Shape optimization of hanging structure using the concept of Biomimics

Abstract

In the field of construction industry there has been a lot of newly adopted technology, one among that is hanging structures. Hanging structures can help reduce a lot of space as there are no direct columns supporting the sub structure and super structure. The usage of construction materials can be reduced thus making it economical compared to conventional buildings. The structural stability of hanging buildings depends on its shape and size. This idea led to incorporating the concept of bio mimics for optimizing the efficient shape of hanging structure from weaver bird’s nest. Bio mimics is the concept of emulating and iterating any naturally existing organism or element, it is the process of mimicking either the shape or mechanism of any naturally existing element. The weaver bird’s nest is lightweight in nature and also structurally stable against gravity and wind load. Two conventional hanging structure of Rectangle and Octagonal shape were selected for this study. The material adopted for numerical investigation using finite element software Abaqus v 6.14 is ferrocement because of its lightweight nature. The structure is hanged with the help of a connection wire which is hooked into it and a beam column that is fixed at bottom. The models are analyzed under the application of gravity, wind, live load for a fixed penetration length and by varying the diameter of the connection wire. Also, the hanging structure bio-mimicked from the shape of weaver bird’s nest is modeled and analyzed by applying same loading and boundary condition. The structural stability of conventional hanging structure is then compared to that of bio-mimicked hanging structure in terms of stress and deformation. From the results it is observed that bio-mimicked hanging structure is more stable compared to that conventional hanging structure.