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This research paper explores the use of 3D-printing technologies in prototyping of Topology Optimization (TO)
driven design. The paper describes the integration of TO into an early design work-flow and highlights the difficulties thereof. Due to the high computation times of TO, we outline the use of statistical learning to approximate TO material...
Citations
... • use of contemporary paradigm of edit and observe / interactive modelling (Prévost et al, 2013;Tang et al, 2014;Jiang et al, 2015); • exploration of static equilibrium shape design (Block and Ochsendorf, 2007;Vouga et al, 2012;Tang et al, 2014;Akbarzadeh et al, 2015b;Rippmann et al, 2016); • greater design control in the production and delivery stages Helm et al, 2016;Louth et al, 2017;Bhooshan et al, 2018c;Svilans et al, 2018;Bhooshan et al, 2022) • and provides a feedback loop between the various stages of the design workflow (Helm et al, 2016;Bhooshan et al, 2017Bhooshan et al, , 2018cSvilans et al, 2018;Bhooshan et al, 2022). ...
The paper describes the physical realisation of a demonstration prototype produced by mouldless wood bending of discrete laminated timber elements which are interconnected to create a predominantly compression only spatial structure. Integrated design to production pipelines is increasingly valued in Architecture, Engineerinng and Construction, as it has contributed to developing methods of generation of the so-called architectural geometry and in bringing the various disciplines in the industry closer together. The research presented is motivated by the application and use of timber in such a realm. It details a design to production toolkit along with development of custom actuator-based tool to deliver sustainable benefits of reduced material usage and wastage in addition to efficient production of bent wood structures. Furthermore, the paper proposes an alternative procedure for polyhedral reconstruction of disjointed force polyhedrons from an input graph, which enables the creation of spatial structures in static equilibrium.
... Due to its degree of freedom, topology optimization has the ability to find high-performance and innovative structural layout [4], and has been widely implemented as a homogenization design method. So far, the application of topology optimization technology covers many fields, for example, furniture designs [5,6], architectural applications [7][8][9], additive manufacturing [10][11][12], and biological materials [13,14]. ...
Element differential method Solid isotropic material with penalization Topology optimization Heat transfer problem Elastic problem. The element differential method (EDM) is a robust and efficient strong-form numerical method, which has attracted a lot of attention of the researchers about the numerical methods since proposed. EDM has higher stability than some other strong-form methods and is more efficient than conventional Galerkin FEM. In this paper, the EDM is combined with Solid Isotropic Material with Penalization (SIMP) method to solve 2-3D to-pological optimization problems under different conditions. The key of the paper is to derive the objective function of second-order EDM element, which is suitable for the SIMP-based topology optimization process. And the sensitivity is solved by Optimality Criteria (OC) method. In the article, topology optimization examples are considered in different mechanics or thermal loads. In the topology optimization of the elastic problem of 3D cantilever beam, the EDM-based SIMP method can reduce the structural compliance by 17~27% compared with SIMP method based on FEM. And in the heat transfer problems of the 3D plate, the EDM-based SIMP method reduced the compliance by 3.4%. The results show that the present method has good accuracy, efficiency and robustness in topology optimization of 2D and 3D minimum compatibility problems.
... Topology optimization is an effective strategy to create lightweight and high-performance structures by redistributing materials in continuous design domains [1,2]. In recent years, this technique has been utilized across a wide range of disciplines also due to its ability to design elegant and innovative structures, with applications including architectural designs [3][4][5][6], furniture [7,8], and additive manufacturing [9][10][11][12]. Conventional topology optimization techniques are performed based on finite element analysis (FEA). ...
Topology optimization techniques can create efficient and innovative structural designs by redistributing underutilized materials to the most-needed locations. These techniques are typically performed based purely on structural performance without considering factors like aesthetics and other design requirements. Hence, the obtained structural designs may not be suitable for specific practical applications. This study presents a new topology optimization method, SP-BESO, by considering the subjective preferences (SP) of the designer. Here, subjective scoring and drawing systems are introduced into the popular bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) technique. The proposed SP-BESO method allows users to iteratively and interactively create topologically different and structurally efficient solutions by explicitly scoring and drawing their subjective preferences. Hence, users do not need to passively accept the optimization results. A user-friendly digital design tool, iBESO, is developed, which contains four optimizers to simultaneously perform the proposed SP-BESO method to assist in the design exploration task. A variety of 2D examples are tested using the iBESO software to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed SP-BESO method. It is found that the combination of parameters used in the scoring and drawing systems controls the formation of final structural topologies toward performance-driven or preference-driven designs. The utilization of the proposed SP-BESO method in potential practical applications is also demonstrated.
