Tensile Roofing

A tensile structure is a construction of elements carrying only tension and no compression or bending. The term tensile should not be confused with tensegrity, which is a structural form with both tension and compression elements. Tensile structures are the most common type of thin-shell structures.

Most tensile structures are supported by some form of compression or bending elements, such as masts (as in The O2, formerly the Millennium Dome), compression rings or beams.

A tensile membrane structure is most often used as a roof, as they can economically and attractively span large distances. Tensile membrane structures may also be used as complete buildings, with a few common applications being sports facilities, warehousing and storage buildings, and exhibition venues

Why Tensiles are the shape they are?

• Large flat pieces of fabric are very poor at resisting loads.
• Imagine four of you each pulling on the strings laced through a tennis ball. A fifth person pushing down on the ball can deflect it easily.
• The Ball is now locked in space. Apply this principle to fabric and you have created 'anticlastic' double curvature. Sounds grand but actually is simply derived from one of three fabric shapes; the hypar, the cone and the barrel.