Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

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Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/cnsns

Nonlinear force density method for the form-nding of minimal

surface membrane structures
K. Koohestani
Department of Structural Engineering, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

a r t i c l e

i n f o

Article history:
Received 7 April 2013
Received in revised form 21 October 2013
Accepted 23 October 2013
Available online 30 October 2013
Keywords:
Form-nding
Nonlinear force density method
Minimal surface membranes

a b s t r a c t
We develop an alternative approach for the form-nding of the minimal surface
membranes (including cable membranes) using discrete models and nonlinear force density method. Two directed weighted graphs with 3 and 4-sided regional cycles, corresponding to triangular and quadrilateral nite element meshes are introduced as computational
models for the form-nding problem. The triangular graph model is closely related to the
triangular computational models available in the literature whilst the quadrilateral graph
uses a novel averaging approach for the form-nding of membrane structures within the
context of nonlinear force density method. The viability of the mentioned discrete models
for form-nding are studied through two solution methods including a xed-point iteration method and the NewtonRaphson method with backtracking. We suggest a hybrid
version of these methods as an effective solution strategy. Examples of the formation of
certain well-known minimal surfaces are presented whilst the results obtained are compared and contrasted with analytical solutions in order to verify the accuracy and viability
of the suggested methods.
2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
Tension membrane structures are efcient, attractive and aesthetic structural forms which cover large areas including
exhibition centres, auditoriums, stadiums, etc. Minimal surfaces, physically realised by soap-lms, may be considered as viable initial forms for tension membrane structures. One of the major steps in the analysis of tension membrane structures is
the form-nding. Form-nding refers to a process which provides us with a self-equilibrated state for a pre-stressed structure. For tension membrane structures reinforced by cables (cablemembranes), the equilibrium between prescribed force of
boundary cables, prescribed membrane stresses and forces induced at the xed supports leads to a structural form. Over the
decades, different methods have been proposed for the form-nding problems either for cable-net structures and tension
membranes. Recently, Veenendaal and Block [1] presented a comprehensive review of the form-nding methods. The earlier
study suggests that all the form-nding methods may be more or less categorised into three groups, namely the stiffness
matrix methods, geometric stiffness methods and dynamic equilibrium methods. However, since the methods proposed
in this paper fall into the second category (i.e., geometric stiffness methods), we briey review the main contributions
and methods in this category as follows.
The geometric stiffness methods, as the name suggests, are form-nding methods which employ geometric stiffness
matrices which are independent of the material properties. This category undoubtedly includes the most appealing formnding methods. The earliest method from this category was developed by Linkwitz and Schek [2] and Schek [3] and is

Tel.: +98 411 3392391; fax: +98 411 3356024.

E-mail addresses: kambiz.koohestani@gmail.com, ka_koohestani@tabrizu.ac.ir
1007-5704/$ - see front matter 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cnsns.2013.10.023

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

known as the force density method (FDM). The original FDM has been designed for cable-net structures. Since 1971, several
form-nding methods have been developed for tension membrane structures which may be classied in this category,
including the assumed geometric stiffness method of Haber and Abel [4], the surface stress density method (SSDM) of
Maurin and Motro [5,6]), the updated reference strategy (URS) of Bletzinger and Ramm [7] (see also Bletzinger et al. [8]
and Wchner and Bletzinger [9]), the revised geometric stiffness method of Nouri-Baranger [10,11], the preliminary
form-nding surface tting (PFSM) approach of Snchez et al. [12] and the natural force density method (NFDM) of Pauletti
and Pimenta [13].
In this paper, rst, we describe the well-known FDM for the form-nding of cable nets. The extension of the method to the
form-nding of membranes is then presented using a conventional triangular nite element. Although the mentioned formulation is well documented in the literature, we present a rather different graph theoretical representation of this formulation. In other words, we simulate a tension membrane structure using a weighted directed graph (graph with 3 sided
regional cycles corresponding to the triangular nite element meshes) where each edge of the graph is assigned an explicit
weight (sum of force densities acting on that edge), simply calculated from current geometry. Another discrete model, the
graph model of a quadrilateral nite element mesh, is then introduced based on the triangular graph model and using a novel
averaging approach. These graphs are then used as discrete computational models for the form-nding of minimal surface
membranes. The method offered promises with regards to forming minimal surface membranes in a very similar way to the
form-nding of cable-net structures. Second, two solution methods including a xed-point iteration method and a Newton
Raphson method with backtracking are suggested for the form-nding through our formulations a hybrid and effective
version of these methods is also proposed. Finally, examples including formation of a catenoid, Scherk and Schwarz P surfaces
are presented using our methods, whilst the results obtained are compared and contrasted with those analytical solutions
available in the literature. The comparisons clearly verify the accuracy and viability of our approach.
2. FDM for cable nets
The FDM was rst proposed by Linkwitz and Schek [2] (see also [3]) and has been widely used in the form-nding of cable
nets and tensegrity structures. Considering a prescribed value for the force density of cables (qi ), the form-nding of a cablenet with n nodes and m elements is simply formulated as the solution of a system of linear equations as follows

BQBt X P

in which B bij  is dened as

8
>
< 1 if
bij 1
if
>
:
0

i is the start node of element j

i is the end node of element j

Otherwise

From graph theoretical point of view, B is called the node-element incidence matrix of a directed graph where each element is directed from node i to ji < j. Furthermore, X x; y; z is the matrix of nodal coordinates, whilst P px ; py ; pz  is
the matrix of external nodal forces and Q diagq, q q1 ; q2 ; . . . ; qm t is a diagonal matrix consisting of the force density of
elements. In Eq. (1), BQBt is also known as a weighted Laplacian matrix where the cable-net is represented as a directed
weighted simple graph. In the process of form-nding we usually have certain xed nodes (support conditions) as well as
external forces which are considered to be zero. Therefore, Eq. (1) can be slightly changed to deal with these cases. Let
the nodal coordinate matrix be partitioned into Xf (nodal coordinates of free nodes) and Xr (nodal coordinates of restrained
nodes). As a result, B and P in Eq. (1) are partitioned accordingly as shown in Eq. (3).

