On the duality of space-trusses and plate structures of rigid plates and elastic edges

TL;DR

This paper introduces a method to analyze plate structures with rigid plates and elastic edges by leveraging the duality with space trusses, enabling the use of well-known truss analysis techniques for complex plate systems.

Contribution

It presents a novel computational approach that uses the duality between space trusses and plate structures to solve for forces and displacements in plate systems.

Findings

Applicable to both statically determinate and indeterminate structures

Works under both static and kinematic loads

Utilizes the duality to simplify analysis of complex plate structures

Abstract

Dualities have been known to map space trusses and plate structures to each other since the 1980-s. Yet the computational similarity of the two has not been used to solve the unfamiliar plate structure with the methods of the well known truss. This paper gives a method to find the forces and displacements of a plate structure with rigid plates and elastic edges, using a dual truss. It is applicable for both statically determinate and indeterminate structures, subjected to both statical and kinematical loads.