Rule-based topology finding of patterns towards multi-objective structural design

Oval R., Mesnil R., Van Mele T., Block P. and Baverel O.
Proceedings of the IASS Symposium 2019
Barcelona
2019

Design of patterns involves meeting multiple objectives regarding architecture, engineering and construction. Form finding allows to explore the geometrical design space defined by the topology of the pattern and to optimise a geometry to meet these objectives. This research introduces rule-based topology finding for the exploration of singularities in quad-based mesh patterns by introducing a strip grammar. This grammar allows to generate and combine multiple topologies, and therefore, multiple geometrical design spaces with qualitatively different parameters. Applying rules to create hybrid topologies based on single-objective topologies that are heuristically or algorithmically generated, allows exploring hybrid geometrical design spaces in order to meet trade-offs between multiple design objectives. This research opens a new family of rule-based topology-optimisation methods that allow tackling multiple objectives that can relate to statics as well as fabrication, construction and other design aspects.