Canopy – Doubly Curved Folded Plate Structure

Abstract

The combination of folded plate structures and modern high performance materials like Textil Reinforced Concrete (TRC) offers new possibilities for the construction of very filigree and lightweight structures. Prefabricated oricrete plate elements can be transformed into complex three-dimensional shapes by folding without a laborious construction of curved formworks. In order to exploit the design space within the envisioned technology, methods for targeted design and efficient manufacturing are required. The methodology involves form-finding, material characterization, simulation of folding process including transient force flow, production procedures and concepts, and assessment of structural performance.

Within the present paper, we used this method in combination with the modeling tool oricreate to produce a double curved folded plate structure. The design was based on the Yoshimura crease pattern. The folding simulation for form finding was done using an optimization problem with the potential energy of gravity as a goal function and rigid foldability as an equality constraint. The technical control of the folding process was exploiting the hanging-cloth principle applied for form finding. The load bearing behavior was simulated using two approaches and tested. With photogrammetry, the deflections were measured and deviations from the numerical simulations were examined.