Abstract：For complicated tension structures, un-adjustable cable length design could be used, in which cable length could not be adjusted by fixing cable ends. When using un-adjustable cable length design, cable length must be well determined and cables can be directly tensioned to anchorage or connecting points at the construction site. For tension structures, temperature changes and manufacturing errors of cable length have great influences on the structural performance and must be considered in design, especially for tension structures using un-adjustable cable length design as the cable length cannot be changed after manufacturing. In this work, all temperature changes in the full life cycle of tension structures were analyzed firstly, and were classified into two different categories. Based on this classification, the relationship between the influences of temperature changes and the boundary conditions were analyzed. Then, a method of analyzing the control criteria of different temperature changes was proposed based on an example of an actual cable dome. Furthermore, the method of compensating the length of different members when temperature changes exceed the control criteria was studied. In addition, the influences of cable length errors and the control criteria of cable length errors were analyzed based on the reliability theory and the non-linear programming method.
