FORM-FINDING OF BIONIC STRUCTURES USING THE FORCE DENSITY METHOD AND TOPOLOGICAL MAPPING

Abstract

This article presents the results of the application of a new form-finding tool for creating free-form compression-only shell structures. This tool is based on the force density method together with topological mapping. The great advantage of this design tool is that it unifies the creative process of design, form-finding, and analysis of the compression structure and allows creating well-conceived structures. The main advantage of the use of topological mapping is that no initial shape is needed but only the coordinates of the supports. The article presents the algorithm for generating compression structures using this powerful tool and a few resulting shells of different shape, span and material (steel-and-glass, concrete, Catalan vault) received using this algorithm.