Biography
What I do
Publications
Publications by Andrew Lennon: Introduction from BE dissertation
Lightweight Structures
(with JE Kelly)
This project was initial conceived as a community project for West Cork. It was then extended to include a commercial problem and an idea for an exhibition which was to be part of a celebration, the UCC 150. The initial title of the project was "The use of an Inflatable Structure to Cover a Combined Swimming Pool and Ice Rink". The scope of the structures to be considered was expanded to cover lightweight structures. For the purpose of this project and further consideration of this branch of structures, we propose the following definition:
Thus by our definition, structures such as airhalls, stressed membrane tents and pneumatics, (using the definition by Peter Rice for pneumatics), are all lightweight structures.
In the project we first carried out some basic research into the field of lightweight structures. This was initially intended to be a small part of the project, but due to the unanticipated complexities inherent in lightweight structures, it in fact became a major part of the project. We then applied this research to the practical problems of an airhall, a movable inflatable structure, and an exhibition tent. The general form of this report is such that it lays down the basic work that can be built on subsequently without much extra reference to other works, in designing lightweight structures.
