Abstract
Space structures have become increasingly important and many thousands of them have been build all over the world. However, the generation of architectural and engineering data for space structures is often difficult when the problem extends beyond standard forms such as planar grids, domes or barrel vaults. 'Configuration processing' using formex algebra is a conceptual tool which enables the designer to generate all forms of space structures with ease and elegance. In this work a completely new concept for the shaping of structural forms is introduced which uses the concepts of formex algebra and which has been implemented in the environment of the interactive programming language Formian. The concept, referred to as 'pellevation', enables the alteration of any given configuration by changing the vertical coordinates of the nodes. Pellevation may be used in many different areas, however, it is of particular interest to the designers of grid domes and shell structures. The present work provides a comprehensive treatment of the concept of pellevation, introducing an extensive range of pellevations together with their mathematical formulation. A major part of this work was the programming of the related pellevation functions. The structure of the program together with a small portion of the code is given in Appendix B. The Thesis further includes many practical examples of interest to structural engineers and architects.