Study case: Design of a spherical actively-bent chebychev net triangular gridshell covered by a stretchable membrane

Abstract

The aim of this study is to design and build a spherical elastic gridshell, 6m in diameter and covered by a stretchable membrane; using the previously published work in Chebychev Net gridshells [8] and the introduction of singularity points [3], analyzing the behavior on different configurations and focusing specially on the area where a patch meets another. We exploit the special case when, introducing a single valence 3 singularity on the center of the chebychev net, leads to the assumption that structure and bracing could effectively be the same element. A number of new constructive problems arise when trying to erect the structure, wich are solved by allowing some of the joints to slide freely until the gridshell has been fully erected. Finally, using a recently developed stretchable architectural membrane, a cover for the structure was designed. Different load tests were performed on the phsysical model and compared to the analytical model to verify the structure and the reliability of the tools used.