c




  
 


Series no. Title Journals Result and discussion

Wüchner-  

 
 á



 

In this paper we present the updated reference strategy for numerical form finding of pre-
01/2005 
 
  
stressed membranes, which is based on standard finite element discretization. The
  
 
 JOURNAL FOR singularities of the inverse problem are regularized by a homotopy mapping. A projection

  NUMERICAL scheme is proposed where anisotropic pre-stress is defined with respect to an additional


METHODS IN reference plane, which reflects the initially developable surface of membrane strips in the
ENGINEERING production process. Physically problematic combinations of edge geometry and surface stress




are solved by a self-adaptive stress correction scheme. The algorithm is based on a local

2005; £ Ñ143±166 criterion derived from differential geometry.
Published online 9 May
2005
Bletzinger

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Within this contribution, advanced methods for form finding and patterning of membrane
-01/2009 
 
   



á

structures are presented. They rely on a correct nonlinear continuum mechanical description,

 

 JOURNAL FOR which allows for a highly detailed description of the underlying stress state. As one of the

 INTERNATIONAL most general form finding methods, the Updated Reference Strategy is investigated, which is
 ASSOCIATION FOR applicable for cables and membranes and for any kind of finite element discretization. The
SHELL & SPATIAL cutting pattern procedure is based on an ³inverse´ engineering approachÑ The yet unknown
STRUCTURES reference configuration ± the cutting pattern ± is modified in such a way, that the difference
between the resulting stresses in the final assembled three-dimensional structure and the
prescribed stress distribution is minimized. In addition to the individual description of these
methods, an extended framework for a detailed analysis and design of membrane structures is
presented, whose main focus is to include the influence of the cutting pattern already in the
form finding process and structural analysisÑ Because spatially curved membrane structures
are not developable, additional stresses arise in the membrane which have to be included in a
detailed modelling of the structure, but have been neglected by conventional approaches.
Bletzinger 0



 
  



Free form shells optimized for stiffness under given loading and membrane structures act in a
-02/2005 
 
 
 á 


pure membrane state of stresses, either because bending is minimized or not even present by



 
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definition. Physical experiments as soap films and hanging models have been used since

 
 
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centuries to generate optimal shapes of membranes in tension and shells in compression.
JOURNAL OF The paper presents numerical methods to simulate the physical experiments as well as how
COMPUT. METHODS they can be merged among each other and with the most general technology of structural
APPL. MECH. ENGRG. optimization. The combined approach represents the combined power of each technique.
194 (2005) 3438±3452
Bletzinger- ¦
 

  


Subject of this contribution is form finding of µµoptimal´ structural shapes with regard to the
03/2008 




  

 
load carrying behaviour of surface structures under certain load cases. In general, those

  

á 

optimal shapes prefer a membrane state of stress to transfer loading. Bending is omitted as

much as possible. It will be focused on two different disciplines and related numerical
JOURNAL OF approaches which deal with solutions of the mentioned taskÑ form finding of prestressed
COMPUT. METHODS membranes and general shape optimization. As design is an inverse problem both approaches
APPL. MECH. ENGRG. share similar problematic properties as e.g. indeterminate in-plane location of surface
discretization or necessary regularization and filtering of sensitivity and other data. As it will
turn out, those remedies found for the very special methods of membrane design can be
abstracted and transferred to general optimization procedures. That merges into elegant,
numerical shape optimal design techniques which combine advantages of both approaches
and allow for effective and efficient shape optimization of free formed surfaces, directly on
the finite element mesh and for a large number of variables. Typical applications are, for
example, membrane design, free form architecture and structural engineering, and metal
sheet design.
Wüchner- Ô 

 
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This contribution proposes a methodology for the numerical analysis and for the
02-2007 
 

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#'


improvement of the design of free-form membrane structures subjected to flow-induced




   


effects. Typical applications in such context are tents exposed to wind. Different physical

