Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures

The objective of this book is to collect state-of-the-art research and te- nology for design, analysis, construction and maintenance of textile and in?atable structures. Textile composites and in?atable structures have become increasingly popular for a variety of applications in - among many other ?elds - civil engineering, architecture and aerospace engineering. Typical examples - clude membrane roofs and covers, sails, in?atable buildings and pavilions, airships, in?atable furniture, airspace structures etc. The ability to provide numerical simulations for increasingly complex membrane and in?atable structures is advancing rapidly due to both - markablestrides in computer hardware development and theimproved maturity of computational procedures for nonlinear structural systems. Signi?cant progress has been made in the formulation of?nite elements methods for static and dynamic problems, complex constitutive material behaviour, coupled aero-elastic analysis etc. The book contains 18 invited contributions written by distinguished authors who participated in the International Conference on Textile C- puterandIn?atedStructuresheldinBarcelonafromJune30thtoJuly2nd 2003. The meeting was one of the Thematic Conferences of the European Community on Computational Methods in Applied Sciences (ECCOMAS, www.eccomas.org). The di?erent chapters discuss recent progress and future research dir- tions in new textile composites for applications in membrane and in?atable structures. Approximately half of thebook focusesin describing innovative numerical methods for structural analysis, such as new non linear m- brane and shell ?nite elements. The rest of the chapters present advances in design, construction and maintenance procedures. The content of the di?erent chapters was sent directly by the authors andtheeditorscannotacceptresponsibilityforanyinaccuracies, comments and opinions contained in thetext.

Discusses recent progress and future research directions in membrane and inflatable structures built with new textile composite materials Focuses on describing innovative numerical methods for structural analysis of such structures, such as new nonlinear membrane and shell finite elements Presents advances in design, construction and maintenance procedures

Klappentext

chapters was sent directly by the authors andtheeditorscannotacceptresponsibilityforanyinaccuracies, comments and opinions contained in thetext.

Zusammenfassung
Collects research and technology for design, analysis, construction and maintenance of textile and inflatable structures. This book contains chapters that discuss progress and future research directions in membrane and inflatable structures built with new textile composite materials.

Inhalt
On the Design Process of Tensile Structures.- Systems for Lightweight Structure Design: the State-of-the-Art and Current Developments.- Recent Developments in the Analytical Design of Textile Membranes.- Finite Element Analysis of Membrane Structures.- Applications of a Rotation-Free Triangular Element for Finite Strain Analysis of Thin Shells and Membranes.- FE Analysis of Membrane Systems Including Wrinkling and Coupling.- Wrinkles in Square Membranes.- F.E.M. for Prestressed Saint Venant-Kirchhoff Hyperelastic Membranes.- Equilibrium Consistent Anisotropic Stress Fields in Membrane Design.- Efficient Finite Element Modelling and Simulation of Gas and Fluid Supported Membrane and Shell Structures.- Widespan Membrane Roof Structures: Design Assisted by Experimental Analysis.- Fabric Membranes Cutting Pattern.- Inflated Membrane Structures on the Ground, in the Air and in Space - A Classification.- Post-Tensioned Modular Inflated Structures.- Experiences in the Design Analysis and Construction of Low Pressure Inflatable Structures.- Recent Advances in the Rigidization of Gossamer Structures.- Form-Optimizing Processes in Biological Structures. Self-generating structures in nature based on pneumatics.- Making Blobs with a Textile Mould.