BUILDING BLOCK APPROACH TO SUPPORT THE DECISION-MAKING PROCESS IN STRUCTURE DESIGN: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

A Building Block Approach design strategy is used in this work to develop a multi-material elevator base, starting from coupon-level tests and reaching the component level. Adhesives and glass-fiber composites are characterized and a multi-material bonded element is constructed in order to conduct the design process towards the best possible option. Once the structure is designed, the elevator base is subjected to loadings at different levels in order to evaluate its structural integrity. The proposed design-by-validation process allows to reach an optimum structure, where its components are validated during the process and not only after the preliminary design is completed. This methodology allows a proper decision-making process and enhances the obtained result as well as optimizing time and cost to reach a component that fulfils the requirements, reducing the number of design attempts to reach final products. Correlation between simulations and experimental results show that the proposed criteria can be used to consistently predetermine the damage load and its location, especially when products of lower requirement or fewer reliability concerns are designed. The proposed method also allows failure type discrimination and gives structural behavior information, which might be interesting for further steps in the design process. As a result of the methodology application in the study case, a 50 % weight reduction is obtained in an elevator base structure, where the design is completely validated by component level tests, ensuring a proper load-bearing capacity. Keywords: Design process, Building Block Approach, Multi-material structures, Acoustic Emissions