 INTERNATIONAL factors connected to thin and flexible structures, highly turbulent air flows, as well as their


 JOURNAL FOR interaction have to be taken into account. This necessitates the appropriate combination of
NUMERICAL different numerical disciplines which is done in the simulation of fluid± structure interaction.
METHODS IN FLUIDS The over-all complexity of the problem favours a modular and flexible software environment




with a partitioned coupling strategy. Within such an environment, the solution of each


2007;  Ñ945±963 physical and algorithmic field is applicable with the most suited method. In the proposed
Published online 17 framework,
April 2007m the structural field is solved with the in-house finite element program CARAT, which uses
several finite element types and advanced solution strategies for form finding, nonlinear, and
dynamical problems. The fluid field is solved with the CFD software package CFX-5. The
interaction between both physical fields is realized by the exchange of boundary conditions.
Beyond the mere exchange of data, the utilization of stabilized as well as efficient coupling
strategies is mandatory.
Kiendl- c

  


 

A Kirchhoff±Love shell element is developed on the basis of the isogeometric approach [16].
01/2009


  
 

 

á
NURBS as basis functions for analysis have proven to be very efficient and offer the great
!
  
feature of exact geometric representation. For a Kirchhoff±Love shell element they
JOURNAL OF additionally have the significant advantage that the necessary continuities between elements
COMPUT. METHODS are easily achieved. The element is formulated geometrically nonlinear. It is discretized by
 APPL. MECH. ENGRG. displacement degrees of freedom only. Aspects related to rotational degrees of freedom are
198 (2009) 3902±3914 handled by the displacement control variables, too. A NURBS-based CAD program is used
to model shell structures built up from NURBS and isogeometric analysis is performed on the
same model without meshing. Different examples show the performance of this method and
its applicability
for the integration of design and analysis.
Johannes- å 
" 
  
 

A multi-purpose general rotation free element for the analysis of thin Kirchhoff±Love type
01/2007 
 # 0
 á 


  shells is presentedÑ Isoparametric displacement elements are used as basic geometrical



   


description and to determine the membrane strains. Calculation of curvature to determine

 


  FINITE ELEMENTS IN bending strains is based on discrete nodal directors, which are assigned to each node and




 ANALYSIS
AND determined by the geometry of the surrounding elements. The kinematic is formulated
DESIGN 44 (2007) 63 ± completely nonlinear. The technology is modular allowing for adding bending stiffness to an
74 initial membrane model using the same geometrical discretization and, thus, supporting the
entire design procedure from form finding to ultimate load or dynamic analysis of thin shells.
Different examples ranging from static wrinkling analysis of a membrane to nonlinear
dynamic analysis of a thin metal shelter show the multitude of possible applications.
Jarasjarun Ô  
 
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  ( ' 
á
The intrinsic inability to withstand compression is a challenge in numerical simulation of a
gkiat-
 

 


 
 

membrane with the finite element method. Basically there are two possibilities to deal with
01/2008 
 

 
this problem. On the one hand wrinkles would be detected in detail by a refined mesh of shell




 JOURNAL OF elements once a bending formulation is used. On the other hand this problem is computed on

