Kinematic shaping. Mechanisms that determine architecture of space.

Oggetto della ricerca è investigare le possibilità di introdurre meccanismi mobili nello spazio architettonico. I meccanismi sono qui intesi come elementi mobili suscettibili di agire secondo sequenze e con esiti prestabiliti,riletti e approfonditi dal punto di vista architettonico, perché gli edifici possano concretamente essere considerati come sistemi dinamici all’interno del contesto ambientale e culturale in cambiamento

Structural and Spatial Minimal Requirement Efficacy of Emergency Shelters for Different Emergencies

Natural and human-induced disasters have become more frequent in recent years, and this has increased the need for effective, high-quality, quick, easy-to-assemble, and affordable emergency housing solutions. The purpose of this study is to create a knowledge base for researchers and developers working in the structural and structural-related fields to favour the development of relevant and most appropriate assistance for emergency housing that could meet the anticipated future rising demands. The focus of the research is emergency shelters for the Global South, an area of research sparsely addressed within the structural-related field. The emergency sheltering process has so many variabilities in its duration and unfolding that many agencies suggest relying on the resilience of those in need. This can have dramatic human repercussions and eventually further burden natural resources. To reach its goal, the paper shifts the attention to information from field actors and global agencies and employs a multiple case studies approach, conducted through a grounded theory methodology. The process has allowed identification of a list of structural-related issues faced by users, acting as codes in the grounded theory methodology, the associated challenges for authorities in addressing them, acting as categories, and some ideal solutions, derived from the theoretical coding. The research concludes that the challenges of the sheltering process shall be read through sustainability housing indicators and that the constraints of the former may be stimuli to the application of innovative and more inclusive procedures within the latter. The study fosters a new theoretical approach in post-disaster housing, which encourages more interdisciplinary collaborations and empirical investigations that will potentially enhance post-disaster housing sustainability and facilitate the development of emergency shelter construction schemes

Integration of origami and deployable concept in volumetric modular units

Modular building systems (MBS) and Origami are two emerging methods used in current construction practice. Origami is directly associated with the principles of the ancient Japanese art of paper folding, characterised by high morphological possibilities and ultimately creates foldable structures with tuneable mechanical properties. However, there is a lack of knowledge on the structural behaviour of origami for architectural engineering applications. MBS is a volumetric prefabricated construction technique enhancing productivity in construction. In this paper, a modular unit is designed which employs origami techniques. The roof and floor panels of the modular units formed with steel joists were substituted with origami sandwich panels, while corner posts were substituted with origami columns. The origami-like foldable system demonstrated superior efficiency in constructability, being highly compact during transportation and requiring few operations for the in-situ installation. The structural performances of the developed and foldable modular units were assessed through finite element analysis. It was found that, without increasing the self-weight of the system, the design of origami-like modular units can be tuned for high structural performances and various structural sizes, which can impact the usability of space and the aesthetics of architecture. While this is a preliminary study and physical testing is needed, the positive results open the possibility of exploring highly deployable modular structures of novel shapes that can be employed during post-disaster and emergencies (Covid-19)

A regularized non-smooth contact dynamics approach for architectural masonry structures

A Non-Smooth Contact Dynamic (NSCD) formulation is used to analyze complex assemblies of rigid blocks, representative of real masonry structures. A model of associative friction sliding is proposed, expressed through a Differential Variational Inequality (DVI) formulation, relying upon the theory of Measure Differential Inclusion (MDI). A regularization is used in order to select a unique solution and to avoid problems of indeterminacy in redundant contacts. This approach, complemented with an optimized collision detection algorithm for convex contacts, results to be reliable for dynamic analyses of masonry structures under static and dynamic loads. The approach is comprehensive, since we implement a custom NSCD simulator based on the Project Chrono C++ framework, and we design custom tools for pre- and post-processing through a user-friendly parametric design software. Representative examples confirm that the method can handle 3-D complex structures, as typically are architectural masonry constructions, under both static and dynamic loading

A non-smooth-contact-dynamics analysis of Brunelleschi’s cupola: an octagonal vault or a circular dome?

The cupola (dome) of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence was ingeniously constructed by Brunelleschi using a conical bricklaying, radial-oriented toward a focus point on the central axis. Therefore, the dome is built as a surface of revolution but with parts cut away to leave the octagonal cluster vault form. This circular arrangement is compared with an octagonal horizontal corbelling in models where the dome is schematized as an assembly of rigid-blocks in frictional contact, analyzed with a Non-Smooth-Contact-Dynamics approach. The high indeterminacy of the contact reactions implies considerable difficulties in their determination, which are faced via a regularization procedure by adding a compliance at the contact points in representation of the deformability of the mortar joints. Numerical experiments, performed with a custom software, highlight the uniform flow of forces in the Brunelleschi arrangement, but evidence the disturbances induced by the herringbone spirals, mainly used for construction purposes, which are overloaded along the meridians and very weak in the direction of the parallels. This is due to the vertical narrow disposal of the blocks, which increases the stiffness in meridional direction, but diminishes the capacity of the friction-induced forces to equilibrate the hoop stress

Shapes of Miura mesh mechanism with mobility one

The Miura Ori is a mechanism composed by a polyhedral deployable surface. It has favorable qualities from engineering prospective that lead the growing interest on it. The present work focuses on its transmission of motion. The mechanism can be represented by spherical 4 bar linkages, and on this account a simple and effective mobility formula is presented. The mechanism having a number of excessive rigid members, it is also possible to remove all or some of them, variously arranged. The changes are included in the calculation of allowable mobility of the system. The resulting tool can be directly used for the design of deployable Miura Ori surfaces with customized shape

Soap film analogy for anisotropically stretched membranes and cable nets

Analogical physical models are a preferred technique to intuitively grasp complex engineering problems. It is well-known that the equilibrium minimal-surface configuration of membranes under equibiaxial tension can be visually represented by the surface of a soap film under equivalent boundary conditions, but this analogy fails when the stress state is not uniform equibiaxial. We extend to this situation the analogy with soap films. The equilibrium state of an orthotropically tensioned membrane is found by geometrically stretching the shape of a soap film, in a precise manner depending upon the applied state of stress. The procedure is easily done by elaborating digital pictures. The method is mathematically justified under the kinematic hypotheses of small strains and large rotations, and further verified in a parametric design environment. It can also provide an insight into the equilibrium configuration of cable-nets, when the stresses in the warp and weft directions are considerably different. Furthermore, this visualization favors implementing transformable shapes for membranes or orthogonal cable nets, as a consequence of a modification of the ratio of the principal stress components