Bf
Br

 h
Q Btf

Btr

i X 
f

Xr

Pf

Pr

The equilibrium equations can then be written based on nodal coordinates of free nodes as follows.

Bf QBtf Xf Pf  Bf QBtr Xr

With regards to form-nding, we are usually interested in a self-equilibrium state (Pf 0) and thus the nal system of
linear equations for the form-nding of cable nets is obtained as

GXf Ff

where,

G Bf QBtf ;

Ff Bf QBtr Xr

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

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3. Nonlinear FDM for tension membranes

3.1. Equilibrium equations of a triangular nite element
Fig. 1(a) shows a triangular nite element with its nodal forces. This element has been widely used in the form-nding of
tension membranes, e.g. in Maurin and Motro [5,6], Pauletti and Pimenta [13] and Barnes [14]. In the context of the force
method, it is possible to introduce a set of independent element forces for each nite element. Since the six nodal forces
are related to each other using three equations of equilibrium, only three forces should be selected as independent element
forces. There is no unique way in which to introduce these forces (or equivalent strains) as this has been previously assumed
in different manners in the abovementioned references. However, in this paper, we consider forces acting at the edges
(Fig. 2(b)) of the triangular element as the independent element forces and follow Prezemienieckis [15] approach which
is more consistent with our methods and formulations.
The independent element forces, shown in Fig. 1(b), can be related to the six nodal forces using simple equilibrium equations as given in Eq. (7) in the matrix form.

3 2
p1
l12
6 p 7 6 m
12
6 27 6
6 7 6
6 p3 7 6 l12
6 76
6p 7 6 m
6 4 7 6 12
6 7 6
4 p5 5 4 0
p6
0
2

l31

0
l23
m23
l23
m23

m31 7
72 3
7 f1
0 7
7
76
4 f2 5
0 7
7
7 f3
l31 5

m31

In Eq. (7) lij xij =Lij and mij yij =Lij are direction cosines of an edge directed from node i to j in which xij xj  xi ,
yij yj  yi and Lij is the length of the edge identifying by i and j. In addition, for all edges, the relationship between force
and force density can simply be written as f1 q1 L12 ; f2 q2 L23 and f3 q3 L31 : Considering the above denitions, we simplify
the equations of equilibrium (Eq. (1)) in the x-direction as follows.

p1 q1 q3 x1  q1 x2  q3 x3

8-a

p3 q1 x1 q1 q2 x2  q2 x3

8-b

p5 q3 x1  q2 x2 q2 q3 x3

8-c

The above equations can be written in the matrix form based on the force density of edges and x-coordinates of nodes as
shown in Eq. (9).

1

6
4 1
0

0
1
1

1

32

76
0 54
1

32

q1
q2

1

32

x1

p1

76
76 7 6 7
54 0 1 1 54 x2 5 4 p3 5
1 0 1
q3
x3
p5

For the equilibrium in the y-direction, the same equations are obtained by replacing x with y and p1 ; p3 ; p5 with p2 ; p4 ; p6 in
Eq. (9). Note that these equations are in fact the decoupled form (decoupled to one Cartesian direction) of the element stiffness matrix of the NFDM [13].

Fig. 1. A triangular nite element, (a) nodal forces, (b) independent element forces.

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

Fig. 2. A triangular nite element with constant normal and shear stresses.

3.2. Stressforce density relationships

In Fig. 2 a triangular nite element with constant normal and shear stresses is depicted. We aim to generate relationships
between these stresses and force density of the edges. Assume that the stress in the x-direction is applied independently.
Fig. 3 shows the statically equivalent forces acting on the nodes of the triangle for this stress eld.
These forces are given in a simplied form as follows

p1

1
1
rx ty13  y12 rx ty23
2
2

10-a

p3

1
1
rx ty32  y12 rx ty31
2
2

10-b

p5

1
1
rx ty13 y32 rx ty12
2
2

10-c

where t is the element thickness. The same procedure is repeated for the stress in the y-direction and shearing stress, thus
leading to a complete set of equilibrium equations (nodal forces-element stresses) as follows.

p1

y23

6p 7
6 0
6 27
6
6 7
6
6 p3 7 t 6 y31
6 7 6
6p 7 26 0
6 47
6
6 7
6
4 p5 5
4 y12
p6

x23
0
x31
0

x23

y23 7
72 r 3
7
x
x31 76
74 ry 7
5
y31 7
7
s
7 xy
x12 5

11

y12

x12

Considering f2 f3 0 and eliminating nodal forces pi between Eqs. (7) and (11) we have

l12

y23

6 m 7
6 0
12 7
6
6
7
6
6
6 l12 7
6 y31
t
7
6
6
6 m 7f1 2 6 0
6 12 7
6
7
6
6
4 0 5
4 y12
0

0
x23
0
x31
0
x12

x23

y23 7
72 r 3
7
x
x31 76
74 ry 7
5
7
y31 7
7 sxy
x12 5

12

y12

Eq. (12) provides simple relationships for element stresses (due to act of f1 ) based on the force density of edges as follows.

rx

x212
q ;
tA 1

ry

y212
q ;
tA 2

sx

x12 y12
q3
tA

13

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

2075

Fig. 3. Statically equivalent nodal forces corresponding to the stress in the x-direction.

By repeating the above process for f2 ; f3 and integrating all the results in a matrix form, we obtain the force densitystress
relationships for a constant stress triangular nite element as given in Eq. (14).

