Formation and stability of a cylindrical ILTDBS reticulated mega-structure braced with single-layer latticed membranous shell substructures

For a cylindrical intersecting-latticed-three-dimensional-beam-system (ILTDBS) reticulated mega-structure braced with single-layer latticed membranous shell substructures, the formation method, form parameters and support styles are first studied in this paper. And a program, which can automatically generate the form of the structure, is developed. Then the geometrically nonlinear mechanical model and stability analysis program are developed, and the stabilities of the structure are investigated. The structural ultimate bearing capacities and buckling modes including overall buckling and local buckling are studied in detail by parametric analyses. And the laws of determination of various parameters of the structure with different spans on the critical state between local and overall buckling are obtained. The work will provide guidance in theory for practical applications of this kind of structure.