Building timber gridshells with air: Numerical simulations and technique challenges

Liuti, Alessandro; D'Amico, Bernardino; Pugnale, Alberto

Abstract

Construction has always been a fascinating and challenging aspect of timber gridshells. So far, only three techniques have successfully been used for the erection of such structures: the so-called ‘lift-up’, ‘push-up’ and ‘ease-down’ (Quinn et al. 2015). Inflatable Membrane Technology is here proposed as a new solution and is tested by means of numerical simulations on a simple case study. As a matter of fact, IMT reduces the timber lath’s stress during erection and guarantees an optimal shape control. It also seems suitable to post-form more challenging gridshell geometries, but this aspect still deserves further investigations and experiments.

Citation

Liuti, A., D'Amico, B., & Pugnale, A. (2016, July). Building timber gridshells with air: Numerical simulations and technique challenges. Presented at International Conference Structures and Architecture 2016

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: International Conference Structures and Architecture 2016
• Start Date: Jul 27, 2016
• End Date: Jul 29, 2016
• Acceptance Date: Feb 15, 2016
• Publication Date: Jul 11, 2016
• Deposit Date: Aug 1, 2016
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis
• Book Title: Structures and Architecture: Beyond their Limits
• ISBN: 9781138026513
• Keywords: Timber gridshells, Inflatable Membrane Technology, timber lathe stress,
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/322111