2 2
x
1 6 12
4 y212
tA
x12 y12

x223

3 2
3
rx
q1
7
6
7
6
7
y231 54 q2 5 4 ry 5
sxy
q3
x31 y31
x231

y223
x23 y23

32

14

Eq. (14) enables us to nd the force density of edges based on a prescribed stress eld. A special case where rx ry r,
sxy 0 (the uniform isotropic stress state) is important for the form-nding of minimal surface membranes. We analytically
solve the above equations (Eq. (14)) to nd relationships between the force density of edges and the prescribed stress r as
follows.

q1

tArx23 x31 y23 y31

tr t
tr
v t32 v 31
tr
v v31

cota3
x12 y23  x23 y12 x12 y31  x31 y12 4A 32
2 kv 32  v 31 k2
2

15

q2

tArx31 x12 y31 y12

tr t
tr
v t31 v 21
tr
v 31 v21

cota1
x23 y31  x31 y23 x23 y12  x12 y23 4A
2 kv 31  v 21 k2
2

16

q3

tArx12 x23 y12 y23

tr t
tr
v t21 v 23
tr
v v23

cota2
x31 y12  x12 y31 x31 y23  x23 y31 4A 21
2 kv 21  v 23 k2
2

17

Here, A is the area of the triangle and v ij xij ; yij t ; if a triangular element is in x  y plane. However, in the form-nding
process we need to nd these force densities for a triangular element which is in a 3D space. However, the extension of the
above equations for 3D cases can be simply done by considering v ij xij ; yij ; zij t . As a result, we do not need to perform any
transformation from global 3D to the elements local 2D coordinates system to calculate force densities. Note that the later
term (t r=2 cotai ) in Eqs. (15)(17) is not new and has been previously derived and used within different approaches, for
instance by Barnes [14] (dened as tension coefcient), however, this form of force density of edges is not suitable for our
formulations and only provided for the verication of the equations. The new term derived here which is based on the inner
and outer products of the edge vectors (with no referring to the inner angles of the triangle) is ideal for our formulations and
methods of form-nding.
In addition, we provide the principal stresses of a triangular nite element based on the force density of its edges as
follows.

rmax n n2  g; rmin n  n2  g
n

rx ry
2


1  2
q1 L12 q2 L223 q3 L231
2tA

g rx ry  s2xy

4
q1 q2 q2 q3 q1 q3
t2

18
19

20

3.3. Formulation of nonlinear FDM

3.3.1. Graph theoretical representation
In this section, we present a graph theoretical representation of a cablemembrane discretised by triangular nite
elements and cable elements in terms of a directed weighted multi graph. This simulation enables us to formulate the
form-nding of tension membranes in the same way as the form-nding of cable nets. There are some studies dealing with

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

this kind of analogy, such as those by Grndig [16] and Singer [17]. The main difference between our approach and that of
the mentioned studies is pointed out later at the end of this section.
For a triangular nite element, equilibrium equations based on the force density of edges, nodal coordinates and external
forces have been provided in Eq. (9). These equations can be written for all elements and integrated to obtain a complete set
of equilibrium equations in the form of a system of nonlinear equations. The coefcient matrix of the above mentioned nonlinear system is actually the Laplacian matrix of a weighted directed multi graph as illustrated in Fig. 4. This graph has three
directed edges for each triangular element where each edge is directed from node i to ji < j. Furthermore, to each edge, a
weight (a special force density value) should be assigned according to the relationships given in Eqs. (15)(17). Note that
there are two edges at the common faces of triangular elements (one edge for each element) thus making the generated
graph non-simple (multi graph).
Boundary cables, if existing, can also be modelled with additional directed edges between appropriate nodes. The weight
of cables can simply be assigned to the edges mentioned using the prescribed cable force (fb ). We emphasise the fact that
each directed edge (except the edges corresponding to cables) actually belongs to a specic triangle and its weight should
be calculated using the properties of that triangle. For instance, the weights of double edges 1 (i 1; j 2) and 10
(i 5; j 6), shown in Fig. 4, are q01 t r=2 cotb1 ; q001 t r=2 cotb2 , q010 t r=2 cotb3 and q0010 fb =L56 , respectively.
Note that by summation of the weights associated with every multi edge (see 3.3.2 for a mathematical representation), it is
straightforward to only consider a simple weighted graph as the inclusive computational model for the form-nding.
In summary, in our approach, the node-member incidence matrix, B, needs to be formed only for a simple triangular
graph, where its entries are related to the edges of input graph with no referring to the triangles individually (see Eq.
(2)). This, in fact, constitutes the main difference between the representation given here with those of Grndig [16] and Singer [17], where they have suggested different node-member incidence matrices (three different matrices for three coordinate
differences in a triangle by Grndig [16], and a 9  9 matrix for every triangle, by Singer [17]).
3.3.2. General formulation
The basic formulation of the force density method, provided in Section 2 for cable nets, is extended to be applicable for
membrane structures. This development is carryout based on the special graph associated with the membrane model as dened in the earlier section.
Considering a special ordering of edges, the force density formulation can be written based on force density of double
edges as follows

"
B B

#"

Q0
Q 00

Bt
Bt

#
XP

21

where Q 0 and Q 00 are diagonal matrices including the force density of double edges as well as the force densities of boundary
cables. Simplifying Eq. (21) leads to the original force density formulation with a special force density matrix as given in
Eq. (22).

BQBt X P

22

Here, Q Q 0 Q 00 and Q diagq, q q1 ; q2 ; . . . ; qm t . Eq. (22) implies that the force density of each edge (i; j) can be
simply calculated as follows

qij

tr X v tki v kj
fb

2 k2X kv ki  v kj k2 kv ij k2

Fig. 4. (a) A cablemembrane nite element model, (b) corresponding directed weighted multi graph.