 COMPUT. METHODS a coarser mesh of membrane elements augmented with a wrinkling model, which considers
APPL. MECH. ENGRG. effects of unresolved deformation patterns. This contribution focuses on the material
197 (2008) 773±788 modification approach, which is considered as a member of the latter. Within this category,
works in [P. Contri, B.A. Schrefler, A geometrically nonlinear finite element analysis of
wrinkled membrane surfaces by a no-compression material model, Commun. Appl. Numer.
Methods 4 (1988) 5±15; X. Liu, C.H. Jenkins, W.W. Schur, Large deflection analysis of
pneumatic envelopes using a penalty parameter modified material model, Finite Elements
Anal. Des. 37 (2001) 233±251; X. Liu, Fine scale analysis of wrinkled membrane, Int. J.
Numer. Comput. Engrg. Sci. 1 (2) (2000) 1017±1038; R. Rossi, M. Lazzari, R. Vitaliani, E.
Onate, Simulation of light-weight membrane structures by wrinkling model, Int. J. Numer,
Methods Engrg. 62 (15) (2005) 2127±2153; R. Rossi, E. Onate, Convergence of the modified
material model for wrinkling simulation of light-weight membrane structures, inÑ E. Onate,
B. Kro¨pin (Eds.), Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures (Structural Membranes
2003), CIMNE, 2003; R. Rossi, Light Weight StructuresÑ Structural Analysis and Coupling
Issues, Ph.D. Diss., The university of Bologna, 2005] are attractive because their wrinkling
models on a coarse grid are simple and intuitive. The basic idea of this model is as followsÑ
 whenever compression occurs in a membrane, the corresponding components of the
constitutive tensor in the direction of the compressive stress are penalized to weaken the
compressive stiffness of the membrane.
However, such abrupt change causes inevitably an unphysical oscillation of stress
redistribution. Therefore, an algorithm to stabilize this oscillation is required. The first
objective of this paper is to give a systematic verification of a wrinkling model based on the
material modification approach by means of an analogy between wrinkling and plasticity.
The second one is to include this model in a static analysis for both isotropic and orthotropic
membranes. This model holds following advantagesÑ it is computationally inexpensive and
virtually able to reproduce the exact stress field, caused by wrinkling, on a macroscopic
scale. To the author¶s knowledge applications of a material modification approach with
orthotropic materials are scarcely available. This paper demonstrates the potential of the
model by means of numerical examples, compared to ones in literature.
Jarasjarun
  
 %
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á
Considering wrinkling as an analogue to perfect plasticity, this study employs the projection
gkiat- 

 
 
 

method from inelasticity model to take into account wrinkling of thin membranes. Along the
02/2009  


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additive strain decomposition, the total strains within the wrinkled membranes are divided

 JOURNAL OF into an elastic part and a wrinkling part. The projection method removes the wrinkling strain
COMPUT. METHODS part, which has zero strain energy, from the total strains. As a consequence, the outcome is a
APPL. MECH. ENGRG. modified constitutive tensor which represents only energy of the elastic strain part. Due to its
198 (2009) 1097±1116 simplicity, this method is advantageous for implementation and combines a good rate of
convergence and low computational costs. Within this work, the incremental constitutive
equation is derived in a general form which is applicable both for isotropic and orthotropic
materials. The potential of the proposed wrinkling model is verified via various numerical
analyses of wrinkled membranes. Furthermore, the model is attractive to be implemented into
commercial finite element programs.
Luo- 

 

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)$
The paper presents a study on the mechanical properties of PVC coated bi-axial warp knitted
01/2009 %0 

 

 
 JOURNAL OF fabric with and without initial cracks under multi-axial tensile loads. The mechanical
 
 
 COMPOSITE behaviors of the same coated fabric under mono-axial and multi-axial tensile testing

 
 
 STRUCTURES 89 conditions are compared. The influences of the initial crack length and orientation on the
 

   (2009) 536±542 mechanical performance are analyzed. It is found that while the coated fabric demonstrates


 anisotropic properties under mono-axial tensile condition, the same fabric rather behaves
more isotropic under multi-axial tensile loads. It has also found that the mechanical
performance decreases with increase of the initial crack length for a given crack orientation,
and that the initial crack orientation perpendicular to a tensile direction has a maximal effect
in the reduction of the mechanical performance in this direction. The crack propagation is
always progressively along the weft direction of the fabric under multi-axial tensile condition
 no matter how the initial cracks are orientated.
Bridgens-   
  & 


 
*
!
Current design considerations and practice for tensile fabric structures are discussed with
01/2004 
 ' 
 ( + 


