A superconducting half-wave resonator (HWR) of frequency=162.5 MHz and {beta}=0.09 has been developed at Institute of Modern Physics. Mechanical stability of the low beta HWR cavity is a big challenge in cavity design and optimization. The mechanical deformations of a radio frequency superconducting cavity could be a source of instability, both in continues wave(CW) operation or in pulsed mode. Generally, the lower beta cavities have stronger Lorentz force detuning than that of the higher beta cavities. In this paper, a basic design consideration in the stiffening structure for the detuning effect caused by helium pressure and Lorentz force has been presented. The mechanical modal analysis has been investigated with finite element method(FEM). Based on these considerations, a new stiffening structure has been promoted for the HWR cavity. The computation results concerning the frequency shift show that the low beta HWR cavity with new stiffening structure has low frequency sensitivity coefficient, Lorentz force detuning coefficient KL and stable mechanical property.