23

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

2077

where X is a set consisting of labels of all the nodes which are adjacent to node i or j and generate 3-sided cycles on the edge
(i; j). For a graph with 3-sided regional cycles (corresponding to a triangular nite element mesh), the cardinality of X is 1 and
2 for exterior and interior edges, respectively. The effect of xed nodes (support conditions) can be considered in a
similar way to that described in Eqs. (3)(6). Note that, from a graph theoretical point of view, BQBt in Eq. (22) is in fact
the weighted Laplacian matrix of a directed weighted simple graph generated by replacing each double edge in the multi
graph with a simple directed edge where the weight of the new edge is the sum of the weight of the double edges. The above
procedure enables us to formulate the form-nding of a membrane structure using a graph model rather than a nite
element model.
3.4. Formation of a minimal surface membrane
Minimal surfaces are surfaces of zero mean curvature which minimise the area bounded by a rigid boundary (see Giomi
and Mahadevan [18] for minimal surfaces bounded by elastic boundary). Minimal surfaces, physically formed by soap lms,
have many applications in science, engineering and even art. It is known that a stable minimal surface has a uniform isotropic stress distribution (see e.g. Lewis [19] and Lewis and Gosling [20]). We exploit this feature to obtain an equilibrium shape
for a tension membrane structure. To do so, it is sufcient to nd a solution for the nonlinear set of equations, given in Eq.
(22). Clearly, such a solution satises the equilibrium equations while also providing us with a membrane shape with the
uniform isotropic stress distribution. In the following, two approaches are offered with which to effectively solve the nonlinear set of equations.
3.4.1. Fixed point iteration method
Fixed point iteration is one of the most well-known methods for solving nonlinear equations. The method is rather simple
and does not require any information regarding the derivatives of nonlinear equations and nds the solution by converting
the main nonlinear equation f x 0 (or a set of nonlinear equations) to the xed-point form x gx. The later equation is
recursively evaluated through xi1 gxi until the left hand equals the right hand according to a dened tolerance this
solution is called a xed-point [21]. Now, considering Eq. (4) as the nonlinear equilibrium equations (in terms of free nodes)
the xed-point iteration solution scheme for our form-nding problem can be written as:

GN XN1
FNf ;
f

N 0; 1; 2; . . .

24
N 1

where GN Bf Q N Btf , FNf Bf Q N Btr Xr . In other words, XN1

G FNf in which the right hand is clearly a function of XN .
f
A stopping criterion for the above iterative process may be dened as follows.



 N1

 XN 
X

inf

6e

25-a

Another intrinsic stopping criterion can also be dened based on the residual force vector as given in Eq. (25-b).



 N N
N
G Xf  Ff 

inf

6e

25-b

Note that this process is closely related to the iterative version of NFDM (Pauletti and Pimenta [13]).
3.4.2. NewtonRaphson method with backtracking
The NewtonRaphson method is a very well-known and powerful method with which to solve the set of nonlinear equations. The method promises to nd a solution with the quadratic convergence if the initial guess is chosen sufciently close
to the exact solution. Backtracking is also used throughout to improve the performance of the method. However, we offer a
hybrid approach which uses some xed point iterations to be close to the solution and then switch to Newtons method
which effectively nds the nal solution with a desired accuracy.
Newtons method requires that the derivatives of the nonlinear functions be calculated directly or at least approximated.
In the following, we analytically derive the derivatives of the nonlinear equilibrium equations given in Eq. (22).
Eq. (26) provides the general form of the nonlinear equilibrium equations for the free nodes of a network as

Ux1 ; . . . ; xn ; y1 ; . . . ; yn ; z1 ; . . . ; zn Ux; y; z 0

26

where,

32 3

2 3

Bf QBt
ux
x
0
6
7 6
76 7 6 7
Ux; y; z 4 uy 5 4
Bf QBt
54 y 5 4 0 5
uz
z
0
Bf QBt

27

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

or in compact form

ux

6
7 
Uv 4 uy 5 I3  Bf QBt v;

uz

2 3
x
6 7
v 4y5
z

28

Here, I3 is a 3  3 identity matrix,  denotes the tensor product and ux u1x ; u2x ; . . . ; ukx t , uy u1y ; u2y ; . . . ; uky t and
uz u1z ; u2z ; . . . ; ukz t are nonlinear equilibrium equations corresponding to free nodes (it is assumed that all free nodes are
labelled from 1 to k).
The linearisation of Eq. (27) leads to the NewtonRaphson iterative formulation as follows.

vN1
vNf  cJ1 vN UvN ; N 0; 1; 2; . . .
f

29

In Eq. (29), vNf xNf ; yNf ; zNf  and 0 < c 6 1 is the backtracking parameter which is used to stabilise the Newton method
and increase the possibility of global convergence [22]. The main reason to employ this parameter is that Newtons step (calculated at initial or subsequent approximations) frequently moves away from the solution and usually leads to a divergence.
In order to overcome this problem, a Newtons step is accepted only if kUvN1 k < kUvN k; otherwise, the step is reduced
by the backtracking parameter c; until the mentioned condition is satised. In general, this parameter is obtained iteratively
by the bisection method or calculated directly through the linesearch method. Note that other form-nding methods also use
different strategies to regularise problems and to ensure that a proper solution can be achieved. For instance, the URS uses a
similar scalar, between one and zero, known as continuation factor and by using an alternative formulation (a homotopy
function) of the virtual work in order to regularise the original problem [79]. However, despite the similarities between
the mentioned parameters, the reader may recognise the main difference between the backtracking parameter used here
with the continuation factor used in the URS since our backtracking parameter has no effect on the original problem and
is only used in the solution process.
Furthermore, in Eq. (29), J is the Jacobian matrix and is dened as

