A nonlinear static analysis method for cable structures, particularly
emphasizing cable networks, is presented. Cable strains are measured f
rom the current geometry and compressed cables are analytically disass
embled with the construction of the equilibrium equation and the stiff
ness matrix. Finite rotations of cable intersections, referred to as n
odes, and cable elements passing through more than two nodes are inclu
ded in the formulation. An integrated analysis with a linear finite el
ement method is also presented to account for the elastic deformations
of supporting structures for the cable networks. The formulation is p
rogrammed for a CRAY2 supercomputer using parallel processing to solve
the linear equations. Applications of the method used for mesh antenn
a development are also presented.