Structural Design and Optimization of Separated Air-Rib Tents Based on Response Surface Methodology

Air-rib tents are widely used because they are lightweight and site adaptable, but the large deformation of these tents reduces their effective space. It is important to reduce the displacement of the air-rib tent by parameter optimization. The influences of external factors on the tent are studied in this paper. Four parameters of the tent's wind ropes are the angle of the wind ropes, the number of the wind ropes, and the initial prestress of the wind ropes on the side or end faces. The influence of the angle of the wind ropes and the number of the wind ropes on the displacement is larger than the other two parameters. The closer the wind ropes are to the center of the tarpaulin, the greater the displacement of the tent. Based on an analysis using response surface methodology, the optimal parameters are as follows: the angle of the wind ropes is 41 degrees, the number of the wind ropes on the side is two, the initial prestress of the wind ropes on the end face is 800 Pa, and the initial prestress of the wind ropes on the side is 0 Pa. Under these optimal parameters, the maximum displacement decreases by 10.2%, and the maximum stress barely changes.

Automated summary

This paper studied the influences of external factors on air-rib tents and found that the angle and number of wind ropes had a significant impact on displacement. The closer the wind ropes were to the center of the tarpaulin, the greater the displacement. Using response surface methodology, the optimal parameters were determined as follows: wind rope angle of 41 degrees, two wind ropes on the side, initial prestress of 800 Pa on the end face, and 0 Pa on the side. Under these optimal parameters, the maximum displacement decreased by 10.2%, while the maximum stress remained nearly unchanged.