2 @u

@x
@Uv 6
6 @ uy
J
6 @x
4
@v
@ uz
@x

@ ux
@y
@ uy
@y
@ uz
@y

2 x
Dx
7
@ uy 7
6 Dx
4 y
@z 7
5
@ uz
Dxz
@ ux
@z

@z

Dyx
Dyy
Dyz

3
Dzx
Dzy 7
5

30

Dzz

Note that each submatrix (Dba ) in Eq. (30) is expressed as

2 @u

1a

@b1

6 @u
6 2a
@b1
@ ua 6
Da
6
6 .
@b
6 ..
4
b

@ uka
@b1

@ u1a
@b2



@ u1a
@bk

@ u2a
@b2



@ u2a
@bk

..
.
@ uka
@b2



7
7
7
7;
.. 7
. 7
5

31

@ uka
@bk

uia
in which, its (i, j)th entry is Dba i; j @@b
(i; j 1; . . . ; k) where a and b take either x; y and z. In order to evaluate Eq. (31), rst,
j
we need to dene uia , i.e., the ith row of Eq. (27), (28) corresponding to the coordinate variable a. This variable can be simply
dened based on the node-element incidence matrix (B) and its ith row (bi ), matrix of the force densities (Q ) and vector of
the nodal coordinates (a), related to a; as follows.

uia bi QBt a

32

We now represent each entry of the Jacobian matrix as

Dba i; j

@ u ia

@bj

bi

!
@Q t
t
B a dab bi Qbj ;
@bj

dab

1 ab
0

ab

33

where dab is the Kronecker delta. In order to calculate Eq. (33), we need to nd the derivatives of the elements force densities
with respect to different coordinate variables. This is presented in detail for a free exterior edge having a reinforcement cable
between both its ends (i, j) where the differentiation is taken with respect to xi ; however, general relationships are given subsequently. The force density of the edge (i, j) with the abovementioned conditions (see Eq. (23)), and based on new variables
s; k; f and f2 is given in Eq. (34).

qij

v tki v kj
tr
fb
k fb

s
f2 L
2 kv ki  v kj k2 kv ij k2

34

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

2079

The mentioned new variables are denoted as

tr
2

35-a

k v tki v kj xki xkj yki ykj zki zkj

2

yki zkj  ykj zki

35-b

6
7
f v ki  v kj 4 xkj zki  xki zkj 5
xki ykj  xkj yki

35-c

f2 kfk2

q
yki zkj  ykj zki 2 xkj zki  xki zkj 2 xki ykj  xkj yki 2

35-d

L kv ij k2

q
x2ij y2ij z2ij

35-e

The partial differentiation of qij with respect to xi gives

@qij
s
@xi

 
 
@k
2
f2  @f
k
@xi
@xi
f22

fb

 
@L
@xi

36

L2

where

@k
xkj ;
@xi

@L xji

@xi
L

37-a

@f2 xkj zki  xki zkj zkj xki ykj  xkj yki ykj
sxi f


;
f2
@xi
f2

sxi 0 zkj  ykj 

37-b

We now simplify Eq. (36) with respect to the above variables as follows.

!
@qij
xkj
sxi f
xij
s
k 3 fb 3 ;
@xi
f2
f2
L

sxi 0 zkj  ykj 

38

The above process is employed similarly to derive explicit relationships required for differentiation of force density of the
edge (i, j) with respect to other variables. Eqs. (39)(45) display these relationships where they are presented in a general
form in order to deal with every edge (either interior or exterior with or without reinforcing cable).

!
@qij X xkj
sxi f
xij

s
k 3 cfb 3 ;
@xi
f
f
L
2
2
k2X

sxi 0 zkj  ykj 

39

!
@qij X xki
sxj f
xij

s
 k 3  cfb 3 ;
@xj
f
f2
L
2
k2X

sxj 0 zki  yki 

40

!
@qij X xij  2xkj
sxk f

s
k 3 ;
@xk
f2
f2
k2X

sxk 0 zji  yji 

41

!
@qij X ykj
yij
syi f

s
k 3 cfb 3 ;
@yi
f
f
L
2
2
k2X

syi zkj 0 xkj 

42

!
@qij X yki
yij
syj f

s
 k 3  cfb 3 ;
@yj
f
f
L
2
2
k2X

syj zki 0 xki 

43

!
@qij X yij  2ykj
syk f

s
k 3 ;
@yk k2X
f2
f2

syk zji 0 xji 

44

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

!
@qij X zkj
szi f
zij

s
k 3 cfb 3 ;
@zi
f
f
L
2
2
k2X

szi ykj  xkj 0

45

!
@qij X zki
szj f
zij

s
 k 3  cfb 3 ;
@zj
f
f
L
2
2
k2X

szj yki  xki 0

46

!
@qij X zij  2zkj
szk f

s
k 3 ;
@zk
f2
f2
k2X

szk yji  xji 0

47

In the above equations, c is a scalar, dened in Eq. (48), which takes into consideration the effect of a boundary cable (with
the prescribed force of fb ) located between nodes i and j.

1 if

there is a cable between nodes i and j

otherwise

48

However, note that, qij is only a function of Cartesian coordinates of nodes i; j and k, thus meaning that the partial derivatives of the force density of element i; j with respect to variables xl ; yl and zl are all zero, if l R fi; j; Xg.

