Strength of materials and designs for space habitat

--- In spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com, "Brian and Marilyn Smith"
wrote:
> I look at suspension bridges and consider the loads they can bear.
It
> makes me wonder about how an O'Neill habitat would actually be
> constructed. In this spacesettlers group, I read that O'Neill
> calculated the maximum size for a titanium spehere would be about
> 19KM. I see pictures of O'Neill cylinders with no cables from the
> central axis. Is this possible? Where can I find discussions of
the
> forces on the hulls of space habitats with 1G environments? I
don't
> want to read too much about miraculous new material. But I would
like
> to see some simple discussions of the centrifigal forces an how
> current materials measure up to the requirements. Is it better to
> have cables radiating out from central support? Would a torus or
> sphere be able to sustain the force vectors resulting from a 1G
spin?
> How does the amount of "soil" or shielding affect the calculations?
> I guess I am looking for links and pointers as much as answers...
> TNX >>>>

It's interesting that your raise the comparison of suspension
bridges because that is the engineering example that was used in the
original studies.

Don't look for the cables within the Habitat: look outside. The
cables are used to wrap the cylinder, torus or sphere and contain
the loads.

For the specifics on at least some of your questions, you can play
with them in this spreadsheet I wrote. It calculates the rotation,
atmospheric compositon, material loads, metal thickness, etc.

http://f5.grp.yahoofs.com/v1/EFjBP-
vvFvyxE4Qev9rcYJjvwR5Y7sRy2tBKTNDVEV91UxVkSByxTVC5oJamcsFqlEu67NGdftu
Hw5enFXl65TY6YE5vBVImEjc3v9wl/TangoMan%27s%20Design%20Criteria%20for%
20Space%20Station.xls

You can also do a search for specific terms on the Spacesetters
webpage and find all past posts that addressed that subject.

TangoMan