20  2  s 2
scales, which has been proved an accurate and effective 0 !20  2 mn
method to solve the nonlinear problem (Li et al., " #
2017b). TðtÞ is expanded in a power series with respect Xl0 t
k
ðDÞ
to small parameter ", yielding  g þ Y0 n0 ve ðt  s  Þ ds
k¼1
l0
  Xl0 t  
TðtÞ ¼ T0 ðtÞ þ "T1 ðtÞ þ "2 T2 ðtÞ þ o "3 ð39Þ 16  tlk D
¼ qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi Y0 n0 ve 0

mn2 !20  2 k¼1

Substituting equation (39) into equation (38), yields qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi ð43Þ
k

 sin !20  2  t 
dT20 ðtÞ dT2 ðtÞ dT2 ðtÞ l0
2
þ " 12 þ "2 22 þ . . .
dt  dt dt  16g
þ  
dT0 ðtÞ dT1 ðtÞ 2 dT2 ðtÞ mn2  !20 þ 2
þ 2 þ" þ" þ ... ð40Þ 2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3
dt dt dt
e t cos !20  2  t
þ !20 ½T0 þ "T1 þ "2 T2 þ    þ "3 ðT0 þ "T1 6 7
4
 t
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5
þ "2 T2 þ . . .Þ3  ¼ XðtÞ  pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
e
2 2
2
sin !0   t  1 2
!0 
Zheng et al. 7

Z t qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 
e s !20 3
T1 ðtÞ ¼ sin !20  2  s
2 2 2
0 ð!0  Þ
8 hqffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi i 93
> Pl0 t
 ðtslk Þ >
>
> pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
16
e 0 sin !0   ðt  s  l0 Þ Y0 >
2 2 k
>
>
> mn2 !20  2 >
> ð44Þ
>
< k¼1 >
2 qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3=
 e ðtsÞ cos !20  2  ðt  sÞ ds
>
> 6 7>
>
> 16g
> þ mn2 ð !2 þ 2 Þ 4 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
>
5>
>
>  ðtsÞ >
>
: 0
 pe ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin !2  2  ðt  sÞ  1 ;
!20  2 0

Substituting equation (43) and equation (44) into to supply the impact of heavy rainfall onto membrane
equation (39), and substituting equation (39) into equa- structure; and the laser displacement sensor was applied
tion (24), the vibrational displacement of the membrane to identify and track the displacement time history data
structure can be expressed as of vibration.

1 X
X 1
!ðx, y, tÞ ¼ Tmn ðtÞWmn ðx, yÞ
m¼1 n¼1
8 hqffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi i 9
> Pl0 t
 ðtlk Þ >
>
> 16 ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
p e 0 2
sin !0   ðt  l0 Þ Y0 2 k >
>
>
> mn2 !20  2 >
>
>
> k¼1 >
>
>
> 2 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3 >
>
>
>  t 2 2t >
>
>
> e cos ! 0  >
>
>
> 16g 6 7 >
>
>
> þ 4 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5 >
>
>
> mn 2 !2 þ 2
ð 0 Þ p
 t
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
e 2 2 >
>
>
>  sin ! 0   t  1 >
>
>
> ! 2  2
>
>
X1 X 1 <> p
0
ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi >
=
R t e s !20 3 " sinð !20  2 sÞ ð45Þ
¼ þ 0 2 2 2
>
m¼1 n¼1 >
ð!0  Þ >
>
>
> 0 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi 13 > >
>
> Pl0 t h i >
>
>
> 16 ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
p e
 ðts k
l0 Þ
sin ! 2  2  ðt  s  k
Þ Y >
>
>
> B mn !0  0 l 0 C >
>
>
> B
2 2 2
k¼1
0
C >
>
>
> B 2 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
3C >
>
>
> B C >
>
> B e  ðtsÞ
cos ! 2  2  ðt  sÞ
C ds >
>
>
>
> B 6 0
7C >
>
>
> @ þ 16g
4 q ffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
5 A >
>
>
> mn 2 !2 þ 2
ð Þ  ðtsÞ >
>
: 0
 pffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi sin !   ðt  sÞ  1
e
0
2 2 ;
!20  2
mx
ny

 sin sin
a b

3. Experimental study 3.1. Specimens

The experimental setup mainly consisted of three sys- The brands of membrane material including HEYTex
tems: the tension system provides simply supported H5573, Xinyida, and ZZF3010 were selected in this
boundary and pre-tension for membrane structure; experiment. The parameters of HEYTex H5573,
the artificial simulated rainfall system was developed Xinyida, and ZZF 3010 are shown in Table 1.