,
reference to a recent project (Dalton Park, County Durham, UK). Non-linear fabric

  
behaviour, large displacements and the use of membrane action to resist loads require a
THE STRUCTURAL fundamentally different approach to structural design compared to traditional roof structures.
ENGINEER The benefits to the design, manufacture, installation and maintenance of fabric structures to

be gained from a better understanding of fabric material properties are considered. An
ongoing programme of research at the University of Newcastle aims to thoroughly explore
the behaviour of architectural fabrics, and to use this knowledge to improve design practice.
Areas of research include biaxial testing of in-plane material properties1, creep, shear and the
development of a reliability based analysis and simulated installation analysis.
Bridgens- 
 

 


 
*
!
A review of architectural fabric material properties leads to new work on fabric testing
02/2004 

& + 


,
including the design of biaxial test equipment, analysis of the cruciform test piece and a new

 ' 
 (  
test protocol. It is proposed that plane-stress theory may be inappropriate for architectural

 THE STRUCTURAL fabrics. Warp and weft stresses and strains can be directly related without the inherent
ENGINEER approximation and inaccuracy incurred when non-linear fabric behaviour is represented using

a plane-stress model. A proposed scheme for implementing the test data in structural analysis
is outlined. The benefits of this research to fabric structure design were discussed in the
previous paper1. A better understanding of fabric behaviour will reduce the uncertainty and
unnecessary conservatism in the design process, which should lead to the design and
construction of more economic and increasingly bold fabric structures.
Bridgens- c


 

 ( 

Coated woven fabrics are used in state-of-the-art structures yet broad assumptions are made
03/2009 
  
 á!+,
*
!
in both material testing and analysis. Design is not codified and relies heavily on experience
 +-,+
" 
)
and precedent. Increasingly architects are moving away from conventional fabric forms,
  (


 *%..á,-
, 

often utilising lower levels of curvature and new materials. The result is less efficient, highly
á%,-

stressed structures which may be more sensitive to (poorly quantified) fabric material
)-/
properties. This paper considers the importance of material properties and structural
PROCEEDINGS OF geometry in the design and analysis of tensile fabric structures. Three typical tensile forms
THE (conic, hypar & barrel vault) have been considered. Recommendations are
INTERNATIONAL given on the types of structure that are sensitive to variability in material properties, and
ASSOCIATION FOR µrules of thumb¶ are proposed for the efficient design of fabric structures.
SHELL AND SPATIAL
STRUCTURES (IASS)
SYMPOSIUM 2009,
VALENCIA
EVOLUTION AND
 TRENDS IN DESIGN,
ANALYSIS AND
CONSTRUCTION OF
SHELL AND SPATIAL
STRUCTURES
Jackson- Ô  


 
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%",-
Architectural fabrics are translucent, lightweight and flexible allowing impressive forms to be
01/2009 


 


 ( 

achieved unlike any other material. However in order to create the required double curved

 á!+,
*
!
structural form, flat fabrics must undergo shear deformation during installation. Due to the
+-,+
woven nature of architectural fabrics contact between neighbouring yarns during shearing
PROCEEDINGS OF leads to an increase in shear stiffness, shear lock-up and subsequent wrinkling. A picture
THE frame shear test accessory has been designed for the biaxial test rig which enables a known
INTERNATIONAL biaxial stress state to be applied to the fabric and maintained throughout the shear test. A
ASSOCIATION FOR shear testing protocol is proposed for medium term loading conditions. This enables the shear
SHELL AND SPATIAL characteristics of architectural fabrics to be identified for use in analysis and design. Shear
STRUCTURES (IASS) behaviour is presented from initial experiments and a range of shear modulus values are
SYMPOSIUM 2009, proposed for loading and unloading in the shear deformation range of zero to 15°.
VALENCIA
EVOLUTION AND
TRENDS IN DESIGN,
ANALYSIS AND
CONSTRUCTION OF
SHELL AND SPATIAL
STRUCTURES
m
Cottrell- c





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"
%
á 

This paper begins with personal recollections of John H. Argyris. The geometrical spirit
01/2006 
 

