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Numerical Methods for Conceptual Structural Design

Alic, Vedad LU (2016) In TVSM-3000
Abstract
Conceptual design is the first phase in the design process in which all the requirements and design objectives are synthesized into conceptual alternatives. In practice today, major decisions regarding the buildings geometry, massing, and overall form are usually made during the first phase. Considering structural performance requirements during conceptual design enhances interdisciplinary interaction, and creates a visual link between form and numeric performance evaluations, reducing work on poorly performing solutions. To include structural performance in conceptual design requires, amongst other things, the availability of tools such as simulation software, suitable for conceptual studies.

The aim of the research is to develop... (More)
Conceptual design is the first phase in the design process in which all the requirements and design objectives are synthesized into conceptual alternatives. In practice today, major decisions regarding the buildings geometry, massing, and overall form are usually made during the first phase. Considering structural performance requirements during conceptual design enhances interdisciplinary interaction, and creates a visual link between form and numeric performance evaluations, reducing work on poorly performing solutions. To include structural performance in conceptual design requires, amongst other things, the availability of tools such as simulation software, suitable for conceptual studies.

The aim of the research is to develop new efficient methods and procedures for supporting an interactive and iterative design process that includes engineering aspects. By integrating engineering knowledge and physical aspects in the developed tools, a more efficient and betteradapted design process can be obtained. Modeling tools for conceptual studies should encourage creativity and be capable of interactively modifying the model in a sketch-like fashion once it has been created. Supporting an interactive and iterative design process, requires new interaction models and numerical approaches in the tools used.

The research has focused on two different areas, were the first is related to conceptual studies for reducing ground borne wave propagations in an urban scale. A tool is developed for simulating forms with masses placed on top of soil in an urban scale and studying the resulting effect that the forms have on the propagating waves. The tool uses the finite element method and studies the vibration reduction effects in the frequency domain. Paper A presents the tool and draws some conclusions related to the levels of vibration reduction for various patterns, showing that some patterns are effective in mitigating the incoming vibrations. The approach in the tool makes it possible to obtain results in minutes, allowing the user to generate many alternative proposals quickly, and act as an aid in brainstorming sessions.

Papers B and C focus on a recent extension of the finite element method, called isogeometric analysis. The implementation of isogeometric analysis with membrane elements for form finding of efficient shapes for shells is presented. The dynamic relaxation method is used for finding the static solutions. The method is employed directly on design geometry, which is described by non-uniform rational b-splines (NURBS), without the need for any further discretization. Paper B investigates various selections of mass and damping for the dynamic relaxation method with NURBS based membrane elements. The results are used to implement two plug-ins for the computer aided design applications Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper 3D, of which the former is presented in paper C. The method describes form found geometries well with very few elements and can be used to explore different efficient shapes for shells very rapidly and directly in design software, and is thus suited for design explorations. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
supervisor
organization
publishing date
type
Thesis
publication status
published
subject
in
TVSM-3000
issue
TVSM-3075
pages
107 pages
publisher
Division of Structural Mechanics, LTH
ISSN
0281-6679
ISBN
978-91-7623-733-5
978-91-7623-734-2
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
17a67dde-576c-4d8b-ae6f-101d9e5efe0f
date added to LUP
2016-04-28 10:52:27
date last changed
2023-10-16 09:21:23
@misc{17a67dde-576c-4d8b-ae6f-101d9e5efe0f,
  abstract     = {{Conceptual design is the first phase in the design process in which all the requirements and design objectives are synthesized into conceptual alternatives. In practice today, major decisions regarding the buildings geometry, massing, and overall form are usually made during the first phase. Considering structural performance requirements during conceptual design enhances interdisciplinary interaction, and creates a visual link between form and numeric performance evaluations, reducing work on poorly performing solutions. To include structural performance in conceptual design requires, amongst other things, the availability of tools such as simulation software, suitable for conceptual studies.<br/><br/>The aim of the research is to develop new efficient methods and procedures for supporting an interactive and iterative design process that includes engineering aspects. By integrating engineering knowledge and physical aspects in the developed tools, a more efficient and betteradapted design process can be obtained. Modeling tools for conceptual studies should encourage creativity and be capable of interactively modifying the model in a sketch-like fashion once it has been created. Supporting an interactive and iterative design process, requires new interaction models and numerical approaches in the tools used.<br/><br/>The research has focused on two different areas, were the first is related to conceptual studies for reducing ground borne wave propagations in an urban scale. A tool is developed for simulating forms with masses placed on top of soil in an urban scale and studying the resulting effect that the forms have on the propagating waves. The tool uses the finite element method and studies the vibration reduction effects in the frequency domain. Paper A presents the tool and draws some conclusions related to the levels of vibration reduction for various patterns, showing that some patterns are effective in mitigating the incoming vibrations. The approach in the tool makes it possible to obtain results in minutes, allowing the user to generate many alternative proposals quickly, and act as an aid in brainstorming sessions.<br/><br/>Papers B and C focus on a recent extension of the finite element method, called isogeometric analysis. The implementation of isogeometric analysis with membrane elements for form finding of efficient shapes for shells is presented. The dynamic relaxation method is used for finding the static solutions. The method is employed directly on design geometry, which is described by non-uniform rational b-splines (NURBS), without the need for any further discretization. Paper B investigates various selections of mass and damping for the dynamic relaxation method with NURBS based membrane elements. The results are used to implement two plug-ins for the computer aided design applications Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper 3D, of which the former is presented in paper C. The method describes form found geometries well with very few elements and can be used to explore different efficient shapes for shells very rapidly and directly in design software, and is thus suited for design explorations.}},
  author       = {{Alic, Vedad}},
  isbn         = {{978-91-7623-733-5}},
  issn         = {{0281-6679}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Licentiate Thesis}},
  number       = {{TVSM-3075}},
  publisher    = {{Division of Structural Mechanics, LTH}},
  series       = {{TVSM-3000}},
  title        = {{Numerical Methods for Conceptual Structural Design}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/160558560/web3075.pdf}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}