LAUSR

The scientific novelty of this work lies in the description of the methods of calculating and analyzing the symmetrical stability loss of the von Mises truss in the case of sloped loads with an elastic support at the top of the truss. In this work, we consider a deformed layout of the von Mises truss with an elastic support under a concentrated load at the apex joint about the vertical axis. Numerical studies were carried out using the proposed methods. This work indicates the impact of the sloped load and elastic support on the truss’ stability loss. We determined dependencies of critical external-load values on the rod’s starting pitch for different situations. For each design situation, we obtained generalized expressions for determining critical force values for the truss’ apex joint. We obtained dependencies and analytical expressions for determining the critical load on the dome structure, based on the initial geometrical parameters, taking into account the reaction of the elastic support at the apex joint and the direction of the external loads. Our studies show that increasing the support’s stiffness increases the sustainability of the von Mises truss. Additionally, we obtained new results required for improving the stability of trusses under a sloped load with an angle of 10–40° about the vertical axis.