... Software, 3D printers, and innovative materials can be assumed as game-changing advances that have impacts on traditional carpentry and, day by day, the number of researches that focused on the evaluation of these three factors in furniture production increases. Followings are some recent studies dealing with chair properties; Chair design (Sperling et al. 2006), prototyping of a chair using 3D printing (Bhooshan et al. 2017;Yulvan and Sunarmi 2019), use of 3D scanners and printers for the renovation of damaged round element used for joining the veneer laminated chair and metal legs (Akkaş and Andaç Güzel 2021), comfort evaluation of Office chair (Maradei García et al. 2017), office chair design according to ergonomic-anthropometric approaches (Noshin et al. 2018), user-oriented chair design (Kim et al. 2011), design and evaluation of mechanical behavior of low-cost school chair (Začal et al. 2016), and finite element analysis of chair (Aydın and Yılmaz Aydın 2017;Yılmaz Aydın et al. 2016). ...
Traditional productions of goods are being changed by technological advances. Furniture production also takes its portion from this either positive or negative manner. Because either traditional wood material preparing ways or design and manufacturing of fittings are being changed by the technological software and hardware. The do-it-yourself perspective of additive manufacturing applications emerges as a reflection of these advances and changes. Different types of connectors were designed and manufactured for a specific joint of a chair by previously published studies. However, in this study, four different connector types were designed for properly assemble of a chair instead of element joint in accordance with the do-it-yourself perspective. CATIA software was used for three-dimensional modeling and assembly. Dowels were applied to each joint for strengthening chair construction. Wooden elements were designed without curves to provide easy-to-manufacture chairs for end-users who have limited knowledge about wood joinery. Views and sections were included for presenting the assembly details. Some construction add-ons such as an upholstery seat and a backrest with a proper slope were offered to improve the comfort issue that arises from the straight-line design approach.
... The design of furniture reflects not only the culture and aesthetics (Fitzgerald, 2018) but also the design approach, materials science and manufacturing technology (Lawson, 2013). With the development of three-dimensional (3D) printing technology, innovative furniture designs have been developed using the latest advanced manufacturing methods (Bhooshan et al., 2017). ...
Purpose-Furniture plays a significant role in daily life. Advanced computational and manufacturing technologies provide new opportunities to create novel, high-performance and customized furniture. This paper aims to enhance furniture design and production by developing a new workflow in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are integrated to achieve innovative outcomes. Design/methodology/approach-Workflow development is conducted by exploring state-of-the-art computational and manufacturing technologies to improve furniture design and production. Structural design and fabrication using the workflow are implemented. Findings-An efficient transdisciplinary workflow is developed, in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are combined. The workflow consists of the initial design, the optimization of the initial design, the postprocessing of the optimized results and the manufacturing and surface treatment of the physical prototypes. Novel chairs and tables, including flat pack designs, are produced using this workflow. The design and fabrication processes are simple, efficient and low-cost. Both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing are used. Practical implications-The research outcomes are directly applicable to the creation of novel furniture, as well as many other structures and devices. Originality/value-A new workflow is developed by taking advantage of the latest topology optimization methods and advanced manufacturing techniques for furniture design and fabrication. Several pieces of innovative furniture are designed and fabricated as examples of the presented workflow.
... The design of furniture reflects not only the culture and aesthetics (Fitzgerald, 2018), but also the design approach, materials science and manufacturing technology (Lawson, 2013). With the development of 3D printing technology, innovative furniture designs have been developed using latest advanced manufacturing methods (Bhooshan et al., 2017). ...
Purpose
Furniture plays a significant role in daily life. Advanced computational and manufacturing technologies provide new opportunities to create novel, high-performance and customized furniture. This paper aims to enhance furniture design and production by developing a new workflow in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are integrated to achieve innovative outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Workflow development is conducted by exploring state-of-the-art computational and manufacturing technologies to improve furniture design and production. Structural design and fabrication using the workflow are implemented.
Findings
An efficient transdisciplinary workflow is developed, in which computer graphics, topology optimization and advanced manufacturing are combined. The workflow consists of the initial design, the optimization of the initial design, the postprocessing of the optimized results and the manufacturing and surface treatment of the physical prototypes. Novel chairs and tables, including flat pack designs, are produced using this workflow. The design and fabrication processes are simple, efficient and low-cost. Both additive manufacturing and subtractive manufacturing are used.
Practical implications
The research outcomes are directly applicable to the creation of novel furniture, as well as many other structures and devices.
Originality/value
A new workflow is developed by taking advantage of the latest topology optimization methods and advanced manufacturing techniques for furniture design and fabrication. Several pieces of innovative furniture are designed and fabricated as examples of the presented workflow.