Table 1. The parameters of membrane material (provided by the manufacturers).

Elastic modulus Elastic modulus

Material brand Thickness Aerial density (warp) (weft)

HEYTex H5573 0.80 mm 0.95 kg/m2 1720  106 Pa 1490  106 Pa

Xinyida 0.82 mm 1.05 kg/m2 1520  106 Pa 1290  106 Pa
ZZF 3010 0.72 mm 0.95 kg/m2 1590  106 Pa 1360  106 Pa
8 Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)

The sizes of square and rectangular membrane The iron wire net was set under the sprinkler head to
specimens were 1.2 m  1.2 m and 1.2 m  0.8 m respect- simulate the natural condition, and experimental results
ively, as shown in Figure 2. showed that this method was feasible. The tarpaulin
was set to avoid the disturbance by the remaining rain-
drops adhering to the iron wire net. The parameters of
3.2. Tension system
The pre-tension of membrane structure was provided
by the tension system (shown in Figure 3) (Guo et al.,
2015). The membrane structure was fixed on the tension
system by fixtures and stretched by the screw rod. The
size of support belonging to the tension system was
3.8 m  3.8 m  1.6 m, and the size of the central
region was 1.2 m  1.2 m. In order to compare the
effects of different pre-tensions on dynamic response
of the membrane structure, the pre-tension was divided
into 8 levels: 1 kN, 2 kN, 3 kN, 4 kN, 5 kN, 6 kN, 7 kN
and 8 kN.
The dynamic response of the membrane structure
with little accumulated rain can be tested when one
side of the tension system is lifted. The angle of the
inclined membrane structure is shown in Figure 4.

Figure 3. Tension system.

3.3. Artificial simulated rainfall system
In this work, the impact of heavy rainfall was applied
by the artificial simulated rainfall system. The rainfall
intensity could be changed by adjusting the output
power of the artificial simulated rainfall system. The
minimum height of artificial simulated rainfall system
should be over 7 m to ensure that more than 95% of
rain drops obtained the maximum falling velocities. Figure 4. The angle of the inclined membrane structure.

