Abstract
A critical behavior of timber single-layer lattice dome is simulated by the beam-column finite element method for large deflection analysis of space frames. The beam-column FEM modeling of the steel joint-members of lattice dome enables to predict accurately the equilibrium path with critical behaviors. Governing equations in the numerical method used here are formulated with the incremental perturbation method. Therefore, a proper step length at every incremental step is automatically provided even in the vicinity of critical points on equilibrium path. This paper shows that the numerical method adopted here can sufficiently predict the rotational buckling of joints observed in the full scale experiment. This numerical method is demonstrated to be very effective for simulation of critical behavior of timber lattice domes with gusset plate type joints.
