Instability Problems in Space Structures

Abstract

The paper presents the principal aspects of stability analysis of space structures. In describing the evolution of the principles of analysis, the author's method of stable and unstable components is also discussed. It is shown that spatiality has contradictory effects: on the one hand, it leads to an increase in the critical bifurcation load and on the other hand it increases the sensitivity to geometrical imperfections by increasing the unstable components. The principal aspects of the stability analysis of structures whose spatiality is due to their shape (shells, double-layer grids or single-layer latticed shells) are described and a number of previous unsatisfactory solutions are discussed. In structures whose spatiality is due to interaction, the stability check is at present not quite correct, but because of bending moments it does not differ very much from a more accurate analysis.