Weaving structure: A bending-active gridshell for freeform fabrication: Fid-Bau Portal

Weaving structure: A bending-active gridshell for freeform fabrication

Huang, Weixin / Wu, Chenglin / Hu, Jingyuan / Gao, Wen

Abstract Double-curved surfaces are increasingly being designed and fabricated in contemporary architecture and engineering. However, the fabrications are always time-consuming and costly. Inspired by traditional weaving handicrafts, we propose a bending-active weaving structure, which consists of continuous elastic rods and standard joints for the fabrication of large-scale freeform surfaces. Uniform rods with circular cross sections were used to avoid torsion and simplify fabrication. The advantage lies in its convenience in construction, adaptability of spatial forms, and structural efficiency. We introduced the geometric principle of weaving structures, its generation algorithm based on remeshing, structural simulation by dynamic relaxation, and lattice optimization to reduce rod curvature. Structure simulation of lattices were performed to demonstrate its potential in architectural scale construction, and the extended kagome lattice was found more efficient with less stress concentration. Fabrication methods were also discussed. Furthermore, several experimental fabrications were performed to demonstrate the advantages and potentials of the system.

Graphical abstract Display Omitted

Highlights • Bending-active weaving gridshell for freeform fabrication with morphology adaptivity. • Circular cross section rod used to avoid torsion, simplify weaving fabrication. • Uniform rods and standard joints for freeform construction, no need of customization. • Generation of extended kagome weaving lattice by remeshing and relaxation algorithms. • Structural simulation and comparison show extended kagome lattice more efficient.