Background and aim:
Masonry/Earthy structures can be made with sustainable materials while offering strong structural properties, especially if designed as compression-only structures. Optimal masonry structures might take complex geometric shapes that present architectural design and structural validation challenges. We aim to develop computational methods & tools for automatic generation of valid structural forms.
Research question:
- How to computationally generate valid designs for compression-only brick/masonry structures?
Design objective:
- To design and prototype a topology optimization tool for designing masonry structures.
Methods:
- Topology Optimization (req. Calculus, Linear Algebra, etc.)
- Computational Topology & Geometry
- Finite Element Method
- Computer Programming (Python)