Natural neighbor Galerkin method for deflection analysis of inflatable structures

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to extend the application of natural neighbor GalerkinrnMethod (NNGM) to deflection analysis of inflatable structures such as new and modern textilernstructures under arbitrary conditions.rnDesign/methodology/approach - Inflatable structures have a proper mechanical strength whenrnthey are inflated at different pressures. NNGM or natural element method (NEM) is defined as a newrnmeshfree method based on the natural neighbor interpolation to analyze the deflections of thesernstructures under arbitrary pressures, load and support conditions. The whole interpolation is builtrnwith regard to the natural neighbor nodes and Voronoi tessellation of the given point.rnFindings - The performance of NNGM is investigated in the deflection analysis of inflatable tubesrnand panels. The excellent agreement between the presented modeling and analytical results and alsornfinite element solutions and experiment are observed.rnOriginality/value - Despite the wide usage of NNGM in many engineering problems, thisrncomparison shows the other aspect of application of NNGM in the deflection analysis of inflatablernstructures, not previously examined.