Full-Scale Isogeometric Topology Optimization of Cellular Structures Based on Kirchhoff-Love Shells

Cellular thin-shell structures are widely applied in ultralightweight designs due to their high bearing capacity and strength-to-weight ratio.In this paper,a full-scale isogeometric topology optimization(ITO)method based on Kirchhoff-Love shells for designing cellular tshin-shell structures with excellent damage tolerance ability is proposed.This method utilizes high-order continuous nonuniform rational B-splines(NURBS)as basis functions for Kirchhoff-Love shell elements.The geometric and analysis models of thin shells are unified by isogeometric analysis(IGA)to avoid geometric approximation error and improve computational accuracy.The topological configurations of thin-shell structures are described by constructing the effective density field on the controlmesh.Local volume constraints are imposed in the proximity of each control point to obtain bone-like cellular structures.To facilitate numerical implementation,the p-norm function is used to aggregate local volume constraints into an equivalent global constraint.Several numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.After simulation and comparative analysis,the results indicate that the cellular thin-shell structures optimized by the proposed method exhibit great load-carrying behavior and high damage robustness.

Reinforcement by polyurethane to stiffness of air-supported fabric formwork for concrete shell construction

By spraying concrete on inner surface,air-supported fabric structures can be used as formwork to construct reinforced concrete shell structures.The fabric formwork has the finished form of concrete structure.Large deviation from the desired shape of concrete shells still remains as central problem due to dead weight of concrete and less stiffness of fabric formwork.Polyurethane can be used not only as a bonding layer between fabrics and concrete but also as an additional stiffening layer.However,there is little research on mechanical behaviors of the polyurethane shell structure.This paper presents experimental studies on an inflated fabric model with and without polyurethane,including relief pressure tests,vertical loading tests and horizontal loading tests.Experimental results show that the additional polyurethane layer can significantly enhance the stiffness of the fabric formwork.Compared with the experiment,a numerical model using shell layered finite elements has a good prediction.The reinforcement by polyurethane to improve stiffness of air-supported fabric formwork is expected to be considered in the design and construction of the concrete shell,especially dealing with the advance of shape-control.