Form-finding of pierced vaults and digital fabrication of scaled prototype

Abstract

The new serious consideration to masonry and non-metallic structures evidenced their direct prospective to be, even in the present days, advanced architectural and engineering solutions. In the present paper, a form finding for a cement based tessellated pierced vault is studied. The multi-body rope approach (MRA) was used to define compression-only vault optimal shapes. Successively, the thrust network analysis (TNA) was implemented by Rhino-vault for a further validation of the shape and the definition of different tessellation meshes of the surfaces, according to different hole pattern configuration. Different piercing percentage of the vaults were considered and compared for the best solution identification. In addition, the geometrical solutions were analyzed by means of global stability analysis, taking into account the different positions of the holes. Furthermore, 3D printing with a Fuse Deposition Modeling (FDM) technique in polylactide (PLA) material (completely eco-friendly) is used for the construction of the formworks of the cement based blocks (dowels) useful for the assembly of a vault scaled prototype. The prototype of the vault, characterized by a certain piercing percentage was subjected to different loading conditions and monitored by a non-contact device based on the Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technique. The 3D-DIC was performed to recognize the structural behavior during the loading process of the model (prototype). DIC measurements were used to recognize in advance the critical condition of the vault under loading and the displacement measurements were correlated to the different loading phases up to the collapse condition.

Investigating the Influence of the Improved Multibody Rope Approach on the Structural Behavior of Dakar Mosque Gridshell Structure

“…In this study, the architect's defined form serves as the basis for applying two formfinding methods to achieve an optimally constructed structural shape. The Multibody Rope Approach (MRA) [26,36] and its enhanced version, the Improved Multibody Rope Approach (i-MRA) [37,38], were employed in combination with a specific force field to obtain a roof geometry similar to the original design. These methods were employed to identify a shape that minimizes the number of structural element variations required.…”