EXPERIMENTAL AND NUMERICAL FORM-FINDING OF MEMBRANE STRUCTURES

This paper describes a study conducted to determine the surface shape of membrane structures with fixed edges. Results obtained experimentally by taking coordinate measurements in three dimensions from scale down physical models are compared with computed values based on the formulation of the force density method for determining the surface shape. A program in C++ is developed in order to assist in the computation. It is observed that the results under minimal surface conditions are in close agreement and the formulation can thus be applied practically to predict the surface shape of membrane structures.