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Design and volume optimization of space structures

Published: 20 July 2017 Publication History

Abstract

We study the design and optimization of statically sound and materially efficient space structures constructed by connected beams. We propose a systematic computational framework for the design of space structures that incorporates static soundness, approximation of reference surfaces, boundary alignment, and geometric regularity. To tackle this challenging problem, we first jointly optimize node positions and connectivity through a nonlinear continuous optimization algorithm. Next, with fixed nodes and connectivity, we formulate the assignment of beam cross sections as a mixed-integer programming problem with a bilinear objective function and quadratic constraints. We solve this problem with a novel and practical alternating direction method based on linear programming relaxation. The capability and efficiency of the algorithms and the computational framework are validated by a variety of examples and comparisons.

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  1. Design and volume optimization of space structures

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    cover image ACM Transactions on Graphics
    ACM Transactions on Graphics  Volume 36, Issue 4
    August 2017
    2155 pages
    ISSN:0730-0301
    EISSN:1557-7368
    DOI:10.1145/3072959
    Issue’s Table of Contents
    Permission to make digital or hard copies of all or part of this work for personal or classroom use is granted without fee provided that copies are not made or distributed for profit or commercial advantage and that copies bear this notice and the full citation on the first page. Copyrights for components of this work owned by others than ACM must be honored. Abstracting with credit is permitted. To copy otherwise, or republish, to post on servers or to redistribute to lists, requires prior specific permission and/or a fee. Request permissions from [email protected]

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    Publication History

    Published: 20 July 2017
    Published in TOG Volume 36, Issue 4

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    Author Tags

    1. architectural geometry
    2. optimization
    3. static equilibrium
    4. structural optimization

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    • (2023)A Temporal Coherent Topology Optimization Approach for Assembly Planning of Bespoke Frame StructuresACM Transactions on Graphics10.1145/359210242:4(1-13)Online publication date: 26-Jul-2023
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