Figure 2. The arrangements of measuring points: (a) square membrane specimen; and (b) rectangular membrane specimen.
Zheng et al.
the artificial simulated rainfall system are shown in
Table 2. In order to compare the effects of rainfall
intensities on dynamic response of the membrane
structure, the rainfall intensities were divided into 3
levels: 50 mm/24 hours; 300 mm/24 hours; and
550 mm/24 hours.
3.4. Data acquisition system
In the pre-tension loading process, the digital dynamom-
eter HP-10K was used to monitor and control the value
of the pre-tension. Due to the protection level of
ZLDS100 the laser displacement sensor was IP67 – it
could be applied to measure the vibration displacement
of the membrane structure during the impact of heavy
rainfall. Its performance parameters have an accuracy of
0.1%, sampling frequency of 2 kHz, and the resolution
factor of 0.01% (Guo et al., 2015).
The measuring points (shown in Figure 5) were
arranged symmetrically on the surface of the membrane
structure.
Table 2. Technical parameters of simulated rainfall system
(provided by the manufacturers).
Technical parameters Technical data
Effective rainfall area 1.2 m  1.2 m
Rainfall intensity 0–600 mm/24 hours
Rainfall uniformity >0.86
Figure 5. The arrangements of measuring points: (a) square membrane specimen; and (b) rectangular membrane specimen.
9
3.5. Experimental procedure
The experiment consisted of the tension process and
load process. The membrane specimen was fixed on
the tension system by fixtures, and stretched by the
screw rod in order to form the membrane structure
(Guo et al., 2015). Different levels of the pre-tension
force were designed and applied synchronously.
Different rainfall intensities were set respectively by
adjusting the output power of the artificial simulated
rainfall system. The laser displacement sensors were
arranged under the membrane structure (shown in
Figure 6). The tarpaulin was folded up after simulated
rainfall fell steadily, and the membrane structure was
impacted by heavy rainfall lasting for 90 seconds, then
the tarpaulin was raised and the displacement time his-
tory data were recorded.
4. Data analysis
The original data are decomposed to 9 levels by wavelet
db1, and an approximate center line is rebuilt by a ninth
level approximate coefficient. Denoise data can be
obtained by the default threshold method based on wave-
let db1 transform. The comparisons of original data,
denoise data, and approximate center line are shown in
Figure 7. The comparison results show that the approxi-
mate center line can represent the real-time equilibrium
position of the membrane structural vibration and the
valuable information in the original data is still retained
after wavelet de-noising (Li and Chen, 2014).
10
Figure 6. The experimental system.
The rain would be accumulated on the surface of the
membrane structure during the impact of heavy rain-
fall. The quantity of accumulated rain on the surface of
the horizontal membrane structure was different from
that of the inclined membrane structure. Accordingly,
the effect of added mass on the dynamic response of the
membrane structure is remarkable and worth studying
deeply.
The maximum depth of accumulated rain represents
the quantity of accumulated rain at the measuring point
under the impact of heavy rainfall. The difference value
of the maximum and minimum values of the approxi-
mate center line is the maximum depth of accumulated
rain at the measuring point on the membrane surface.
The maximum difference between the denoise data and
the approximate center line is the maximum amplitude
of the measuring point (as is shown in Figure 8).
5. Comparison between experiment
and theory
In this paper, a horizontal membrane structure is calcu-
lated by the theory of the random pulse process and the
theoretical calculation does not account for the effect of
accumulated rain of the membrane structure. It is
approximate with the test condition of the ZZF inclined
Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)
membrane structure. The parameters of the ZZF mem-
brane structure are substituted into the theory and the
vibrational displacement of the membrane structure is
calculated. The theoretical assumptions are as follows:
(i) the diameters of 0.5 mm, 1.5 mm, 2.5 mm, 3.5 mm,
4.5 mm, 5.5 mm of raindrops represent the range
of diameters of 0–1.0 mm, 1.0–2.0 mm, 2.0–3.0 mm,
3.0–4.0 mm, 4.0–5.0 mm, and 5.0–6.0 mm; and (ii) the
collision between raindrop and membrane structure
does not account for the interaction.
The values of Yk are calculated according to
equation (13) as shown in Table 3.
Assume that the weft direction of membrane is the x
direction. The elastic modulus is Ex ¼ 1360  106 Pa,
Ey ¼ 1590  106 Pa in the weft direction and warp dir-
ections, respectively. The thickness is h ¼ 0:72 mm, the
aerial density of membrane is  ¼ 0:95 kg=m2 , damping
coefficient is c ¼ 0:019 kg  m2  s1 , the rainfall inten-
sity is 550 mm/24 hours, and the size of membrane struc-
ture is 1.2 m  1.2 m. The vibrational displacements of
the membrane structure calculated by theory are shown
in Figure 9. Meanwhile, the values of maximum ampli-
tude are obtained from the theoretical results. The the-
oretical and experimental values are shown in Table 4.
The comparisons of the theoretical and experimental
values of maximum amplitude are shown in Figure 10.
Zheng et al.
Figure 7. Comparisons between original data, denoise data, and approximate center line: (a) the original data containing little noise;
and (b) the original data containing much noise.
It can be seen from Figure 9 that the equilibrium pos-
ition of vibration is not at 0 point. It is a significant
difference from the free vibration of the membrane
structure (Hedrih, 2014). It can be seen from Table 4
that the maximum amplitude decreases with the increase
of pre-tension. It is coincident with the experimental
results. It can be seen from Figure 10 that the decrease
trends of maximum amplitude of theory and experiment
with the increase of pre-tension are approximate. The
maximum amplitude of theory is 3.96% smaller than
that of the experiment. The reason for the error is that
11
some conditions are not accounted for by the theoretical
calculation, such as the coupling effect between the
impact of heavy rainfall and the membrane structure,
the influence of accumulated rain, etc.
6. Experimental results and
comparisons
The dynamic responses of membrane structures are com-
pared in different materials, inclined angles, sizes, and
rainfall intensities. The comparisons of the dynamic
12 Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)

Figure 8. The schematic diagram of parameters of dynamic response.

stable phase are 10%, 13.6%, and 12.8%, respectively.

