Tensegrity model with skin as tension members

Hi guys,

I have been recently dipping my toes into some of the kangaroo functionality. In a recent study my colleagues and I put a number of blue Pvc pipes into a cylindrical mesh of nylon. After this we pumped some insulating foam into the mould to act as a further compression element to the initial blue rods. At this moment in time I am trying to create a grasshopper script to mirror this material behaviour

I have been playing around with the twist_frames script but it's not exactly what I want. In an ideal world I could create a relatively simple mesh and then have it tighten around the linear elements. This would mean that the initial model is made so that the mesh meets the points before the kangaroo is initialised.

Just to note. This image should be rotated 90 counter clockwise. The model tapers to the end because we weren't able to spray the foam to the bottom this should not be a concern for the script as that is a physical hurdle rather then a digital. Also, the model was hung thought out the process so was not in a state of tensile equilibrium

Attachments:

twist_frames (1).gh, 23 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by nikos tzar on November 26, 2014 at 5:41am

Hello Conor,

I believe the first thing you need to change is the selection of anchor points. You actually want two anchor points per section (except at the first and last sections). Then I believe you can increase the springs' rest length and the number of divisions for the mesh. It is still not the same as in your test but a bit closer.

As a next step for a more realistic result, I would suggest adding a [GasVolume] force and play around with its settings...

Attachments:

twist_frames1-nt.gh, 21 KB

Permalink Reply by Conor Scully on November 27, 2014 at 6:10am

Hi Nikos,

Thanks a million for your help. I have been playing around with it and there are a few things I am still trying to figure out. I would really interested to see if the anchor points could be affected by gravity while still being attached to the grid. Also, It would be interesting if poles could have an effect on the skin so that the length of the skin actually drapes over the pipe in areas.

Conor

Attachments:

twist_frames1nt.gh, 19 KB
TwistedFrame_cs.3dm, 319 KB

Permalink Reply by nikos tzar on November 27, 2014 at 7:30am

Hello Conor,

For the first question I believe that you could use something like TransLock for every set of points (and of course remove them from the anchor points and add a gravity or unary force).

I am not sure I understand what your second statement means. The poles are replaced with a single line in your definition. If you want to have tubes you would have to create mesh pipes and subtract them from your mesh before feeding it to kangaroo (still not sure this is what you are suggesting...)

cheers,

nikos

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