Prestressed Stayed-Columns: Stability Behaviour and Recent Applications

Of the many masted structures, stayed-columns have manifested as lightweight structurally expressive elements in buildings and tensioned-membrane structures. Buildings that require slender columns due to tall spaces benefit from using stayed-columns as they result in smaller core sizes and enhanced compression strength. The use of prestressed tension elements (cable or rods as stays) along with a compression member (tube or solid core), the presence of prestress and inherent nonlinearities, all contribute to the intricate structural behaviour of stayed-columns. Using cruciform and triform single cross-arm columns as examples, the paper discusses the structural behaviour and stability. The paper concludes with a discussion of recent applications of stayed-columns in contemporary architecture.