Table 3. The values of the pulse amplitude Yk . The change rate of frequency of the HeyTex membrane
structure is smaller than the other two membrane struc-
Diameters of The pulse
tures. It can be inferred that the effect of accumulated
raindrops (D) amplitude (Yk )
rain on the membrane structure is reduced with the
0.5 mm 1.2478  107 increase of the elastic modulus.
1.5 mm 9.9184  106 It can be seen from the contrasting Figure 11(a) and
2.5 mm 6.1728  105 Figure 11(b) that the average values of decrease rates of
3.5 mm 1.8920  104 the frequencies of the three membrane structures from
4.5 mm 4.2896  104 the initial phase to stable phase are 1.77 Hz, 1.44 Hz,
5.5 mm 8.1132  104
1.75 Hz, 1.71 Hz, 2.59 Hz, 2.05 Hz, 2.51 Hz, and 1.71
Hz, respectively. The change rate of the frequency of
the membrane structures does not decrease, whereas the
depth of accumulated rain decreases with the increase
responses of membrane structures include the compari- of pre-tension. It is indicated that the effect of accumu-
sons of frequencies and maximum amplitudes at differ- lated rain on the membrane structures increases with
ent pre-tensions. The depths of accumulated rain are the increase of pre-tension.
compared to get the effects on dynamic responses of In Figure 11(c), the maximum amplitude of the
membrane structures. The comparisons of different Xinyida membrane structure is largest and the max-
materials and inclined angles are shown as follows. imum amplitude of the HeyTex membrane structure
is smallest. The change law of maximum amplitude is
6.1. Comparisons of different membrane opposite to that of the elastic modulus.
structures
6.2. Comparison between horizontal and inclined
In Figure 11(a), the frequency of the membrane struc-
ture increases with the increase of pre-tension. The
membrane structures
increase rates of the frequency of the membrane struc- It can be seen from Figure 12(a) that the decrease rates
ture is 32.40%, 27.09%, 13.49%, 15.87%, 6.57%, of the frequencies of horizontal and inclined membrane
11.18%, and 3.77%, respectively, and it decreases grad- structures from the initial phase to stable phase are
ually with the increase of pre-tension. The decrease 5.4%, and 9.2%, respectively. The change rate of the
rates of the frequencies of the HeyTex, Xinyida, and frequency of the inclined membrane structure is smaller
ZZF membrane structures from the initial phase to than that of horizontal membrane structure. It is
Zheng et al. 13

Figure 9. Theoretical calculation of dynamic response of square membrane under 550 mm/24 hours rainfall.

