Equilibrium analysis of topological interlocking for structural assemblies

This thesis presents an exploration of topological interlocking system of structural assemblies. By analysing existing topological structures, a mathematical theory is constructed to design different topological interlocking systems based on various existing design techniques. A structural equilibrium analysis method is presented for the designed structural assemblies through a detailed analysis of the collapse mechanism. The method also features a novel way to transform indeterminate problems into determinate problems using the geometric relations, by an implementation of the half-edge data structure in mesh manifold computation. The thesis also briefly introduces a mapping strategy based on conformal mapping on NURBS surface to design freeform topological structural assemblies.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2017

Author dc:creator

• Ma, Zhao, M. Eng. Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Caitlin Mueller.

• Civil and Environmental Engineering.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed, downloaded, or printed from this source but further reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/111275

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/111275