Nonlinear form-finding of symmetric cable–strut structures using stiffness submatrices associated with full symmetry subspace

An efficient and nonlinear form-finding method is proposed for symmetric cable–strut structures with complex geometry or many nodes. Expressed in the symmetry-adapted coordinate system, the first block matrix of the symmetry-adapted tangent stiffness matrix is extracted using the full symmetry subspace, which is much smaller-sized and associated with the first irreducible representation of a symmetry group. Then, this stiffness submatrix and the principle of minimum potential energy are adopted for the fast but stable convergence of the initial configuration to the stable configuration. During the form-finding process, the generalized inverse of a matrix and modification for the minimum eigenvalues are employed, to guarantee the positive definiteness of the stiffness submatrix. The form-finding process can start from an arbitrary initial configuration, whereas only certain symmetry group, and the connectivity pattern and the initial lengths of the members should be given in advance. A few numerical examples are illustrated to show the efficiency and accuracy of the form-finding method for cable–strut structures with complex geometry and different symmetry.