Radial pleated suspension/aspension dome

Radial pleated suspension/aspension card dome

Radial pleated suspension/aspension card dome

The model uses floating masts to stabilise against second- and third-harmonic diaphragming - and create a more rounded, dome-like shape than some of my other radial pleated models - which tend to be more conical.

This design is related to the ones that were pioneered by David Geiger to span large distances. The main innovation here is the use of a totally flat sheet of material as the fabric membrane, allowing construction using cheap materials with no cutting and seaming required.

Construction using polythene, tarpaulin fabrics or PVC should be possible.

I didn't consider this type of pattern initially - since I was concerned about the possible side effects of perforating the fabric. However, after building my first prototype, I was impressed by how well very simple fabric-reinforcement techniques worked in practice.

The model is more complex than previous ones. More struts are involved, and the weight per unit area is larger.

On the other hand, it shows how to scale the design up so that it spans larger distances better.

This model illustrates how it would be possible to create a pure aspension design. Such a design would be heavier, more expensive, and would not be so good at creating large spans - but it would dispense with the external supports required for a suspended design - thus allowing use of the pattern in tightly-confined spaces.

It would be nice to create a version of this model which is a genuine tensile structure as I have done with some of my other models.

Radial pleated suspension/aspension card dome