Study on Structural Characteristics of Air-Inflated Beam

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Publication year 1992
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Title Study on Structural Characteristics of Air-Inflated Beam
Author Masaya KAWABATA
Summary Air-Inflated Beam is a sort of pneumatic structures, which is stabilized by internal pressure and the tension in the membrane surface. It can carry bending moment and compression as a structure,however membrane material itself cannot carry those forces. There are several merits of flexibility and light weight,but on the other hand it is not so easy to predict the structural response. In the paper membrane material is substituted for some cable elements and the nonlinear analysis based upon the finite element method is conducted for a simple beam and a cantilever. As a result the basic structural characteristics are grasped.