CAREER: Static, Dynamic and Kinematic Analysis and Optimization of Tensegrity Structures through Cellular Morphogenesis

该学院早期职业发展(CALEAR)奖将支持将重点放在张拉整体结构的生成、分析和优化方面的研究。张拉整体是由受压构件和处于自平衡状态的受拉构件组成的一类结构。在这个项目中，张拉整体结构体系被研究，以构思传统的民用应用的快速架设结构。然而，该奖项的成果超越了建筑和结构，因为张拉整体系统已被探索用于各种工程应用，包括超材料、行星着陆器、软机器人以及模拟生物细胞的机械行为。虽然张拉整体结构已经引起了科学家和工程师的极大兴趣，但对于它们的产生和行为仍然没有统一的理论。因此，本研究项目寻求开发一种形态框架，在提供建筑设计自由的同时，将设计标准与装配和运动学相结合。该框架通过将复杂系统分解成基本张拉整体单元来控制张拉整体结构的行为。受张拉整体结构艺术渊源的启发，这项研究还将通过开发以艺术、科学和工程交叉对象为中心的学习模块，与教育专家和学生合作探索基于对象的学习来补充。研究项目的目标是从理论上理解如何使用形态来定义复杂张拉整体结构中的稳定性、平衡性、可展开性、结构响应、感知和控制。具体地说，研究方法包括a)理解张拉整体结构中细胞组成和力学行为之间的关系，b)加强张拉整体结构的构造、分析、传感和控制，以及c)推导出具有预定义和可变换形式以及可调力学行为的张拉整体结构的产生和优化的形态框架。为了实现这些目标，将探索一种通过张拉整体系统的元胞组成将拓扑识别和形状寻找联系起来的方法，其中单元是张拉整体的基本单元。人们假设，调整张拉整体结构的胞元组成及其结构参数可以得到所需的形状、优化的力学性能和有利的控制方法。这个项目将允许PI推进张拉整体系统的知识库，并建立他在结构形态方面的长期职业生涯。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) award supports research that will focus on the generation, analysis and optimization of tensegrity structures. Tensegrity represents a class of structures composed of members in compression and tension in a self-equilibrated state. In this project, tensegrity systems are studied to conceive rapidly erected structures for traditional civil applications. However, the outcomes of this award extend beyond architecture and structures as tensegrity systems have been explored for a wide variety of engineering applications including metamaterials, planetary landers, soft robotics, as well as to model the mechanical behavior of biological cells. Although tensegrity structures have received significant interest among scientists and engineers, there is still no unifying theory on their generation and behavior. This research project thus seeks to develop a morphological framework that integrates design criteria with assembly and kinematics while providing architectural design freedom. The framework enables control over the behavior of tensegrity structures by decomposing complex systems into elementary tensegrity units. Inspired by tensegrity’s artistic origin, the research will also be complemented by developing learning modules centered on objects at the intersection of art, science, and engineering, exploring object-based learning in collaboration with educational experts and students.The goal of the research project is to develop a theoretical understanding of how morphology can be used to define the stability, equilibrium, deployability, structural response, sensing, and control in complex tensegrity structures. Specifically, the research approach includes a) understanding the relationship between cellular composition and mechanical behavior in tensegrity structures, b) enhancing the construction, analysis, sensing and control of tensegrity structures, and c) deriving a morphological framework for the generation and optimization of tensegrity structures with predefined and transformable forms, as well as tunable mechanical behaviors. To accomplish these objectives, a method that links topology identification and form finding through the cellular composition of tensegrity systems with cells being elementary tensegrity units will be explored. It is hypothesized that tuning the cellular composition of tensegrity structures along with their structural parameters can lead to desired shapes, optimized mechanical performance, and advantageous control methods. This project will allow the PI to advance the knowledge base in tensegrity systems and establish his long-term career in structural morphology.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.