The environment around buildings keeps changing, while the static design solutions of buildings cannot perform well during the whole service life. In order to improve structural performances including strength (i.e. avoid collapse) and serviceability, adaptive structures are likely to establish as one of future trends in both research and application for the built environment. This project aims to synthesize a type of structural joints with variable stiffness capabilities. Stiffness variation is achieved by strategically arranged materials with transduction properties. Shape memory polymers (SMPs) feature large variation of stiffness between a glassy and a rubbery state, which makes them good candidates for application in shape control of adaptive structures. The structures will change themselves into optimal shapes corresponding to different load conditions. However, large shape changes require significant flexibility of the joints because their fixity can affect load-path and shape control. To address this problem, a variable stiffness joint is proposed. During shape/load-path control, the joint reduces its stiffness so that required deformation patterns can be achieved with low actuation energy. After shape control the joint recovers rigidity. Experimental studies showed the potential for application of joints with variable stiffness in adaptive structures.@en

This paper deals with the design, production and monitoring of a bio-composite footbridge with a span of 14 m across the river Dommel in the city of Eindhoven, the Netherlands. The specific bio-composite material that was used for this research is a Natural Fibre Reinforced Bio-Polymer (NFRBP). The goal of the research is to prove that NFRBP can be applied as a load-bearing structure in an outdoor environment. For this purpose, a multidisciplinary team of academic researchers from two universities and from the Centre of Expertise Biobased Economy, together with a manufacturer from the NFRBP industry, have developed a feasible design that could be produced in a short period of time and within a limited budget. The footbridge was designed, built and installed within less than one year. In the two years after the installation of the footbridge, the structural behaviour of the bridge was monitored by means of optical fibre glass strands, integrated within the structure, with the purpose of measuring deformations and change in elasticity that occur over time.@en

The Bio-based composite bridge is a 3TU project which aims to design and realize a 14m span pedestrian bridge made from fibre-reinforced polymers (FRP) that have a high percentage of bio-based content. The bridge will be installed over the river Domel, at the campus of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in the Netherlands. The present paper investigates the design potentials and challenges of bio-based fibre-reinforced polymers, which is a relatively new material in architectural and structural bridge design. Along with the design possibilities of the material, the paper presents the entire design process followed from conceptual stage to detailing, focusing on the evaluation of different structural typologies and the optimization of selected geometry.@en

This paper introduces a new semi-active strategy for vibration control of truss and frame structures equipped with variable stiffness and damping joints which consist of a shape memory polymer (SMP) core reinforced by an SMP-aramid composite skin. When the joints are actuated to the transition temperature through thermal actuation, the SMP core transitions from a glassy to a rubbery state through a viscoelastic region, which causes a stiffness reduction and an increase of damping. The mechanic behavior of the joint can be thought of as transitioning from a moment to a pin connection. This way, it is possible to cause a shift of the structure natural frequencies and to increase damping, which is employed to obtain a significant reduction of the dynamic response. This paper comprises two parts: (1) characterization of a variable stiffness and damping material model through experimental testing; (2) numerical simulations of a truss bridge and a four-story frame, which are equipped with variable stiffness and damping joints. The truss bridge (case A) is subjected to a resonance and a moving load while the four-story frame (case B) is subjected to El Centro earthquake loading. For case A under resonance loading, the dynamic response can be reduced exclusively through a frequency shift and ignoring viscoelastic effects. For case A under moving load and case B under earthquake loading, vibration suppression is mostly caused by the increase of damping due to viscoelastic effects. Control time delays due to joint heating have been included in the analysis. When the joints are actuated to the transition range 55°C–65°C, which is specific to the SMP adopted in this study, the acceleration peak amplitude reduces by up to 95% and 87%, for case A and case B, respectively. For both cases, damping increases by up to 2.2% from undamped conditions (25°C). This work has shown that the adoption of variable stiffness and damping structural joints has great potential to enable a new and effective semi-active control strategy to significantly reduce the structure response under a wide range of dynamic loading conditions.@en

This paper presents numerical and experimental studies on semi-active seismic response control of structures equipped with variable stiffness and damping structural joints. Such adaptive joints, which are comprised of a shape memory polymer (SMP) core reinforced by an SMP-aramid composite skin, function as load-transfer components as well as semi-active control devices. The SMP core material can transition from a glassy to a rubbery state through thermal actuation resulting in a shift of the structural natural frequencies and a parallel increase of damping ratio, which enables a new semi-active control strategy. Control performance has been evaluated on a three-story frame equipped with 12 adaptive joints and subjected to seismic excitations. Full-transient analysis has shown that when the joints are thermally actuated to the transition temperature (65°C), acceleration and base shear are reduced by up to 62% and 65%, respectively. Shake-table tests have been carried out on a 1/10-scale prototype, confirming that through thermal actuation of the adaptive joints the structural damping ratio increases from 2.6% to 11.3% and the first natural frequency shifts by up to 37%. As the structure becomes more flexible, an increase of displacements and interstory drift might occur. However, depending on the seismic excitation, top-story acceleration and base shear are significantly reduced in the range 43%–50% and 35%–51%, respectively. These results confirm that semi-active control through thermal actuation of variable stiffness and damping structural joints is effective to mitigate the structure response under seismic excitation.@en

