Bending-active plates : strategies for the induction of curvature through the means of elastic bending of plate-based structures

Commonly referred to as bending-active, the term has come to describe a wide variety of systems that employ the large defor-mation of their constituent components as a primary shape-forming strategy. It is generally impossible to separate the struc-ture from its geometry, and this is even more true for bending-active systems. Placed at the intersection between geometry, de-sign and engineering, the principle objective of this thesis is to develop an understanding of the structural and architectural po-tential of bending-active systems beyond the established typolo-gies which have been investigated so far. The main focus is set on systems that make use of surface-like elements as principle build-ing blocks, as opposed to previous and existing projects that pre-dominantly employed linear components such as rods and laths. This property places the analysed test cases and developed proto-types within a specific category of bending-active systems known as bending-active plate structures. The first chapters serve as a general introduction to the topic. An overview of relevant recent projects is presented in the introduction, followed by a discussion on the scope of research on bending-active structures. The following chapters lay the theoretical basis in terms of geometry of surfaces and mechanical behaviour of plates. This dual and complementary description serves as the necessary background to understand the limits and potential associated to the deformability of plate elements. The following chapter delves into the first of the two strategies developed as part of this research. Termed form conversion, this approach establishes a one-to-one relationship between the initial base surface and its bending-active discrete counterpart. The chapter proceeds with the presentation of a series of full-scale prototypes that were realised to test the validity of the form con-version approach. Geometrical and mechanical features are dis-cussed in the conclusion of the chapter. The second developed method, named integral approach, is pre-sented in the next section. This approach takes advantage of the inherent deformation properties of explicitly designed material patterns. The description of the method is followed by the presen-tation and discussion of the prototypes chosen to test the integral approach. Finally, the thesis concludes with a critical discussion of the presented approaches and a discussion on potential developments for future research

Clinical features and outcomes of elderly hospitalised patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, heart failure or both

Background and objective: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and heart failure (HF) mutually increase the risk of being present in the same patient, especially if older. Whether or not this coexistence may be associated with a worse prognosis is debated. Therefore, employing data derived from the REPOSI register, we evaluated the clinical features and outcomes in a population of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine wards and having COPD, HF or COPD + HF. Methods: We measured socio-demographic and anthropometric characteristics, severity and prevalence of comorbidities, clinical and laboratory features during hospitalization, mood disorders, functional independence, drug prescriptions and discharge destination. The primary study outcome was the risk of death. Results: We considered 2,343 elderly hospitalized patients (median age 81 years), of whom 1,154 (49%) had COPD, 813 (35%) HF, and 376 (16%) COPD + HF. Patients with COPD + HF had different characteristics than those with COPD or HF, such as a higher prevalence of previous hospitalizations, comorbidities (especially chronic kidney disease), higher respiratory rate at admission and number of prescribed drugs. Patients with COPD + HF (hazard ratio HR 1.74, 95% confidence intervals CI 1.16-2.61) and patients with dementia (HR 1.75, 95% CI 1.06-2.90) had a higher risk of death at one year. The Kaplan-Meier curves showed a higher mortality risk in the group of patients with COPD + HF for all causes (p = 0.010), respiratory causes (p = 0.006), cardiovascular causes (p = 0.046) and respiratory plus cardiovascular causes (p = 0.009). Conclusion: In this real-life cohort of hospitalized elderly patients, the coexistence of COPD and HF significantly worsened prognosis at one year. This finding may help to better define the care needs of this population

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

Nature-inspired generation scheme for shell structures

Although less researched and put into practice in the building environment, pure plate structures are to be observed frequently in biological structures. The 3-plate principle which is common in the morphology and growth pattern of natural systems is also found to be of a structurally optimum content when considered from a plate point of view. This is for instance the case of the sea urchin’s plate skeleton morphology, which served as biological inspiration for the recently built ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011 at the University of Stuttgart. The current paper will focus on the 3-plate principle and its mechanical features, also presenting study models to analyse the structural characteristics and advantages of the principle. Along with the theoretical background, the paper will introduce the structural concept of the pavilion, as well as the analysis methods used for its design and engineering

A Collaborative Model for the Design and Engineering of a Textile Hybrid Structure

In 2016 and 2017 a master class was held at the Hafencity University Hamburg (HCU) which focused on collaborative design and engineering methods using textile hybrid structures as a case study.After an initial design competition where individual student groups explored design and modelling techniques, the winning design was chosen as a case study to build to scale. The challenge was then to set up a parametric work flow which allowed a large number of students, divided into expert groups, to work on one single design model. The expert groups covered the fields of design, form-finding, structural analysis, material testing, detailing, manufacturing and project management. A collaborative workflow template was set up, which equally addressed complex analysis as well as the need for continuous geometric adjustment to achieve a model which interactively functioned on design, structural and material level.The paper will discuss the workflow models, including the principles that allowed the iterative development of the initial and final form finding, detail design and fabrication planning, as well as material testing across different computational design platforms. It will also provide an overview of the development process through a design narrative. In order to critically discuss the key methods supporting communication between architects and engineers within computational design development and secure project specific design processes, a productive learning environment for all members involved was established.The built case study structure will be exhibited in the foyer of the HCU during the IASS conference

Wet Environment Effects for Ethanol and Water Adsorption on Anatase TiO2 (101) Surfaces

Titanium dioxide exhibits superior photocatalytic properties, mainly occurring in liquid environments through molecular adsorptions and dissociations at the solid/liquid interface. The presence of these wet environments is often neglected when performing ab initio calculations for the interaction between the adsorbed molecules and the TiO 2 surface. In this study, we consider two solvents, that is, water and ethanol, and show that the proper inclusion of the wet environment in the methodological scheme is fundamental for obtaining reliable results. Our calculations are based on structure predictions at a density functional theory level for molecules interacting with the perfect and defective anatase (101) surface under both vacuum and wet conditions. A soft-sphere implicit solvation model is used to describe the polar character of the two solvents. As a result, we find that surface oxygen vacancies become energetically favorable with respect to subsurface vacancies at the solid/liquid interface. This aspect is confirmed by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations with explicit water molecules. Ethanol molecules are able to strongly passivate these vacancies, whereas water molecules only weakly interact with the (101) surface, allowing the coexistence of surface vacancy defects and adsorbed species. The infrared and photoluminescence spectra of anatase nanoparticles predominantly exposing (101) surfaces dispersed in water and ethanol support the predicted molecule-surface interactions, validating the whole computational paradigm. The combined analysis allows for a better interpretation of TiO 2 processes in wet environments based on improved computational models with implicit solvation features

Integrated design methods for the simulation of fibre-based structures

The production of structural components based on fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) for the building industry is still characterised by a classic downstream development process from design through engineering and down to fabrication. In the aerospace and automotive industry, the current technical developments in simulation and manufacturing processes have reached a highly advanced status. Nevertheless, these manufacturing and Analysis processes are in most cases non-transferable or unsuitable for architectural and structural purposes. The goal of the research presented in this paper is to take advantage of the benefits of FRPs within the architectural domain - focusing on material efficiency, durability and light-weight construction - and to find solutions for the problem of transferability into the building scale. For the construction of a Pavilion built on the campus of the University of Stuttgart in 2012, process-specific tools with a high degree of accuracy embedded from the start were developed for the material analysis, optimisation and fabrication steps. In contrast to product prototyping, which forms the basis of industrial mass production, prototype here refers to the establishment of processes within the context of a post-industrial, customised fabrication paradigm