Statics-aware 3D gridshells: a differential approach towards shape optimization

Favilli A, Giorgi D, Laccone F, Malomo L, Cignoni P

Optimization  Geometry processing  Mesh  Gridshell  Statics  Shape 

In the context of architecture, gridshells are three-dimensional frame structures in which loads are entirely born by edges, or beams. Our contribution is to draw the way to a computational method that, given an input gridshell provided by a designer, slightly changes the input to ensure good static performance. The changing is induced by structure node repositioning. If the gridshell is represented as a surface mesh, the problem boils down to finding a proper vertex displacement. The vertex displacement should strike a happy medium between structure rigidity, with load deformation as low as possible, and structure resistance, preventing stress caused breaks. In this report, we introduce a shape optimization strategy based on automatic differentiation of a loss function, which embeds the static equilibrium problem of a girdshell.

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