EQUILIBRIUM SHAPE-ANALYSIS OF SINGLE-LAYER STRUCTURE BY MEASURE POTENTIAL FUNCTION

A unified theory is presented for the shape analysis of curved surface with a single layer structure composed by frame, membrane or shell. T he shapes produced by the theory have no shear stress in elements, and the stress states in the whole shape are as uniform as possible under an ordinary load. The theory starts from defining an element potentia l function expressed by the measurement of the element length or the e lement area. Therefore, the shape analysis can produce various forms a ccording to the definition of the potential function, and each of thos e form or the cable net form with the potential function of the second power of element length is simply gotten by the linear analysis. The form in tensile stress is mechanically equal to an isotropic tension f orm.