Journal of Xidian University

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Analysis and experimental verification of relationship between external force and deformation of tensegrity structures

LI Tuanjie;CHE Mingkui   

  1. (School of Mechano-electronic Engineering, Xidian Univ., Xi'an 710071, China)
  • Received:2016-02-05 Online:2017-02-20 Published:2017-04-01

Abstract:

The tensegrity structures suffer the axial pressure in struts and the axial tension in cables and springs, so they are widely used in many engineering fields such as architecture, biotechnology, aerospace and robotics. Based on the Lagrangian dynamics and prototype experiment, the spring deformation of the tensegrity structure under the action of external forces is analyzed and measured. First, the dynamic model of the equilibrium state of the tensegrity structure is derived. The spring deformation of the tensegrity structure under the action of external nonconservative forces is analyzed. Then, by means of the prototype experiment on the tensegrity structure with six struts and three cables, the spring deformation is measured. The comparison and analysis between the experimental and numerical results validate the dynamic model of the tensegrity structure and reveal the mathematical relation between external forces and deformation of the tensegrity structure.

Key words: tensegrity structure, deformation, spring, experiment, dynamic