Assembly of shells with bi-stable mechanism

Conference paper (2018)

Authors

Y.-C. Chiang Building Services - Architecture and the Built Environment
Sina Mostafavi Architectural Engineering - Architecture and the Built Environment , Digital Architecture - Architecture and the Built Environment
H.H. Bier Digital Architecture - Architecture and the Built Environment
Research Group
Building Services (Architecture and the Built Environment) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2018 Y.-C. Chiang, Sina Mostafavi, H.H. Bier
Shell structure Bi-stable mechanism Reconfigurable assembly Free-form construction Programmable material
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Published Date

2018

Language

English

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Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Department

Architectural Engineering +Technology

Research Group

Building Services

Abstract

Shell structures achieve stability through double curvature, which brings about construction challenges. This paper presents a strategy to design and assemble a panelized shell with a bi-stable mechanism aiming to make the assembly process more efficient. The developed prototype has two states of flat and three-dimensional stable configuration. This reconfiguration is achieved by reconfiguring the flattened surface of a shell into a three-dimensional structure using embedded bi-stable joints. In order to apply this approach on free-form double curved shells, a workflow to translate a shell into its flattened state is developed. Discrete components are connected using bi-stable joints, where each joint has two stable states. Once the joints are mechanically activated, they guide the adjacent components contracting and rotating into the three-dimensional configuration. Initial explorations indicate that an edge of a shell will turn into an isosceles trapezoid in the flattened configuration while a node of a conical mesh will turn into a cyclic quadrilateral in the flattened configuration. The flattening process is demonstrated using a free-form vault, while scaled physical porotypes are 3D printed with PLA and tested. Future studies require exploration into applications with construction materials at larger scales.