The text presents a new type of stress-free deployable structures (meaning that they do not present geometric incompatibilities during the folding-unfolding process), the sailor vault of equal scissor-like elements, SLE. The geometric generation process is explained, establishing the concepts of eccentricity and opening angle of the SLE based on the final deployed situation. The deployment process is then studied employing a dynamic calculation program. Having overcome these issues, the construction of a physical model for testing is addressed, using reciprocal joints to improve the structural behaviour. An account is given of the modifications introduced during the construction process to achieve a model with good mechanical behaviour. Finally, a test campaign is carried out on this model, consisting of load tests of the model on four and eight supports subjected to vertical ascending and descending loads. The results of these tests are contrasted with those acquired with a computer model. The values obtained are analysed, drawing interesting conclusions with a view to their practical application. Although equal-bar deployable domes are very simple from a construction point of view, they must comply with strict design mechanisms. In order to be structurally effective, they must have sufficient camber, which in the models tested has been achieved using SLEs with an eccentricity of 5.15% and an opening angle of 30°, as well as the subsequent addition of a series of complementary bars that depend on the support system. The use of reciprocal joints radically improves the behaviour of the structure, but construction tolerances have only allowed to place them on the outer face.
Muñoz-Vidal et al. (Thu,) studied this question.