Abstract: Six states and five analysis processes were pointed out for the whole numerical analysis process of cable-net structure. The six states are initial geometry state, form-found equilibrium state, elastified form-found equilibrium state, zero-stress (unstressed) state, pre-stress state and loading state, respectively. The five analysis process are form-finding analysis, elastified cable analysis, pre-stress analysis, inverse analysis and loading analysis. And the state parameters were clarified, also for the analytical model of different analysis procedures. The real zero-stress state does not exist generally, the assumed approximated zero-stress state is usually employed. On the basis of elastified form-found equilibrium state, the bestfit reasonable zero-stress state can be found through inverse analysis. The numerical algorithm and procedure was proposed for the ANSYS and EASY for cable-net analysis, and the emphasis is focused on the zero-stress state assumption. Finally, the numerical analysis was exemplified for two cablenet structures. The results demonstrate the significant difference with different zero-stress state assumption and the corresponding numerical analysis approaches.

Key words: cable-net structure, equilibrium state, elastified procedure, zero-stress state, inverse analysis