@qij @qij @qij

0;
@xl
@yl
@zl

l R fi; j; Xg

49

Finally, we point out that our investigation reveals a close relationship between the Jacobian matrix derived here with the
stiffness matrix of URS given in Wchner and Bletzinger [9] (see also Bletzinger and Ramm [7]) and tangent stiffness matrix
of NFDM given in Pauletti and Pimenta [13] (especially for one-dimensional elements). This is reasonable since it has been
shown that the FDM is a consistent part of the more general theory of URS [7,9]. Furthermore, NFDM generally works based
on the concept of the force density. However, the reader may recognise that the Jacobian matrix, given here, is derived
explicitly (with rather simple and different representation) for the entire network not for a single cable or membrane
element.
3.4.3. Hybrid solution method
The solution methods described in the preceding sections can either be used as a single solver to nd the solution of systems of nonlinear equations. However, each method has some weak points which need to be improved. For instance, the
Newton Raphson method has been proved to be locally convergent even if for the approximations close enough to the solution, it converges with a quadratic rate [21]. Note that the backtracking parameter, used in this paper, may stabilise the
method but does not guarantee a global convergence. Also, we need to provide the method with a good starting point to
ensure that a solution can be achieved. Furthermore, in most cases, the Jacobian matrix of nonlinear equations may be
ill-conditioned at the initialisation, generally leading to a divergence. On the other side, the xed-point iteration method
is very simple and computationally attractive but, based on our study, exhibits a very slow convergence rate in the formnding of large-scale models. Thus, in this paper, we suggest a hybrid version of the abovementioned methods to achieve
a more effective solver. The hybrid solver uses a solution of xed-point iteration method as an initial approximation for
the NewtonRaphson method with backtracking. Here, we simply start the Newtons method after two xed-point iterations; however, a residual norm between 0.01 and 0.001 might be a reasonable numerical condition to switch from the
xed-point method to the Newton method. This strategy enables us to provide the Newtons method with a good initial
approximation probably with a conditioned Jacobian this highly increases the possibility and rate of the convergence.
In Section 5, we demonstrate through some examples that, in most cases, the hybrid method suggested successfully generates solutions with a high order of accuracy (in a reasonable number of iterations) in comparison with the single solvers.
3.5. An averaging approach
In this section, we offer an averaging approach for the form-nding of minimal surface membranes. We introduce a topological transformation which enables us to simply deal with networks corresponding to quadrilateral nite element models.
The idea is very simple but very effective. In fact, we assume that the solution of a network with 4-sided regional cycles
(corresponding to a quadrilateral nite element mesh) may be approximated by the average solution of two networks with
3-sided regional cycles (corresponding to triangular nite element meshes). However, note that the 3-sided regions are in
opposite directions in each network. As a result, a quadrilateral nite element mesh and its corresponding network can
be simulated by a simple quadrilateral graph where each 4-sided region has been added to two diagonal dummy edges
(see Fig. 5). After the addition of the dummy edges, suitable weights should be assigned to the edges to make the new graph

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

2081

Fig. 5. (a) A graph with 4-sided regional cycles, (b) computational graph model with dummy edges.

a feasible computational model. The weight of each edge can simply be calculated based on the relationships given iin Eqs.
(15)(17) and the above assumptions as follows

qij

tr X v tki v kj
fb

2x k2X kv ki  v kj k2 kv ij k2

50

where x is a simple scalar which takes values 1 and 2 for graphs with 3- and 4-sided regional cycles, respectively. Furthermore, X has the previous meaning but for models with 4-sided regional cycles, its cardinality is 2 for exterior edges and interior dummy edges whilst it is 4 for interior real edges. Note that Eqs. (39)(47) can simply be adapted based on this new
denition of the force density of element i; j. As a result, a graph consisting of both triangular and quadrilateral regional
cycles (corresponding to a nite element mesh with both triangular and quadrilateral elements) may also be considered
as a computational model owing to the unied structure of Eq. (50).
In the next section, we use triangular and quadrilateral graphs as two discrete computational models for the form-nding
where a triangular graph is corresponding to a conventional triangular nite element mesh while the quadrilateral graph is a
new computational model which uses the abovementioned averaging approach and approximately simulates a quadrilateral
nite element mesh.
4. Examples
4.1. Minimal surface, a catenoid
Catenoid is one of the most well-known and simple minimal surfaces which is also in the form of a surface of revolution. A
catenoid is mathematically represented as

x c cosh

v
c

cos u;

y c cosh

v
c

sin u;

zv

51

We consider two cyclically symmetric graphs as computational models for the form-nding problem. The rst triangular
graph has 1512 nodes and 4392 edges whilst the second quadrilateral graph has 1512 nodes and 2952 edges. The height of
the catenoid is set to 0.5 whilst all nodes at the top (z 0:25) and the bottom (z 0:25) of the models are considered to be
xed. Furthermore, these nodes (top and bottom nodes) are uniformly distributed on a circle with radius of 0.5. The initial
geometry for both models is shown in Fig. 6(a, b). The information mentioned above allows us to calculate c 0:424169 as
the constant value of the equations. This value is the root of the equation given below.

c cosh

1 1
 0
4c 2

52

We generate the nonlinear set of equations for both models and solve it using xed point iteration and NewtonRaphson
methods. The innity norms of residual for the xed point iteration using triangular and quadrilateral graphs after 20 iterations are 3.03e7 and 6.07e7, respectively. The rate of reduction in the residual, for both graphs, decreases signicantly
following this iteration (i.e., after 100 iterations this value reaches to 2.91e7 and 5.82e7, respectively). However, the solution at the iteration 20 is completely acceptable from a practical point of view. The nal shapes after form-nding are shown
in Fig. 6(c, d). The distributions of principal stresses in the surface are demonstrated in Fig. 6(e) which clearly exhibits a
nearly uniform isotropic stress state.
We also use the solution of xed point iteration method, after two iterations, as an initial guess for the NewtonRaphson
method (the hybrid approach). Newtons method nds the solution of nonlinear equations after 9 iterations with the innity
norm of the residual equals 1.57e15 and 2.51e15 for triangular and quadrilateral models respectively, and provides us

