The Application Of Tensegrity Towering Structures

In this paper, based on 2010 EXPO Shanghai project "key techniques for green building structures", the geometry and bearing capacity of tensegrity towering structures are studied. The development of tensegrity towering structures is illustrated with the development of sculptures designed by Kenneth Snelson who is one of the most famous sculptor of tensegrity structure. According to the forming and sorting of geometric polyhedrons, the basic polyhedron modules of tensegrity towering structures are formed, and sorted by their geometric characters in two types: simple prism module and complex Archimedes's polyhedron module. Then, with the comprehensive understanding of the definition of "tensegrity", an idea of modular design is used in the two types of tensegrity towers mentioned above, to simplify the process of form finding. Besides, various forms of tensegrity modules with fixed strut groups are proposed as "comprehensive tensegrity modules".Two tensegrity towers are designed with different basic modules: complex tetrahedron and comprehensive cube-octahedron. Besides, the nonlinear analysis is taken on the tensegrity towers above. Comparing with the displacement of two towers, a tensegrity mast is further designed by adding cables to cube-octahedron tower. By the results of nonlinear analysis, the character and possible application of the tensegrity towering structures are stated.