simulation of a deployable structure

Hi all! I'm a student in architectural engineering.
For my thesis I'm designing deployable structures. I have written a code in GH which generates my deployable structures.

My structures are based on grids of equilateral triangles. These grids will be populated with a deployable module to generate the deployable structure.

After giving polylines that define the grid as input the grid will be be generated. In a next step the grid will be populated with the module.The deployment of the structure can be simulated with a slider.

Now here is the problem. The code you find in attachment is the code for a barrel vault structure.
On a certain moment during folding the bars of my structure coincide. Off course, this is not what i want to have in my simulation. I want to diminish the curvature when folding the structure in order to get the modules nicely next to eachother in the folded configuration.

I hope my explanation and question is clear.
greets
Wim

Attachments:

HGR NEW.3dm, 41 KB
HGR SIM.ghx, 742 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rodolfo Santos on December 11, 2010 at 8:21am

Hy Wim

I'm exploring this blog to see if GH could handle a project I received.

I need to find a way to populate equilateral triangles on a Nurbs Srf

So first step is to find way to tessallate that Srf with these equi triangles.

As a base I'm trying to work on an ellipsoid trimmed@ 3/4 with some scripts for paneling but that's not the good direction.

The Srf don't need to be deployable in my case.
Triangles may change in size but need to stay connected.

This sounds possible?

Thanks

Permalink Reply by Chris Tietjen on December 11, 2010 at 6:44pm

Have you looked at the Paneling Tools pluggin for doing this?

Chris

Permalink Reply by Chris Tietjen on December 11, 2010 at 2:15pm

I'm not sure how you would code it but I think that the hinge point would have to be below (or pehaps better language is 'inside') the vertex of the present location. The bent bar in the attached image illustrates this idea vs. your full length bar. The bent bar can line up parallel to the other bars without being coincident while the full length straight bar cannot.

Chris

Attachments:

Deployable_problem.png, 60 KB

Permalink Reply by Chris Tietjen on December 11, 2010 at 8:03pm

For what it's worth I've attached a .rhp pluggin file 'dome_4'. If you load it and run it using the defaults you'll get a geodesic dome with the same pattern that you're working with. I'm not sure that the pluggin can be used to generate an ellipsoidal dome but I think not. I don't have enough experience to say whether GH can do this but I would suspect that it can. Jon Mirtshin of Geometry Gym might have some suggestions about this. I know that one of his pluggins can generate geodesics but I don't remember if they're limited to spherical shapes.

Attachments: