ITECH MSc. 2017 - Tailoring Self-Formation

Tailoring Self-Formation
Fabrication and simulation of membrane-actuated stiffness gradient composites
Lotte Aldinger and Georgia Margariti

Inst. of Building Structures & Structural Design (Prof. Knippers)
Inst. for Computational Design (Prof. Menges)

Thesis Advisors: Axel Körner, Seiichi Suzuki

Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Dr.-Eng. Jan Knippers
Second Supervisor: Prof. Achim Menges

This research aims to develop a material system for constructing double curved surfaces on the basis of material behavior without the necessity of molds. In a 2-dimensional flat state, bending-active composites are integrated into a prestressed high-strain membrane with the tailored fiber placement technique and through the release of the prestress the system self-forms into a 3-dimensional double curved geometry. The geometric outcome can be tailored by controlling the stiffness layout of the composite elements.
The main focus of this research is to analyse and reveal the rules that govern the self-formation by means of numerical form-finding. The control of the formation process enables the exploration of the MASCG’s design space targeting for synclastic, anticlastic and variable curvature. The research aims to establish a design to fabrication framework, combining a design workflow of form-finding simulations with the materialization of the MASGC through the digital fabrication technique of tailored fiber placement. The evaluation of its scalability and structural performance is essential to identify the potentials and limitations of the MASGC for applications in architecture.
The proposed material system of self-formation offers the advantage to build lightweight, tailored double curved surfaces with rapid digital fabrication and moldless, in one step formation.