Planar hexagonal meshing for architecture

published_or_final_versio

Bio Inspired Lightweight Composite Material Design for 3D Printing

Lightweight material design is an indispensable subject in product design. The lightweight material design has high strength to weight ratio which becomes a huge attraction and an area of exploration for the researchers as its application is wide and increasing even in every day-to-day product. Lightweight composite material design is achieved by selection of the cellular structure and its optimization. Cellular structure is used as it has wide multifunctional properties in addition to the lightweight characteristics. Applications of light weight cellular structures are wide and is witnessed in all industries from aerospace to automotive, construction to product design. In this thesis, the one-step and two-step approaches for design and prediction of cellular structure\u27s performance are presented for developing lightweight cellular composites reinforced by discontinuous fibers. The topology designs of a 2D honeycomb hexagon model, a 2D cuttlefish model, and a 3D octahedron model, inspired by bio material, are presented. Computer modeling based on finite element analysis was conducted on the periodic representative volume elements identified from the cellular structural models to characterize the designed cellular composites performance and properties. Additive manufacturing technique (3D printing) was used for prototyping the design, and experimental tests were carried out for validating the design methodology

Interactive design exploration for constrained meshes

In architectural design, surface shapes are commonly subject to geometric constraints imposed by material, fabrication or assembly. Rationalization algorithms can convert a freeform design into a form feasible for production, but often require design modifications that might not comply with the design intent. In addition, they only offer limited support for exploring alternative feasible shapes, due to the high complexity of the optimization algorithm. We address these shortcomings and present a computational framework for interactive shape exploration of discrete geometric structures in the context of freeform architectural design. Our method is formulated as a mesh optimization subject to shape constraints. Our formulation can enforce soft constraints and hard constraints at the same time, and handles equality constraints and inequality constraints in a unified way. We propose a novel numerical solver that splits the optimization into a sequence of simple subproblems that can be solved efficiently and accurately. Based on this algorithm, we develop a system that allows the user to explore designs satisfying geometric constraints. Our system offers full control over the exploration process, by providing direct access to the specification of the design space. At the same time, the complexity of the underlying optimization is hidden from the user, who communicates with the system through intuitive interfaces

The soft grid

Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 2011.This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-101).The grid in architecture is a systematic organization of space. The means that architects use to organize space are, almost by definition, rigid and totalizing. The Cartesian grid, which will serve as the antagonist of the soft grid, is geometrically and topologically unyielding on both the local and global scales. There are, however, alternatives to such hard grids. Through a series of studies, this thesis will catalog and analyze the soft girds, i.e. those that are adaptive, variable, scalable, asymmetrical and entropic. Computational tools in architecture have, in recent years, enabled designers to manage geometries that until now have been realizable only by analog means. The instrumental capacity for complex designs has lead to increased demand for soft gridding systems as is evidenced by the profusion of Voronoi diagrams, pixelations, distorted grids and Danzer tilings in student and conceptual work. However, the built scale of such projects is rarely beyond installation largely because of the difficulty in managing spatial organizations that are not essentially Cartesian. Th is thesis will lay the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the possibilities of soft grids while providing much of the computational tools to generate and manage specific examples.by Ari Kardasis.S.M

Conception And Parametric Design Workflow For A Timber Large-Spanned Reversible Grid Shell To Shelter The Archaeological Site Of The Roman Shipwrecks In Pisa

Reciprocal structures or nexorade are composed by the assembling of groups of three or more beams mutually connected by mono-lateral T joints in a way that any relative movement is suppressed. This kind of structures can be easily built in relatively unprepared sites, dismantled, transported and re-used even by not specialized handcraft. For these reasons, reciprocal structures have been widely used in the past for military purposes, and nowadays they seem to satisfy very well the different requirements of a quick and temporary shelter of a large archaeological area when they are shaped as grid shells. This paper proposes the design of a reversible, reciprocal framed grid shell to shelter the archaeological site of the Roman Shipwrecks in Pisa. The structure must protect excavations and archaeologists from the weather and provide an easy access to visitors. Additionally, it must allow for easy disassembling and moving to another site. The design choices aim at optimizing both structural efficiency and esthetical qualities. A parametric workflow for both the form finding and the digital fabrication processes has been developed, and a prototype of accommodative steel T-joint for timber reciprocal beams has been realized. Finally, a model using CNC-cutting tested the structural feasibility of such a design approach