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Robotic Wood Winding for Architectural Structures - Computational Design, Robotic Fabrication and Structural Modeling Methods

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Abstract

Winding processes are known from the fiber composite industry for strength and weight optimized lightweight components. To achieve high resistance and low weight, mainly synthetic materials are used such as carbon or glass fibers, bonded with petrochemical matrices. For the construction industry, these additive processes present a very promising and resource-efficient building technology, yet they are still hardly used with sustainable materials such as natural fibers or timber.The 3DWoodWind research prototype has developed a new generation of additive technologies to wood construction. The modular building system is built with a three-dimensional robotic winding process for material-efficient hollow lightweight components. An AI-controlled design logic enables the intelligent combination and design of modular components into multi-story structures, which may be used in the future to substitute solid wood panels and beams as well as concrete slabs and steel sections.Our current research uses a continuous strip of thin timber veneer, which is a waste product from the plywood industry and therefore, presents a highly sustainable alternative to synthetic fibers usually used in winding, as well as solid timber products known in construction. The veneer’s natural fibers are intact and continuous, and offer high tensile strength. In the presented project, three-dimensional winding processes were developed for material-efficient lightweight components made of wood. The demonstrator presents a modular column and ceiling system, which aims at large scale applications in multi-level structures. Having won an open national design competition for Germany’s ‘ZukunftBau’ Pavilion, a first demonstrator is currently being built to be presented in May 2022, as part of the DigitalBau exhibition. The paper discusses all planning engineering and production processes in detail with particular emphasis on the machine-learning algorithm, which was trained during the design process to facilitate design iterations and future planning with this component-based building system.KeywordsAdditive manufacturingWindingFE-modelingMachine learning

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... In order to verify and implement the use of the developed manufacturing technologies and the resulting lightweight components in a full-scale timber construction, the BBSR Research Prototype 2022 was developed [31]. The structure is an experimental research demonstrator at the interface of digital design principles and automated manufacturing processes. ...
... The horizontal stability of the system is achieved by rigid connections between the column and the slab and between the column and the floor. A detailed description of the structural design approach of the system and the connections is presented in Margariti et al. [31]. ...
... Its deformation was measured at each step and compared with the results from the FE calculation model. This comparison showed the high accuracy of the calibration model [31], proving that the robotic fabrication can successfully reproduce the desired material properties achieved by manual fabrication. ...
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この論文は国立情報学研究所の学術雑誌公開支援事業により電子化されました。
Advancements for the structural application of fiber-reinforced moulded wooden tubes
  • J Wehsener
  • T E Werner
  • J Hartig
  • P Haller