Developing algorithm aided fabrication methods for polyhedral structures

这项研究的范围是促进可用于建筑、汽车、航空、家具等行业的大型和中等规模的制造感知型多歧管多面体结构系统的设计。实现这一开发的主要步骤是创建一套强大的算法，能够同时处理结构优化和成本效益制造，同时保持用户的设计意图。拟议的项目建立在PI之前致力于制造的网格分割和通过互易多面体系统进行3D图形静力学的两个研究流的基础上，并将它们结合到一个计算框架中，致力于设计和实现基于体积多面体网格的优化结构系统，该网格可以从平板材料制造出来。该提案包括多项任务，分为三个相辅相成的重点。推力1提出了几种稳健的算法，用于一般体积多面体网格的合理化和分割，范围是通过离散化、展开和推力2来构建它们。2建议扩展现有的基于几何的结构找形方法，以包括平板金属板材的制造约束和复杂定制体积结构的最优形状确定过程中的见解。推力3建议将基于板材的合理化、优化和制造方法扩展到板材主导的混合结构。智力上的优点。现在，任何比例的体积多面体网格都不存在通用的平板制造工作流程。此外，任何能够产生完全空间结构的结构找形解决方案都不包含平板物化的制造意识约束。这项研究的目的是通过a)为体积多面体系统创建新的通用制造方法来解决这一差距，从而为生成性结构设计和制造带来重要贡献：a)使用折叠、金属薄板或金属薄板和线性元素。B)在结构找形过程中引入有制造意识的约束，以有效地实现结构物化。更广泛的影响。这一研究成果将为复杂、轻质、高性能空间结构的高效、经济、生态物化开辟新的途径。这项研究将带来新的计算工具，用铝等金属建造空间结构，从而为魁北克/加拿大的制造业以及相关的建筑业带来新的相关性。它还将使该行业能够通过材料重复使用和严重减少新材料的使用来减少对环境的影响。

The scope of this research is to facilitate the design of fabrication-aware multi-manifold polyhedral structural systems applicable at the large and mezzo scale in industries like construction, automotive, aeronautics, furniture, and others. The principal step towards enabling this development is the creation of a robust set of algorithms able to simultaneously handle structural optimization and cost-effective fabrication while preserving user design intent. The proposed project builds upon two of PI's previous streams of research dedicated to mesh segmentation for fabrication and 3D graphic statics through reciprocal polyhedral systems and brings them together into a computational framework dedicated to the design and materialization of optimized structural systems based on volumetric polyhedral meshes, fabricable from flat sheet materials. The proposal consists of multiple tasks grouped into three complementary thrusts. Thrust 1 proposes the creation of several robust algorithms for the rationalization and segmentation of general volumetric polyhedral meshes with the scope of fabricating them through discretization and unfolding and Thrust 2 proposes the extension of existing geometry-based structural form-finding methods to include flat metal sheet fabrication constraints and insights in the process of optimal form determination for complex bespoke volumetric structures. Thrust 3 proposes the extension of sheet metal-based rationalization, optimization, and fabrication methods to sheet material dominant hybrid structures. Intellectual merit. Now no general flat-sheet fabrication workflows exist for volumetric polyhedral meshes at any scale. Furthermore, no structural form-finding solution able to produce fully spatial structures contains fabrication-aware constraints for flat sheet materialization. This research aims at addressing this gap by bringing important contributions to generative structural design and fabrication through a) The creation of new general method of fabrication for volumetric polyhedral systems using folding, sheet metal only or sheet-metal and linear elements. b) Introducing fabrication-aware constraints, in the process of structural form-finding for the efficient materialization of structures. Broader impacts. The result of this research will open new avenues towards the efficient, economic, and ecologic materialization of complex, lightweight, high-performance spatial structures. The research will bring about new computational instruments to construct spatial structures from metals like aluminium thus bringing new relevance to the manufacturing industry in Québec/Canada as well as to the connected construction industry. It will also enable the industry to reduce its environmental impact through material reuse and serious reductions in new material use.