RENEWAL METHOD OF CABLE STIFFNESS FOR INITIAL SHAPE ANALYSIS OF STRING BEAMS

There will be a greater difference between the working state after applying prestress and the set-out size of the members for a string beam structure due to its nonlinear characteristics.Using FEM the stiffness matrix of a cable element is replaced continuously during the process to zero-stress state from the working state in order to lead in prestress, so as to unify the shape and load analyses.The analy sis of a typical example shows that the method features a simple calculation and a higher precision.