Volumetric stress analysis / form finding with meshes

Hi,

I'm looking for a tool that will help me analyze arbitrary closed meshes of structural elements in order to find load paths and areas of stress for material optimization. Is this something that karamba would be suited for? I am essentially trying to find a 3d version of the 2d example of stress analysis (Figs. 2 & 3 on the karamba front page here) to use with meshed data.

Any help or tips would be much appreciated!

Thanks,

Tom Svilans

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Karamba3D on September 14, 2012 at 8:31am

Hi Tom,

take a look at the second and third example on http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/karamba/page/example-files: they include stress lines, force flow lines and iso lines of double curved meshes.

Best,

Clemens

Permalink Reply by Tom Svilans on September 14, 2012 at 9:32am

Hi Clemens, thanks for the quick reply.

Those still seem to be shell / membrane structures, whereas I'm interested in what goes on inside a closed, watertight mesh. Say if I've modeled a bespoke structural member with a wildly varying cross-section that can't be approximated by using standard cross-sections, and if I'd like to find the force flows within that member, much like you do for the first beam example, would I be able to do that?

I hope that makes sense :)

Best,

Tom

Permalink Reply by Karamba3D on September 17, 2012 at 12:20am

Hi Tom,

for this you either have to apply volume elements or do an approximate analysis by filling the space with beams or shells. Currently Karamba does not contain volume elements.

Best,

Clemens

Permalink Reply by Tom Svilans on September 17, 2012 at 10:55am

Thanks for your help, Clemens. I will continue looking. Quite interested in playing with karamba, though. I'll have to find an opportunity to look a bit closer.

Best,

Tom

Permalink Reply by Ron Shvartsman on October 21, 2012 at 12:16pm

Might Millipede be useful for this?

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/group/millipede

I am fairly certain, this will allow you to find stress and flow lines of 3d water tight meshes. You may have to approximate a volumetric mesh from your column... maybe not with a bit of work.

Hope this helps. Interested to see if millipede does the trick.

RFS

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