... In similar scales, multi-materiality is explored and tested in chair design projects. Among them are the Gemini chaise with a focus on acoustical performance and the multicoloured multi-material ZHA chair (Bhooshan, Fuchs, and Bhooshan 2017) with an emphasis on structural efficiency gained through multimaterial printing in a layer-by-layer fashion with high resolution. In the hybrid chair project, flexible material with a feasible resolution for silicone printing is considered to be robotically deposited directly on the subtractively produced volume with three-dimensional surface tectonics. ...
Buildings consist of subsystems and components which have various functional and performance requirements. This inherent multiplicity demands the design and production of multi-material systems with varying and complementary properties and behaviours. This paper discusses a set of methods of digital design modelling and robotic production of hybridity in various architectural scales. In the case studies, the performance criteria serve as the underlying logic of the design and computation. The projects showcase how programmability and customizability of robotic manufacturing allow for establishing feedback loops from the production to design. Three projects are discussed in detail: a hybrid of flexible cork and rigid polystyrene, a hybrid of structural concrete with an intertwined permanent mould, and a hybrid of soft additively deposited silicone and subtractively produced hard foam. Each project has specific design performance criteria, with which a certain level of geometric complexity and variation is accomplished. Therefore, the research objective is to define and materialize the practical and robotically producible ranges of geometric complexities for each of the proposed methods. Additionally, the customization and development of robotic production setups are discussed. The research concludes that multi-materiality achieved through multimode robotic production methods introduces a higher, on-demand, and performance-driven resolution in building systems.
... The second, is the closed loop structure types most widely used today in architectural design based on load analysis and optimization. Similar to the resulting chair structure from Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan's topology optimization design system and their use of statistical learning to approximate topology optimization material density results (Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan, 2017). (Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan, 2017). ...
... Similar to the resulting chair structure from Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan's topology optimization design system and their use of statistical learning to approximate topology optimization material density results (Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan, 2017). (Bhooshan, Fuchs and Bhooshan, 2017). ...
The common structural forms of today, while optimized and becoming even more so, do not meet the needs for all structural circumstances. This thesis investigates the creation of a new hybrid structural system that merges open branching growth with stable closed growth. This is to allow for diversity of design, alongside structural stability. For this purpose, a space colonization algorithm implementing relative neighborhood graphs was designed, and structurally analyzed using the finite element analysis software Karamba. The convergence of both parametric and organic in this system, influences how the designer can interact with and affect the final form, both in the sense of structural performance and aesthetic appeal. A hypothetical situation, requiring a structure with limited spacing for the support base, intended to support a number of loads spread out in space was conceptualized and a curved funnel volume was formulated as the testing volume for the proposed system. This system is discussed in detail through this experimental application and ran through an optimization using genetic algorithms. As a result, a series of optimum initial parameters for venation structures within the controlled experiment are reached. Nevertheless, these are not inclusive to all structures. The system shows initial positive results at this stage, but requires further experimentation and optimization to reach real-world application.
Topology optimization techniques are typically performed on a design domain discretized with finite element meshes to generate efficient and innovative structural designs. The optimized structural topologies usually exhibit zig-zag boundaries formed from straight element edges. Existing techniques to obtain smooth structural topologies are limited. Most methods are computationally expensive, as they are performed iteratively with topology optimization. Other methods, such as post-processing methods, are applied after topology optimization, but they cannot guarantee to obtain equivalent structural designs, as the volume and geometric features may be changed. This study presents a new method that uses pre-built lookup tables to transform the shape of boundary elements obtained from topology optimization to create smoothed structural topologies. The new method is developed based on the combination of the bi-directional evolutionary structural optimization (BESO) technique and marching geometries to determine structural topologies and lookup tables, respectively. An additional step is used to ensure that the generated result meets a target volume. A variety of 2D and 3D examples are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method. This research shows that the new method is highly efficient, as it can be directly added to the last step of topology optimization with a low computational cost, and the volume and geometric features can be preserved in smoothed topologies. Finite element models are also created for original and smoothed structural topologies to show that the structural stiffness can be significantly enhanced after smoothing.
The didactic and fabrication related value of a geometric form-finding method such as Thrust Network Analysis(TNA) has already been established through RhinoVault. However, it also serves as the origin of our proposition that the objectives of the TNA method are better served within a Mesh Modelling Environment (MME). The main contributions of the paper are:
1.
Incorporating geometric stiffness based form finding methods within an MME.
2.
Articulating the nature and specifying from a designer’s standpoint the requirements of an interactive exploratory MME that methods like TNA explicitly intend to support and
3.
Exemplification of the downstream, usually fabrication related, benefits of combining TNA with an MME.
The paper also describes the current status of the authors’ efforts in the development of a custom software add-in to the MME of Autodesk\(^{\textregistered }\) Maya to demonstrate the said benefits.