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.  á
)

embodied in Argyris¶s work is revived in the sequel in applying the newly developed concept
JOURNAL OF
COMPUT. METHODS
APPL. MECH. ENGRG.
195 (2006) 5257±5296

of isogeometric analysis to structural vibration problems. After reviewing some fundamentals
of isogeometric analysis, application is made to several structural models, including rods,
thin beams, membranes, and thin plates. Rotationless beam and plate models are utilized as
well as three-dimensional solid models. The concept of k-refinement is explored and shown
to produce more accurate and robust results than corresponding finite elements. Through the
use of nonlinear parameterization, µµoptical¶¶ branches of frequency spectra are eliminated for
k-refined meshes. Optical branches have been identified as contributors to Gibbs phenomena
in wave propagation problems and the cause of rapid degradation of higher modes in p
method finite elements. A geometrically exact model of the NASA Aluminum Testbed
Cylinder is constructed and frequencies and mode shapes are computed and shown to
 compare favorably with experimental results.
Benson- c

  ! 
 


A Reissner±Mindlin shell formulation based on a degenerated solid is implemented for
01/2010


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) 


NURBS-based isogeometric analysis. The performance of the approach is examined on a set
  .  á
)

of linear elastic and nonlinear elasto-plastic benchmark examples. The analyses were
JOURNAL OF performed with LS-DYNA, an industrial, general-purpose finite element code, for which a
0¦ 
) user-defined shell element capability was implemented. This new feature, to be reported on

*¦
 c in subsequent work, allows for the use of NURBS and other non-standard discretizations in a
Ô!c

sophisticated nonlinear analysis framework.

0*Ôc0 Ô


c

)c
VOLUME 199, ISSUES
5-8, 1 JANUARY 2010,
PAGES 276-289
COMPUTATIONAL
GEOMETRY AND
ANALYSIS

Hughes- c




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) 
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The concept of isogeometric analysis is proposed. Basis functions generated from NURBS
01/2005 0Ô
'   ' "



 0
(Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines) are employed to construct an exact geometric model. For
 )+' 
 

purposes of analysis, the basis is refined and/or its order elevated without changing the
JOURNAL OF

    geometry or its parameterization. Analogues of finite element - and #-refinement schemes
0¦ 
)
are presented and a new, more efficient, higher-order concept, '-refinement, is introduced.

*¦
 c Refinements are easily implemented and exact geometry is maintained at all levels without
Ô!c

the necessity of subsequent communication with a CAD (Computer Aided Design)

0*Ôc0 Ô
description. In the context of structural mechanics, it is established that the basis functions

c

)c are complete with respect to affine transformations, meaning that all rigid body motions and
VOLUME 194, ISSUES constant strain states are exactly represented. Standard patch tests are likewise satisfied.
39-41, 1 OCTOBER Numerical examples exhibit optimal rates of convergence for linear elasticity problems and
2005, PAGES 4135- convergence to thin elastic shell solutions. A '-refinement strategy is shown to converge
4195 toward monotone solutions for advection±diffusion processes with sharp internal and

boundary layers, a very surprising result. It is argued that isogeometric analysis is a viable
alternative to standard, polynomial-based, finite element analysis and possesses several
advantages.
Echter- Ô  


  á #
").á
The properties of discretization schemes using NURBS for both geometry and displacements
01/2008 




  1

,")-
(³isogeometric approach´) are investigated in the context of three-dimensional analysis of

  
 PROCEEDINGS OF thin shells. Element behavior with respect to locking problems which are typical for shells is

   THE 6TH investigated and convergence rates are compared to those of classical finite element
 


INTERNATIONAL approaches. The study represents research in progress, focusing on the basic features of the
CONFERENCE ON isogeometric concept from the viewpoint of finite element technology, rather than
COMPUTATION OF investigating sophisticated shell problems.
SHELL AND SPATIAL
STRUCTURES
IASS-IACM 2008Ñ
³SPANNING NANO
TO MEGA´
28-31 MAY 2008,

