New tensegrity structures based on octagonal cells.

Abstract

Tensegrity families are excellent sources of new tensegrity structures. A tensegrity family is a group of tensegrity structures that share a common connectivity pattern. The Octahedron, X‐Octahedron and Z‐Octahedron families are examples of them. The members of these families are constructed by assembling one‐bar elementary cells. Rhombic, X‐rhombic and Z‐shaped cells are used to construct the members of the Octahedron, X‐Octahedron and Z‐Octahedron families respectively. In a recent work, a new type of elementary cell was introduced: the octagonal cell. In this work, new tensegrity structures are obtained by assembling a new octagonal cell. The values of the force:length ratio of the members of the tensegrities that lead to an equilibrium configuration have been computed analytically. The stability of the resultant tensegrity structures has been analyzed.