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

with a nal shape in a completely uniform isotropic stress distribution. The convergence history of both models and solvers
are illustrated in Fig. 7. Table 1 also provides a comparison between the coordinates of the nal shape (at 11 typical nodes at
section y 0) obtained by the present method and the analytical results. The results are in good agreement with those of the
analytical results, thus verifying the efciency and accuracy of the proposed method.
4.2. A catenoid with different initial geometry
In this example, we aim to demonstrate that the quadrilateral discrete model (employing an averaging approach) suggested in Section 3.5 is more effective than the conventional triangular discrete model for the form-nding. To do so,
form-nding of the catenoid, studied in 4.1, is presented, however, with different initial geometry and with a coarse discretisation. In this case, the triangular discrete model has 756 nodes and 2196 edges whilst the quadrilateral model has the same
number of nodes but 1476 edges. Here, we assume that the initial geometry for the catenoid is obtained considering a constant unit force density for all edges. As a result, the initial geometry for both types of graphs is simply formed as a solution of
linear system of equations Bf Btf xf yf zf  Bf Btr xr yr zr . This process may be used as a simple way to generate an initial geometry for a model solely using connectivity data. Fig. 8(a, c) shows the geometries obtained using the abovementioned process
for both types of graphs.
We perform our form-nding approach for both cases nal geometries after 20 iterations are depicted in Fig. 8(b, d).
Here, the triangular model displays a highly twisted nal form, which may not be desirable, though the quadrilateral model
keeps the mesh quality. Also, in terms of the convergence performance the quadrilateral model is very effective than the triangular one since the innity norm of the residual for both cases, after 20 iterations and using xed-point method are 0.0015
and 6.45e5 for triangular and quadrilateral models, respectively. Our hybrid solution method exhibits a poor performance

Fig. 6. (a, b) Initial models (c, d) nal shape after form-nding (e) distribution of principal stresses (here, at least 4 digits after the decimal point are zero,
thus, all stress ranges are shown as rounded to the nearest integer, i.e., 1).

Fig. 7. Convergence history of the models and solvers (F refers to the xed-point method and H refers to the hybrid approach).

K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

2083

Table 1
The nodal coordinates of the catenoid (a section at y 0).
X (Proposed method)

z (Proposed method)

x (Analytical)

Error (%)

0.4726424
0.4514145
0.4362673
0.4271816
0.4241531
0.4271816
0.4362673
0.4514145
0.4726424

0.2009135
0.1512562
0.1011246
0.0506517
0.0000000
0.0506517
0.1011246
0.1512562
0.2009135

0.4726480
0.4514245
0.4362805
0.4271968
0.4241690
0.4271968
0.4362805
0.4514245
0.4726480

0.0011880
0.0022241
0.0030373
0.0035584
0.0037380
0.0035584
0.0030373
0.0022241
0.0011880

Fig. 8. Initial and nal geometries of the catenoid, (a, c) initial geometries of the triangular and quadrilateral models; (b, d) corresponding geometries after
form-nding.

Fig. 9. Convergence history of the models and solvers (Example 4.2).

for the triangular model but converges quickly for the quadrilateral model (Fig. 9 illustrates the convergence history). Furthermore, the quadrilateral model with hybrid solver provides us with an interesting result where the solution has been converged to another form of the catenoid, dened in 4.1, which has a uniform isotropic stress state but not minimal area. This
solution is, in fact, in complete agreement with a catenoid corresponding to the second root of Eq. (52) i.e., c = 0.11755. The
corresponding nal geometry and distribution of the principal stresses for this case are illustrated in Fig. 10.
4.3. Scherk surface
The Scherk surface is another minimal surface which can be analytically represented (see e.g. Struik [23]) as follows.

1
lncosky  lncoskx c
k

53

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

In this example, form-nding of this minimal surface is studied using the proposed methods. We consider two graphs
with 3 and 4-sided regional cycles as the connectivity models for this example. The triangular graph has 225 nodes and
616 edges whilst the quadrilateral graph has 225 nodes and 420 edges. Fig. 11(a, b) shows the initial models where the
z-coordinates of all nodes on the boundaries are xed and calculated using the above equation. Note that we assume
1 6 x 6 1, 1 6 y 6 1, k 1 and c 0.
We rst try to nd the equilibrium shape of this model using the xed point iteration method. The innity norm of residual for triangular and quadrilateral graphs after 20 and 100 iterations are 0.0026 and 0.001 and 0.0051 and 0.0021, respectively. The rate of reduction in the residual, for both graphs, is clearly too slow even though the solutions in the early stages
are quite acceptable from a practical point of view. Fig. 11(e) illustrates the distribution of principal stresses in the surface,
after 100 iterations, which shows a nearly uniform isotropic stress state.
We also solve this problem using the proposed hybrid method. To do so, the solution of the xed point iteration after 2
iterations is selected as the starting point for the Newtons method. After 10 iterations, the method converges to a solution
with the innity norm of the residual equal to 3.11e15 and 4.02e15 (for triangular and quadrilateral models, respectively)
with a uniform isotropic stress state with magnitude 1 (see Fig. 12 for convergence history).
Table 2 provides z-coordinates of some typical nodes after the form-nding using the hybrid method in comparison with
the analytical results. The results obtained are in complete agreement with those of the analytical solution. Furthermore, we
calculate kz  za kinf 8:87e  5 as an overall indicator for the accuracy of the proposed method, where z and za are vectors of
calculated and analytical z-coordinates of nodes.

