Hanaor, Ariel

Read here about a person active in tensegrity research.

Overview

Ariel Hanaor’s work serves as a reference and guide for specialists in tensegrity structures. He started in the 1980s by studying the geometric configuration of double-layer tensegrity grids (DLTGs). In his work t-prisms generated planar surfaces, and t-pyramids generated curved surfaces. Hanaor's early work was based on the v-expander.

In his lateer work, Hanaor rejected the term tensegrity and concluded that the bar-tendon assemblies in general are of little use in construction.

Hanaor's typology of tensegrity connections

Hanaor defined three types of connections: Type I – Modules that share nodes only, divided into Type Ia - odd-sided polygons sharing nodes (right handed and left-handed modules), producing unique configurations. Type Ib - even-sided polygons sharing nodes, producing symmetric configurations. Type II – Modules also share portions of the base polygons, producing unique configurations too (hexagonal t-Prism excepting)

Bar-Tendon Constructions

Below, a link to "the concept of structural depth as applied to certain bar-tendon assemblies".

Criticism of the term 'tensegrity'

Today Hanaor is pessimistic about the efficacy of the term 'tensegrity'. He contends that the term has become too confused and not well defined. Hanaor proposes the term "bar-tendon" as a more accurate term referring to the classic tensegrity construction. Furthermore, Hanaor agrees with Snelson that the strut-and-tendon structures, while beautiful and perhaps inspiring, are of little use in conventional civil engineering applications.