Analytical Solutions And Applications For Buckling-Induced Structural Morphing Of Plates And Frames

This thesis is concerned with the application of buckling as an effective strategy for structural morphing in kinetic façades. Two structural forms, (1) rectangular Levy-type plates restrained using point-supports and (2) slender frames subjected to end torsional moments, are selected and comprehensively studied for the development of adaptive shading façade and ventilation control modules. The potential of these systems to achieve large deformations and desired morphogenesis by inducing controlled buckling is established through numerical, experimental and analytical investigations. For both considered structural systems, the buckling problem is first investigated in an analytical framework and exact solutions are derived that describe the buckling behaviour. For the buckling analysis of point-supported plates, the impulse function approach (IFA) and flexibility function approach (FFA) are developed to incorporate discrete point-supports at arbitrary positions to obtain the critical buckling coefficients (Kcr) and buckled shapes. The optimal configurations of the proposed buckling-activated shading or ventilation modules are determined by coupling the analytical solutions or Abaqus numerical modelling with the Matlab optimisation toolbox. Various optimisation algorithms, including particle swarm optimisation (PSO), are utilised in various examples of optimisation analysis. The feasibility of the development of the second structural system (space frames subjected to end torsional moments) as driver for shading or ventilation modules is further studied and validated by experiments. A series of experiments are conducted for the chosen designs to verify the analytical theory and numerical methods, especially the post-buckling behaviour of the structures. Three innovative conceptual designs of shading/ventilation façade components using slender frames are proposed, and their integrations as functioning systems in kinetic facades are visualized