Fig. 10. (a) Quadrilateral model after form-nding by hybrid solution method, (b, c) distribution of principal stresses (here, at least 4 digits after the decimal
point are zero, thus, all stress ranges are shown as rounded to the nearest integer, i.e., 1).

Fig. 11. (a, b) Initial models (c, d) nal shape after form-nding (e) distribution of principal stresses.

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

Fig. 12. Convergence history of the models and solvers (Example 4.3).

Table 2
The nodal coordinates of the Scherk surface for some typical nodes.
x

z (Present method)

z (Analytical)

Error (%)

1.0000000
0.8678657
0.5835969
0.2973214
0.0000000
0.0000000
0.2857143
0.8678657
0.8571429

0.8571429
0.4435149
0.1502525
0.4414125
0.4389155
1.0000000
1.0000000
0.4435149
1.0000000

0.1918957
0.3344038
0.1696396
0.0559038
0.0996131
0.6156265
0.5742424
0.3344038
0.1918957

0.1918957
0.3344925
0.1696086
0.0558940
0.0995849
0.6156265
0.5742424
0.3344925
0.1918957

0.0000000
0.0265234
0.0182689
0.0175341
0.0283330
0.0000000
0.0000000
0.0265234
0.0000000

Fig. 13. (a, b) Initial models (c, d) Final shape after form-nding (e) distribution of principal stresses.

4.4. Schwarz P surface

In this example, we present the form-nding of Schwarz P surface. Schwarz P surface is one of the most well-known periodic minimal surfaces originally introduced by Hermann Schwarz. This minimal surface is commonly used for prototyping
tissue scaffolds with a high surface-to-volume ratio and porosity (Shin et al. [24]). For the form-nding of this minimal surface, triangular and quadrilateral graphs are considered as initial models as illustrated in Fig. 13(a, b).

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K. Koohestani / Commun Nonlinear Sci Numer Simulat 19 (2014) 20712087

The triangular graph has 2108 nodes and 6144 edges whilst the quadrilateral graph has the same number of nodes but
4128 edges. Furthermore, all nodes on the interior boundaries (depicted by bold lines on faces in the initial models) are considered to be xed where their coordinates are calculated using the following equation.

cosx cosy cosz 0;

p 6 x; y; z 6 p

54

After this mapping, the coordinates of the other nodes are obtained considering unit force density for all edges. We nd
the nal shape of this model using the xed point iteration method. For the triangular graph, the innity norm of residual
reaches 0.0036 after 20 iterations. This quantity for the quadrilateral graph is 0.0051. However, even if the residuals show
that we are far from the exact solution, the solutions obtained are practically acceptable. This can be veried by examining
the distribution of principal stresses as shown in Fig. 13(e). For this example, Newtons method (and so the hybrid method)
exhibits a poor convergence performance thus meaning that the initial geometry selected is not a good starting point.
5. Discussion and conclusions
In this paper, the form-nding of minimal surface cablemembrane structures has been studied through nonlinear FDM.
We rst used a triangular constant stress nite element as a basis to model a membrane. Note that exploiting the constant
stress triangular nite element is certainly not new in the form-nding of membrane structures it appeared for example in
Maurin and Motro [5,6] and Pauletti and Pimenta [13] and Barnes [14]. A graph theoretical representation of a triangular
mesh (entire mesh rather than a single triangular element) has been presented and the FDM reformulated through this representation. We point out that the simulation of a triangular element based on one-dimensional elements (values along the
triangle edges) has been presented previously, for instance, by Grndig [16] and Singer [17], though, our representation is
still new in the sense that we have used a slightly different node-member incidence matrix for the formulation as discussed
in Section 3.3.1.
However, the main contributions of this paper can be summarised as:
(1) Introducing a novel discrete computational model (corresponding to a quadrilateral nite element mesh) as well as an
averaging approach for the form-nding of cablemembranes through FDM.
(2) Proposing a new solution technique (for the nonlinear FDM) which combines the xed-point iteration method and the
NewtonRaphson method with backtracking.
In brief, form-nding using the new quadrilateral graph is simple and very effective in the sense that the topology of this
graph is far simpler than the conventional triangular graph, leading to a simpler initialisation. Also, the quadrilateral graph is
very suitable to create models with different types of symmetry; it keeps the mesh quality and exhibits better convergence
performance especially when a coarse mesh is considered and is less sensitive to the initial geometry. An example of the
aforementioned advantages has been given in 4.2. For some cases having a ne mesh, both graphs display, more or less,
the same performance (the differences between the results are insignicant). In terms of computational cost, both triangular
and quadrilateral graphs (with the same number of nodes) show nearly the same performance, since even if the quadrilateral
graph has simpler topology, it needs more calculations for each edge through the averaging approach. Furthermore, based on
the special formulation presented (a unied force density formula for edges of both graphs, i.e., Eq. (50)), we may take advantage of a computational model which combines the triangular and quadrilateral graphs.
The hybrid solution method has also been shown to be considerably more effective than the single solution methods. Our
investigation reveals that the xed-point method is simple but its convergence rate is very slow. The NewtonRaphson
method with backtracking, starting from our initial geometry, also failed to nd the solution. However, the simple hybrid
version of these methods exhibits a rationally good performance, as shown in the examples. Furthermore, the xed-point
3
method might be computationally attractive since for a graph with k free nodes, needs Ok operations in its each iteration
3
this cost for the Newtons method and so for the hybrid approach is OK where K 3k. Note that for these methods, the
computational cost is dominant by the operations required to solve a system of linear equations. This clearly means that an
iteration of the Newtons method needs considerably more operations than the xed-point method, however, converges
quickly whilst provides us with a desired accuracy.
In general, this study reveals that the methods proposed are viable in the form-nding of minimal surface membranes
and, may be specically considered as a complementary framework for the methods working based on different variations
of FDM.
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[2]
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