Topological Design and Optimization of Additively Manufactured Tensile Meshes

Advances in additive manufacturing have availed the possibility to directly fabricate the results of topological optimization processes, especially those carried out by hard-kill methods such as the BESO process. However, a much less established area of research is the use of topological optimization for flexible forms and cable-nets through the use of elastomers in the additive manufacturing of their constituent geometries. Robotic additive manufacturing of cable-net structures with elastomeric material enables methods of topological design and topological optimization which are capable of embedding new formal, behavior, and performance properties in the cable-net material system. These capabilities are demonstrated and discussed through a series of case-studies realized by the authors