In recent years, natural disaster and military conflicts forced vast numbers of people to flee their home countries, contributing to the migration crisis we are facing today. According to the UNHCR, the number of forcibly displaced people worldwide reached the highest level since World War II. Post-disaster housing is by nature diverse and dynamic, having to satisfy unique socio-cultural and economical requirements. Currently, however, housing emergencies are tackled inefficiently. Post-disaster housing strategies are characterized by a high economic impact and waste production, and a low adaptability to location-based needs. As an outcome, low quality temporary shelters are provided, which often exceed by far their serving time. Focusing on temporary shelters suitable for the transitioning period between emergency accommodation and permanent housing, TERRA-ink addresses new construction methods that allow for time and cost efficiency, but also for flexibility to adapt to different contexts. TERRA-ink aims to develop a method for layering local soil, by implementing 3D printing technologies. With the aid of such a construction system, the goal is to create durable structures that can be easily de-constructed once they served their purpose. The use of locally sourced materials in combination with additive manufacturing is investigated aiming at reductions in financial investments, resources and human labor, as well as at simplified logistics, low environmental impact and adaptability to different situations and requirements. Such a building system has the potential of combining low-and high-tech technologies, in order to facilitate a fully open and universal solution for large scale 3D-printing using any type of soil.@en

This paper presents experimental testing of a new semi-active vibration control device comprising a shape memory polymer (SMP) core that is reinforced by an SMP-aramid composite skin. This control device works as a load-transfer component that can be integrated into truss and frame structures in the form of a joint. At the material level, thermal actuation from ambient (25 °C) to transition temperature (65 °C) causes a significant 40-fold increase in damping due to viscoelastic effects. At the component level, uniaxial tensile and four-point bending tests have shown that tensile strength depends primarily on the bond strength between the reinforcement skin and the structural element while flexural strength depends on the strength of the reinforcement skin fibers. Through cyclic testing, it has been observed that material viscoelasticity is beneficial to ductility and energy dissipation. When the joint core is actuated to the SMP transition temperature, axial and flexural stiffness decrease by up to 50% and 90%, respectively. The property change at material and component levels enable tuning the frequency and damping ratio at the structure level, which has been successfully employed to mitigate the dynamic response of a 1/10 scale three-story prototype frame under resonance and earthquake loadings.@en

This paper presents design and characterization of a new type of structural joint which can vary its stiffness through actuation. Stiffness variation is employed to control the dynamic response of frame structures equipped with such joints. The joint is made of a shape memory polymer (SMP) core which is reinforced by an SMP-aramid composite skin. A controlled stiffness reduction of the joint core material, induced by resistive heating, results in a shift of the structure natural frequencies. This work comprises two main parts: 1) characterization of material thermomechanical properties and viscoelastic behavior; 2) numerical simulations of the dynamic response of a one-story planar frame equipped with two such variable stiffness joints. The experimental material model obtained through Dynamic Mechanical Analysis has been used to carry out modal and non-linear transient analysis. However, control time delays due to heating and cooling as well as fatigue are not considered in the numerical simulations. Results have shown that through joint stiffness control, the fundamental frequency shifts up to 8.72% causing a drastic reduction of the dynamic response under resonance loading. The SMP-aramid skin is effective to restrain the joint deformation in the activated state while maintaining viscoelastic damping properties.@en

Adaptive design strategies have been employed to improve structural performances in terms of load-bearing efficiency and energetic impact as well as to achieve multi-functionality. In this work, we investigate a passive adaptation strategy that employs variable stiffness in robotically printed materials. This paper focuses on the design and robotic fabrication of a chaise longue that can change shape to function as both recliner and chair depending on user requirements. The approach is unique in the way computational design is linked with robotic production. In this context, the design of the chaise longue is not limited to a formal process, but extends to the synthesis of the material distribution layout in order to achieve the intended functional behaviour.@en

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a digitalisation tool that is widely adopted in construction industry. It is a three-dimensional digital replica of asset(s) such as buildings, which contain architectural information and building details (e.g. dimensions, materials, parts, and components). It has evolved from 2D CAD models (or blueprints) in the past to 3D CAD models embedded with information layers (e.g., construction time sequence or 4D-BIM), resulting in automation in construction. BIM has now been essential in various countries; for example, new UK BIM standards require asset owners to keep and maintain building information. BIM adopts an interoperable concept that can benefit the whole life-cycle assessment (LCA) and circularity of the built environments. Its applications extend to six dimensions (6D) where time sequence, cost and carbon footprint can now be reported in real time. These attributes are essential to stakeholders and critically help reduce any unexpected consumption and waste over the life cycle of a project. This study builds on the development of 6D BIM of an existing building to enrich circular value chains and stakeholder engagement. This paper highlights the development of 6D BIM, and, subsequently, the stakeholder interviews to address challenges, barriers, benefits, and effectiveness of 6D-BIM applications for stakeholder engagements across circular value chains. Snowballing sampling method has been used to identify stakeholder interviews to obtain new insights into the digital valorisation for stakeholder engagement. The outcome of this study will exhibit new insights and practical paradigms for BIM applications in built environments.@en

