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Computational analysis of hygromorphic self-shaping wood gridshell structures.

  • Grönquist P Laboratory for Cellulose & Wood Materials, Empa, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • Panchadcharam P Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
  • Wood D Institute for Computational Design and Construction, University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany.
  • Menges A Institute for Computational Design and Construction, University of Stuttgart, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany.
  • Rüggeberg M Laboratory for Cellulose & Wood Materials, Empa, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland.
  • Wittel FK Institute for Building Materials, ETH Zurich, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
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  • 2020-09-03
Published in:
  • Royal Society open science. - 2020
Gaussian curvature
gridshell
hygromorphs
self-shaping
wood bilayer
English Bi-layered composites capable of self-shaping are of increasing relevance to science and engineering. They can be made out of anisotropic materials that are responsive to changes in a state variable, e.g. wood, which swells and shrinks by changes in moisture. When extensive bending is desired, such bilayers are usually designed as cross-ply structures. However, the nature of cross-ply laminates tends to prevent changes of the Gaussian curvature so that a plate-like geometry of the composite will be partly restricted from shaping. Therefore, an effective approach for maximizing bending is to keep the composite in a narrow strip configuration so that Gaussian curvature can remain constant during shaping. This represents a fundamental limitation for many applications where self-shaped double-curved structures could be beneficial, e.g. in timber architecture. In this study, we propose to achieve double-curvature by gridshell configurations of narrow self-shaping wood bilayer strips. Using numerical mechanical simulations, we investigate a parametric phase-space of shaping. Our results show that double curvature can be achieved and that the change in Gaussian curvature is dependent on the system's geometry. Furthermore, we discuss a novel architectural application potential in the form of self-erecting timber gridshells.
Language
  • English
Open access status
gold
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/global/documents/274113
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