Tensegrity frameworks: dynamic analysis review and open problems

Abstract

The main objective of this paper is twofold. First, to conclude the overview about tensegrity frameworks, started by the same authors in a previous work, covering the most important dynamic aspects of such structures. Here, the most common approaches to tensegrity dynamic modeling used so far are presented, giving the most important results about their dynamic behavior under external action. Also, the main underlying problems are identified which allow the authors to give a clear picture of the main research lines currently open, as well as the most relevant contributions in each of them, which is in fact the second main objective of this paper. From the extensive literature available on the subject, four main areas have been identified: design and form-finding methods which deal with the problem of finding stable configurations, shape changing algorithms which deal with the problem of finding stable trajectories between them and, also control algorithms which take into account the dynamic model of the tensegrity structure and possible external perturbations to achieve the desired goal and performance. Finally, some applications of such structures are presented emphasizing the increasing interest of the scientific community on tensegrity structures.