This paper presents experimental testing of a new type of semi-active variable stiffness and damping control device in the form of an adaptive joint for truss and frame structures. The adaptive joint is made of a shape memory polymer (SMP) core that is reinforced by a SMP-aramid skin. Actuation through resistive heating transitions the SMP core material from a glassy to a rubbery state, which causes a significant stiffness reduction and a parallel increase of damping due to viscoelastic effects. Experimental testing on a 1325 mm x 650 mm x 650 mm three-floor frame is carried out to investigate the capabilities of this new semi-active control device to mitigate the structure dynamic response. The prototype frame is made of 30 aluminum tube elements connected through 12 adaptive joints which have been 3D printed. Stiffness and damping characteristics are controlled independently through PID control using a temperature sensor and a resistive heating wire which are embedded in the core of each joint. A free vibration test is carried out to measure the structure natural frequency and damping change from ambient (25°C) to the transition temperature (65°C). The fundamental frequency shift (reduction) is 27.4% while the structure damping ratio increases from 2.6% to 8.0%. Such a frequency shift and increase of damping allows for a significant reduction of the dynamic response under base excitation. Through thermal actuation of the joints to the transition temperature, acceleration and displacement responses under base excitation reduce by 88% and 78%, respectively.@en

Adaptive structures are defined here as structures capable of counteracting actively the effect of external loads via controlled shape changes and redirection of the internal load path. These structures are integrated with sensors (e.g. strain, vision), control intelligence and actuators. This paper investigates the use of variable stiffness joints in adaptive structures to achieve large shape changes. Large shape changes are employed as a structural adaptation strategy to counteract the effect of the external load. The structure is designed to ‘morph’ into optimal shapes as the load changes. This way the stress can be homogenized avoiding peak demands that occur rarely. Numerical results show that when large shape changes are considered, material mass (and thus embodied energy) reduction is achieved with respect to both adaptive structures limited to small shape changes and optimised passive structures. Embodied energy savings become substantive when shape changes are allowed to go beyond conventional deflection limits. However, large shape changes require significant flexibility of the joints because their fixity can affect load-path and shape control. To address this problem, a variable stiffness joint is proposed. During shape/load-path control, the joint reduces its stiffness so that required deformation patterns can be achieved with low actuation energy. After shape control the joint recovers rigidity. Experimental studies are presented to show the potential for application of joints with variable stiffness in adaptive structures.@en

Adaptive structures are defined here as structures capable of counteracting actively the effect of external loads via controlled shape changes and redirection of the internal load path. These structures are integrated with sensors (e.g. strain, vision), control intelligence and actuators. This paper investigates the use of variable stiffness joints in adaptive structures to achieve large shape changes. Large shape changes are employed as a structural adaptation strategy to counteract the effect of the external load. The structure is designed to ‘morph’ into optimal shapes as the load changes. This way the stress can be homogenized avoiding peak demands that occur rarely. Numerical results show that when large shape changes are considered, material mass (and thus embodied energy) reduction is achieved with respect to both adaptive structures limited to small shape changes and optimised passive structures. Embodied energy savings become substantive when shape changes are allowed to go beyond conventional deflection limits. However, large shape changes require significant flexibility of the joints because their fixity can affect load-path and shape control. To address this problem, a variable stiffness joint is proposed. During shape/load-path control, the joint reduces its stiffness so that required deformation patterns can be achieved with low actuation energy. After shape control the joint recovers rigidity. Experimental studies are presented to show the potential for application of joints with variable stiffness in adaptive structures.@en

This paper presents a new strategy to control the structure dynamic response via a shift of the natural frequencies obtained through using variable stiffness joints. The joints are made of shape memory polymers and are fabricated through 3D printing. Stiffness variation is activated through resistive heating which causes a phase change from a glassy to a rubbery state in order to switch the joint between a ‘locked’ (e.g. a moment connection) and a ‘released’ (e.g. pin) state. This work comprises an experimental and a numerical part: 1) dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) has been carried out to characterize the viscoelastic behavior of a 3D printed SMP specimen; 2) the dynamic response of a 2-floor planar frame equipped with four variable stiffness SMP joints is simulated through transient analysis. Numerical results show that through joint stiffness control, the fundamental frequency shifts up to 19% causing a drastic reduction of the dynamic response under resonance loading. A comparison between variable stiffness joints with viscoelastic and only-elastic behavior shows that viscoelasticity increases mechanical damping up to 4.7 times during the transition phase.@en