Optimizing Mesh Sizes of Thin Shells Using Biomimicry for a Sustainable Solution

Abstract

Nature always has the ability to offer various solutions in day-to-day life of humans in various fields of engineering and science. The term biomimicry refers to the process of adopting solutions from nature to solve complicated problems that refers to analysing the environment for sustainable solutions. This concept is used in various fields of engineering and science. This concept is emerging now in the field of construction also. Biomimics concept is used in analysing the behaviour of structural elements which forms a symbiosis between the environment and construction. In the field of construction, thin shell structures are lightweight structures that are preferred as roof elements for covering high spans and also gives an aesthetic appearance. In this study, three different shapes like spherical with different rise to span ratios, circular and elliptical are considered. The concept of reflecting the human skull shape into thin shell structures was considered, because the reflection from the environment helps in solving the complicated problems of both engineering and sciences. This study focused on the mesh convergence study for numerical analysis using Ansys 18.1 software. The parameters of the thin shells such as thickness, span and rise were taken from the geometrical characteristics of scanned human skull models in comparison with the standard skull models. From the results, mesh sizes were optimized for the three different shapes considered and also predicted the most efficient model. These results were obtained based on the equivalent stress in comparison with the theoretical stresses of the respective models. This study inspires the naturally available forms in the environment to incorporate it in the field of construction and technology for a sustainable solution.