Investigation of Multiple Stable States of Tensegrity Structure

Low weight and ability to withstand large deformations make tensegrity-based structures attractive for a wide range of applications. It has been reported that given a number of bars (struts), strings (cables) and interconnections between bars and strings, more than one configuration can be arrived at. However, the possibility of taking a tensegrity from one of stable configurations to another has not been reported so far. This paper first explores a Monte Carlo-based method of arriving at different configurations of tensegrity structures having the same number of bars, strings and their interconnections. The results were validated against analytical solutions available in the literature. It then uses the dynamic relaxation method to show the intermediate steps for transforming one configuration into another by the application of a set of external forces. This can lead to multi-usability of tensegrity structures by switching from one stable configuration to other configuration.