Design validation and calculation of a self-supporting and foldable solar panel system using FEA

The potential for the production of green energy in the Netherlands is insufficiently utilized. The cause for this problem is the insufficient bearing capacity of industrial roofs for the installation of solar panels using ballast. This required ballast exceeds the bearing capacity of the roof structure, or exceeds the bearing capacity of the...

Pavilions in the Woods: The Unintended Beauty of Dealing With Explosives

With the strong influx of baby boomers now in hitting their elderly stage and advancements in medicine and health care, we as a population can now become much older. This huge increase of elderly require assistance and care, in such an amount we as a society can’t cope with. Fewer people need to take care of more. Elderly will now have to live...

Generating sparse self-supporting wireframe models for 3D printing using mesh simplification

Wireframe models are becoming a popular option in 3D printing. Generating sparse wireframe models using classic mesh simplification methods leads to models that require a lot of support structures in the layer-upon-layer additive process. In this paper we present a mesh simplification method that takes into account the overhang angle....

Topology optimization of 3D self-supporting structures for additive manufacturing

The potential of topology optimization to amplify the benefits of additive manufacturing (AM), by fully exploiting the vast design space that AM allows, is widely recognized. However, existing topology optimization approaches do not consider AM-specific limitations during the design process, resulting in designs that are not self-supporting....

Topology optimization for additive manufacturing with controllable support structure costs

Advances in additive manufacturing (AM) allow economical production of components with unprecedented geometric complexity. This offers exciting opportunities for innovative designs, and particularly topology optimization has been identified as a key technique to fully exploit the capabilities of AM. However, also AM involves manufacturing...

Mineral wool facade integration

The report of Graduation Project from Jasper Overkleeft, is a quest for a new facade material with the focus on a mono material facade. This will contain that all the functions of the facade will be integrated in one material. It means that what normally a cavity wall will do, protect the inner climate from cooling or heating too much, keeping...