Tag: topology-optimization

The INFRAME pavilion is a temporary timber elastic gridshell structure built on the MIT campus in September 2019 as part of Judyta Cichocka's CEE MEng thesis.  The structure transforms the function of the public staircase between buildings E15 and E25 on the MIT campus into a performance area. A single layer gridshell becomes a real temporary outdoor stage for electronic music performances, a canvas for a video-mapping show, and has multiple imaginary roles invented by potential next owners. The ultimate goal of the project was to design an elastic timber gridshell, which can be constructed in real-life scenario, providing a functional space for experimental artistic performances and which endeavors to embody the principles of structural art: economy, efficiency and elegance. The challenge lied in development of the design strategy, which allows rapid construction by a small group of inexperienced builders at minimum cost while complying to the building code in Massachusetts (which was required by MIT).

This paper contributes new knowledge and results to the fields of topology optimization and robotic spatial extrusion through the consideration of how these methods can be used together. Specifically, a new topology optimization formulation is presented that accounts for the manufacturing constraints of uniform cross section and average member length. In addition, a new robotic assembly planning framework is demonstrated, which allows the complex but structurally efficient results of the topology optimization to be materialized in a reasonable amount of time. Three novel case studies produced by the proposed topology optimization framework are presented to demonstrate how automated assembly planning and robotic extrusion can enable a direct and efficient means to materialize a 3D topology-optimized truss.

This paper presents a fast and flexible method for robotic extrusion (or spatial 3D printing) of designs made of linear elements that are connected in non-standard, irregular, and complex topologies. Nonstandard topology has considerable potential in design, both for visual effect and material efficiency, but usually presents serious challenges for robotic assembly since repeating motions cannot be used. Powered by a new automatic motion planning framework called Choreo, this paper’s robotic extrusion process avoids human intervention for steps that are typically arduous and tedious in architectural robotics projects. Specifically, the assembly sequence, end effector pose, joint configuration, and transition trajectory are all generated automatically using state-of-the-art, open-source planning algorithms developed in the broader robotics community. Three case studies with topologies produced by structural optimization and generative design techniques are presented to demonstrate the potential of this approach.

This research aims to explore form finding strategies for deep space exploration habitats on extraplanetary surfaces such as the Moon and Mars. A new sphere packing form finding approach has been studied, trying to optimize the location of different system and subsystems inside a space habitat and respond to the high pressure differentials required in these environments. Typically the organization of the interior layout follows the functional needs of the crew, such as working, hygiene, preparing and eating food, etc. To respond to relationships between such functional areas, including sizing, adjacencies, and approximate shapes, architects traditionally have used bubble diagrams and adjacency matrices as design aids. This research combines and digitizes these approaches with a sphere packing algorithm powered by dynamic relaxation, which allocates all required activities and respects all analyzed linkages between functions and subsystems. Furthermore, the obtained functional diagram is readily translated in architecture through a transformation into a tension-only pressurized surface using form-finding tools. The resulting habitat design is evaluated, in terms of its structural performance, through FE analysis tools. In summary, this research presents a new computational design method for space surface habitats that responds to both functional and physical requirements, offering new ways to support future space exploration.

Principal stress lines, which are pairs of orthogonal curves that indicate trajectories of internal forces and therefore idealized paths of material continuity, naturally encode the optimal topology for any structure for a given set of boundary conditions. Although stress line analysis has the potential to offer a direct, and geometrically provocative approach to optimization that can synthesize both design and structural objectives, its application in design has generally been limited due to the lack of standardization and parameterization of the process for generating and interpreting stress lines. Addressing these barriers that limit the application of the stress line methods, this thesis proposes a new implementation framework that will enable designers to take advantage of stress line analysis to inform conceptual structural design. Central to the premise of this research is a new conception of structurally inspired design exploration that does not impose a singular solution, but instead allows for the exploration of a diverse high-performance design space in order to balance the combination of structural and architectural design objectives. Specifically, the thesis has immediate application for the topological design of both regular and irregular thin shell structures predominately subjected to in-plane and compressive structural actions.

Principal stress lines, which are pairs of orthogonal curves that indicate trajectories of internal forces and therefore idealized paths of material continuity, naturally encode the optimal topology for any structure for a given set of boundary conditions. Although stress line analysis has the potential to offer a direct, and geometrically provocative approach to optimization that can synthesize both design and structural objectives, its application in design has generally been limited due to the lack of standardization and parameterization of the process for generating and interpreting stress lines. Addressing these barriers that limit the application of the stress line methods, this project proposes a new implementation framework that will enable designers to take advantage of stress line analysis to inform conceptual structural design.

The presented research uses a 6-axis industrial robot arm and a custom-designed heated extruder to develop a new robotic additive manufacturing (AM) framework for 2.5-D surface designs that adds material explicitly along principal stress trajectories. AM technologies, such as fused deposition modelling (FDM), are typically based on processes that lead to anisotropic products with strength behaviour that varies according to filament orientation; this limits its application in both design prototypes and end-use parts and products. Since stress lines are curves that indicate the optimal paths of material continuity for a given design boundary, the proposed stress-line based oriented material deposition opens new possibilities for structurally-performative and geometrically-complex AM, which is supported here by fabrication and structural load testing results. Called stress line additive manufacturing (SLAM), the proposed method achieves an integrated workflow that synthesizes parametric design, structural optimization, robotic computation, and fabrication.

In the field of digital fabrication, additive manufacturing (AM, sometimes called 3D printing) has enabled the fabrication of increasingly complex geometries, though the potential of this technology to convey both geometry and structural performance remains unmet. Typical AM processes produce anisotropic products with strength behavior that varies according to filament orientation, thereby limiting its applications in both structural prototypes and end-use parts and products. The paper presents a new integrated software and hardware process that reconsiders the traditional AM technique of fused deposition modelling (FDM) by adding material explicitly along the threedimensional principal stress trajectories, or stress lines, of 2.5-D structural surfaces. As curves that indicate paths of desired material continuity within a structure, stress lines encode the optimal topology of a structure for a given set of design boundary conditions. The use of a 6-axis industrial robot arm and a heated extruder, designed specifically for this research, provides an alternative to traditional layered manufacturing by allowing for oriented material deposition. The presented research opens new possibilities for structurally performative fabrication.

Principal stress lines, which are pairs of orthogonal curves that indicate trajectories of internal forces and therefore idealized paths of material continuity, naturally encode the optimal topology for any structure for a given set of boundary conditions. Although stress line analysis has the potential to offer a direct, and geometrically provocative approach to optimization that can synthesize both design and structural objectives, its application in design has generally been limited due to the lack of standardization and parameterization of the process for generating and interpreting stress lines. Addressing these barriers that limit the application of the stress line methods, this paper proposes a new implementation framework that will enable designers to take advantage of stress line analysis to inform conceptual structural design. Central to the premise of this research is a new conception of structurally inspired design exploration that does not impose a singular solution, but instead allows for the exploration of a diverse high-performancedesign space in order to balance the combination of structural and architectural design objectives.