Bell's interest was primarily in using them to make rigid frames for nautical and aeronautical engineering, with the tetrahedral truss being one of his inventions. Like the truss, a space frame is strong because of the inherent rigidity of the triangle flexing loads (bending moments) are transmitted as tension and compression loads along the length of each strut.Ĭhief applications include buildings and vehicles.Īlexander Graham Bell from 1898 to 1908 developed space frames based on tetrahedral geometry. Space frames can be used to span large areas with few interior supports. In architecture and structural engineering, a space frame or space structure ( 3D truss) is a rigid, lightweight, truss-like structure constructed from interlocking struts in a geometric pattern. If the red bar is present, and the bending rigidity of the blue node is negligible compared to the contributing rigidity of the red bar, the system can be calculated using a rigidity matrix, neglecting angular factors.
If a force is applied to the blue node, and the red bar is not present, the behaviour of the structure depends completely on the bending rigidity of the blue node.
Rigid three dimensional load bearing truss structure The roof of this industrial building is supported by a space frame structure.
