The constrained geometry of structures : optimization methods for inverse form-finding design

This dissertation aims to improve form-finding workflows by giving more control on the obtained shapes to the designer. Traditional direct form-finding allows the designer to generate shapes for structures that need to verify a mechanical equilibrium when built; however, it produces shapes that are difficult to control. This dissertation shows how the design of constrained structural systems is better solved by an inverse form-finding process, where the parameters and initial conditions of the direct form-finding process are automatically adjusted to match the design intent. By defining a general framework for the implementation of such workflows in a nested optimizer loop, the requirements on each component are articulated. The inner optimizer is a specially selected direct form-finding solver, the outer optimizer is a general-purpose optimization routine. This is demonstrated with case studies of two structural systems: bending-active structures and funicular structures.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctoral

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Architecture

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Cuvilliers, Pierre(Pierre Emmanuel)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Caitlin T. Mueller.

• Architecture.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

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

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127853

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/127853