Frédéric Waimer

Fibrous structures: An integrative approach to design computation, simulation and fabrication for lightweight, glass and carbon fibre composite structures in architecture based on biomimetic design principles ☆

Abstract In this paper the authors present research into an integrative computational design methodology for the design and robotic implementation of fibre-composite systems. The proposed approach is based on the concurrent and reciprocal integration of biological analysis, material design, structural analysis, and the constraints of robotic filament winding within a coherent computational design process. A particular focus is set on the development of specific tools and solvers for the generation, simulation and optimization of the fibre layout and their feedback into the global morphology of the system. The methodology demonstrates how fibre reinforced composites can be arranged and processed in order to meet the specific requirements of architectural design and building construction. This was further tested through the design and fabrication of a full-scale architectural prototype.

From Nature to Fabrication: Biomimetic Design Principles for the Production of Complex Spatial Structures

In the current paper the authors present a biomimetic design methodology based on the analysis of the Echinoids (sea urchin and sand dollar) and the transfer of its structural morphology into a built full-scale prototype. In the first part, an efficient wood jointing technique for planar sheets of wood through novel robotically fabricated finger-joints is introduced together with an investigation of the biological principles of plate structures and their mechanical features. Subsequently, the identified structural principles are translated and verified with the aid of a Finite Element Model, as well as a generative design system incorporating the rules and constraints of fabrication. The paper concludes with the presentation of a full-scale biomimetic prototype which integrates these morphological and mechanical principles to achieve an efficient and high-performing lightweight structure.

Design Equilibrium of Form, Materiality and Fabrication: A Bacterial-Inspired Multidisciplinary Optimisation Strategy for Free-Form Concrete Structures

Geometric complexity of freeform concrete structures in modern architecture hardly allows for an economical realisation anymore and traditional methods for construction, fabrication and planning seem increasingly inadequate. Through a recently developed hybrid CFRP-concrete composite construction technique and an automated high-precision production method, it was possible to develop a new strategy which facilitates providing a new freedom of form in architecture, economically and in high quality. In order to reap the full benefits of the structural properties and to reduce production costs, the authors propose a multidisciplinary design optimisation (MDO) strategy. Through an integrative simulation model, it is possible to bring manufacturing, structural behaviour and geometry in an optimum ratio. As optimisation algorithm, a stochastic method was developed, which is inspired by the foraging of bacteria. The biological role model, the transfer to a numerical algorithm and the practice by means of case studies will be presented in the following paper.