Analytical graphic statics

Abstract

Graphic statics is undergoing a renaissance, with computerized visual representation becoming both easier and more spectacular as time passes. While methods of the past are revived and tweaked, little emphasis has been placed on studying the details of these methods. Due to the considerable advances of our mathematical understanding since the birth of graphic statics, we can learn many interesting and beautiful things by examining these old methods from a more modern viewpoint. As such, this work shows the mathematical fabric joining different aspects of graphic statics, like dualities, reciprocal diagrams and discontinous stress functions.