Millan- 

 
  á
!
2 
%

A method for point-based (embedded) manifold processing avoiding any kind of mesh or
01/2009 
 
 
 & á 



%3
tessellation is presented. In mesh-based processing, the mesh not only provides a geo-metric
Ô

 
  8th Workshop on description of the surface, but also a support to define a local parametric space and the shape
Ô

 Numerical Methods in functions. Nevertheless, this approach is seriously hindered in high dimensions due to the
Applied absence in general of a single parametric space, and the difficulty of generating high
Science and Engineering dimensional unstructured meshes. We circumvent this fact by splitting the original manifold
(NMASE 09) into pieces that can be represented as patches, and by glueing them together by using the
partition of unity. Numerically, the manifold patches are obtained and joined by combining
Vall de Nuria, 15-16
weighted Principal Component Analysis (wPCA) and Shepard's shape functions,
January 2009
respectively, and finally local-maximum entropy meshfree approximants (LME) are used for
performing calculus on each patch. The properties for the proposed methodology are
explored in 3D by computing the elastic energy of solid membranes and the elastic small
deformations of thin shells in the context of the Kirchho_-Love theory.
Negahban- 




 


Extended Reissner/Mindlin shell kinematics are used to develop an exact shell that makes no
01/200 


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%  
further approximations on the deformation or strain. The formulation is fully tensorial. A
) ,  & +4
* 
three-dimensional isoparametric element is used as the reference configuration. The FE


 '   4
%

approximation introduces nodes on the mid-surface of the isoparametric element, with the

 


' thickness having a separately defined interpolation. The variational formulation is based on
% 




the nominal stress tensor. Isotropic linear and nonlinear elastic shells are constructed that use
International Journal for p-type interpolation along the director. The formulation is exact, resulting in nonlinear
Computational Methods elements showing better characteristics in comparison to other such elements.
in Engineering Science
and Mechanics, Volume
10, Issue 6 November
2009 , pages 430 - 449

Bazilevs- c




 
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$
/ 
" 
We explore T-splines, a generalization of NURBS enabling local refinement, as a basis for
01/2010    

 %
"

 %
isogeometric analysis. We review T-splines as a surface design methodology and then
 0 
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develop it for engineering analysis applications. We test T-splines on some elementary two-

,
#

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,
dimensional and three-dimensional fluid and structural analysis problems and attain good

. 
,
$
results in all cases. We summarize the current status of T-splines, their limitations, and future
COMPUT. METHODS possibilities.
APPL. MECH. ENGRG.
199 (2010) 229±263


Massimo- 

  
 ('
Long span roofs are today widely applied for sport, social, industrial, ecological and other
01/2005 
 
 

 & Bautechnik 82 (2005), activities. The experience collected in last decades identified structural typologies as space


 


 Heft 3 structures, cable structures, membrane structures and new ± under tension ± efficient

materials which combination deals with lightweight structural systems, as the state of art on
long span structural design. In order to increase the reliability assessment of wide span
structural systems a knowledge based synthetic conceptual design approach is recommended.
Theoretical and experimental in scale analysis, combined with a monitoring control of the
subsequent performance of the structural system, can calibrate mathematical modelling and
evaluate long term sufficiency of design.

Sánchez- 
  Ô

 
,6
 %
,
The aim of this paper is to introduce a method for the conceptual design of membrane
01/2004 
   
 *

structures. Actually, there is a lack of computer based tools for the people involved in these

  IASS 2004 first stages of the design process, in which the shape of the membrane is being defined. Not
SYMPOSIUM many parameters are needed at this stage for the designer. An easy graphic interface is
MONTPELLIER needed, in which the designer had the possibility of varying in real time the shape of the

membrane, and the environment around it, to achieve the desired shapes. A hybrid algorithm,
based on a structural analysis and a surface fitting approach has been carried out to meet all
the requirements.