Reflections on the Structure, Mathematics and Aesthetics of Shell Structures

Malek, Samar; Williams, Chris

doi:10.1007/s00004-017-0356-6

Cited by 9 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 8 publications

(4 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Shell structures are advantageous in architecture because the geometric stiffness resulting from the double curvature makes them highly material-efficient [1]. Recent advancement in computational modeling and simulation technology gives architects and engineers sophisticated tools to design elegant and geometrically performative structures with ease [2,3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Self-shaping Metamaterial Shells:

Özdemir

Kiesewetter

Antorveza

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 2021 DigitalFUTURES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Double curvature enables elegant and material-efficient shell structures, but their construction typically relies on heavy machining, manual labor, and the additional use of material wasted as one-off formwork. Using a material’s intrinsic properties for self-shaping is an energy and resource-efficient solution to this problem. This research presents a fabrication approach for self-shaping double-curved shell structures combining the hygroscopic shape-changing and scalability of wood actuators with the tunability of 3D-printed metamaterial patterning. Using hybrid robotic fabrication, components are additively manufactured flat and self-shape to a pre-programmed configuration through drying. A computational design workflow including a lattice and shell-based finite element model was developed for the design of the metamaterial pattern, actuator layout, and shape prediction. The workflow was tested through physical prototypes at centimeter and meter scales. The results show an architectural scale proof of concept for self-shaping double-curved shell structures as a resource-efficient physical form generation method.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Self-shaping Metamaterial Shells:

Özdemir

Kiesewetter

Antorveza

et al. 2021

Proceedings of the 2021 DigitalFUTURES

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…However, why are grid structures inherently beautiful? According to Malek and Willians [3], the aesthetics come with their superior structural efficiency since fewer materials are needed to resist such high loads. However, it is not an easy task for engineers to determinate the final optimal shape that respects architectural requirements and is structurally efficient at the same time.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing efficient grid structures considering structural imperfection sensitivity

Liu

Feng

Tsavdaridis

et al. 2020

Engineering Structures

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

At the initial design stage of a grid structure, shape optimisation is an effective way to find the optimal structural form. However, most of the shape optimisation methods do not take into consideration the imperfections, thus the actual buckling load capacity of the optimised structure is usually low. In this paper, an improved shape optimisation method is proposed, one that is considering the effect of structural imperfection sensitivity. In this method, the bending strain energy ratio is taken as a constraint, and when the total strain energy decreases, yet there is a certain proportion of bending strain energy in the structure. Consequently, the resulted shape is not sensitive to the initial geometry imperfection, and therefore, an efficient structure with higher buckling load capacity and low imperfection sensitivity is obtained. In order to evaluate the redundancy performance of the optimised structure, an index called structural overall redundancy, based on damage model is proposed herein. The damage model is simulated by removing a key rod of the structure. The results demonstrate that the overall redundancy of the structure obtained by the proposed method is higher than that obtained by the traditional method, thus an optimal design of a grid structure is obtained.

show abstract

“…They provide a sense of simplicity and elegance in terms of appearance. Their important features are their uninterrupted span, the smoothness of their continuous surface, the sparseness of their structural grid, curve fluidity and most importantly their high structural efficiency that can resist external actions through membrane stiffness (Malek and Williams 2017). Gridshells with multi-planar, cylindrical, spherical and parabolic shapes are not uncommon in practice (Kang et al, 2003;Shilin, 2010;Cui and Jiang, 2014), where engineers use analytical equations to generate nodal positions and member connectivity, as shown in Fig.1.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Computational Grid Generation for the Design of Free-Form Shells with Complex Boundary Conditions

Jun

Shepherd

et al. 2019

J. Comput. Civ. Eng.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Free-form grid structures have been widely used in various public buildings, and many are bounded by complex curves including internal voids. Modern computational design software enables the rapid creation and exploration of such complex surface geometries for architectural design, but the resulting shapes lack an obvious way for engineers to create a discrete structural grid to support the surface that manifest the architect's intent. This paper presents an efficient design approach for the synthesis of free-form grid structures based on "guide line" and "surface flattening" methods, which consider complex features and internal boundaries. The method employs a fast and straightforward approach, which achieves fluent lines with bars of balanced length. The parametric domain of a complete NURBS (Non-Uniform Rational B-Spline) surface is firstly divided into a number of patches, and a discrete free-form surface formed by mapping dividing points onto the surface. The free-form surface was then flattened based on the principle of equal area. Accordingly, the flattened rectangular lattices are then fit to the 2D surface, with grids formed by applying a guide-line method. Subsequently, the intersections of the guide-lines and the complex boundary are obtained, and the guide-lines divided equally between boundaries to produce grids connected at the dividing points. Finally, the 2D grids are mapped back onto the 3D surface and a spring-mass relaxation method is employed to further improve the smoothness of the resulting grids. The paper concludes bypresenting realistic examples to demonstrate the practical effectiveness of the proposed method.

show abstract

Reflections on the Structure, Mathematics and Aesthetics of Shell Structures

Cited by 9 publications

References 8 publications

Towards Self-shaping Metamaterial Shells:

Towards Self-shaping Metamaterial Shells:

Designing efficient grid structures considering structural imperfection sensitivity

Computational Grid Generation for the Design of Free-Form Shells with Complex Boundary Conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About