indicated that the effect of accumulated rain on the

Table 4. Theoretical and experimental values of the maximum
amplitude.
inclined membrane structure is smaller than that of
the horizontal membrane structure.
F 1 kN 2 kN 3 kN 4 kN 5 kN 6 kN 7 kN 8 kN Depths of accumulated rain are compared between
horizontal and inclined membrane structures in
Theory 1.29 0.65 0.44 0.31 0.26 0.22 0.19 0.16
(mm) Figure 12 (b). The depth of accumulated rain of the
horizontal membrane structure is 2.17 mm larger than
Experiment 0.91 0.62 0.45 0.43 0.31 0.25 0.19 0.20
(mm) that of the inclined membrane structure at the pre-
tension of 1 kN/m, about 571%, and the inclined
14
angle of the membrane structure is merely 4.6. It can be
inferred that the inclined membrane structure can
reduce the depth of accumulated rain effectively. The
depth of accumulated rain of the horizontal membrane
Figure 10. Comparisons of maximum amplitudes of theory and
experiment.
Figure 11. Comparisons of dynamic responses of different membrane materials: (a) the frequency–pre-tension curves; (b) the depth
of accumulated rain–pre-tension curves; and (c) the maximum amplitude–pre-tension curves.
Journal of Vibration and Control 0(0)
structure is 96% larger than that of the inclined mem-
brane structure when the pre-tension reaches to 3 kN/
m. The conclusion can be drawn that increasing the
pre-tension of the membrane structure can reduce the
depth of accumulated rain effectively. Above all, the
conclusion is that using the inclined membrane struc-
ture and increasing the pre-tension of the membrane
structure can reduce the depth of accumulated rain
effectively.
In Figure 12(c), the maximum amplitude of the hori-
zontal membrane structure is 41.48% larger than that
of the inclined membrane structure. It can be inferred
that tilting the membrane can reduce the maximum
amplitude effectively.
6.3. Advices for the engineering application
Some advices for practical engineering are presented
through the analysis of the dynamic response of the
rectangular orthotropic membrane structure. The non-
linear characteristic of the inclined membrane structure
is not obvious at each level of pre-tension, and it can be
Zheng et al.
Figure 12. Comparisons of dynamic responses between horizontal and inclined membrane structures: (a) the frequency–pre-
tension curves; (b) the depth of accumulated rain–pre-tension curves; and (c) the maximum amplitude–pre-tension curves.
analyzed under the linear assumption. The horizontal
membrane structure can be analyzed under the linear
assumption when the pre-tension is not less than
2.5 kN/m, and it should be considered as the nonlinear
model when the pre-tension is less than 3 kN/m. Some
measures can reduce the depth of accumulated rain and
the maximum amplitude effectively in the design, con-
struction, and maintenance process, for instance, redu-
cing the size of the membrane structure, increasing the
pre-tension of the membrane structure, and tilting the
membrane structure. The effects of the rainfall intensity
and the size of the membrane structure on maximum
depth of accumulated rain are small when the pre-
tension is 3 kN/m–8 kN/m. In a word, the stress of
the membrane structure should be 2.5 kN/m in the
engineering application when considering the cost.
7. Conclusions
In this paper, the dynamic response of rectangular
membrane structures excited by heavy rainfall has
been investigated, focusing on the effect of accumulated
rain. The heavy rainfall applied on the membrane
15
structure is modeled initially. Then, the theoretical
model is developed based on the von Kármán’s
theory, and perturbation method. Subsequently, the
approximate analytical solution obtained is verified by
the experimental study based on the artificial simulated
rainfall impact system. Primary conclusions drawn
from the obtained results are as follows:
(i) The theoretical model proposed to evaluate the geo-
metrically nonlinear vibration of the membrane
structure excited by heavy rainfall is reasonable,
which could be applied to predict the dynamic
response behavior and estimate the structural safety.
(ii) The accumulated rain on the membrane surface can
bring out significantly large deformation and cause
more nonlinear vibration, especially in the horizon-
tal membrane structure. Consequently, the dynamic
response of the inclined membrane structure can be
calculated based on the linear assumption.
However, for the horizontal membrane structure,
the nonlinear characteristics have to be considered
and introduced to the computational model, espe-
cially with pre-tension below 2.5 kN/m.
16
(iii) Based on the detailed parameter discussions, the
optimized pre-tension with 2.5 kN/m is presented
and recommended to be utilized in the construction
and maintenance of the membrane structure.
(iv) The useful and practical ways to reduce the
dynamic response of the membrane structure are
found, which include reducing structural size,
increasing applied pre-tension, and tilting the
membrane surface properly.
In general, the membrane structure is prone to be
destroyed by both wind and heavy rainfall. So, it is
necessary to study the dynamic response of the mem-
brane structure excited by the wind and heavy rain sim-
ultaneously in future work.
Author note
This is to inform that Guang-Xin Zhnag is the co-first author
for this paper.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with
respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article.
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial sup-
port for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this
article: This work was supported by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant number 51178485),
China Scholarship Council (Grant number 201706050050),
and the Construction and Science 2014 Project, Chongqing
Municipal Construction Committee (Grant number 10-5).
ORCID iD
Zhou-Lian Zheng http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7751-688X
Guang-Xin Zhang http://orcid.org/0000-0003-0264-4072
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