Technology Category
- Sensors - Temperature Sensors
- Wearables - Exoskeletons
Applicable Industries
- Buildings
- Construction & Infrastructure
Applicable Functions
- Procurement
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Building Automation & Control
- Structural Health Monitoring
About The Customer
The customer in this case study is the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA). LAVA incorporates patterns of nature organization with future technologies to evolve structures and achieve more efficient architectures with less material. LAVA strives to explore and create new forms of design that enhances reality and reflects the environment in every architectural project. LAVA has completed various projects ranging from installations to urban centers, and furniture to airports. The Bionic Tower is a symbol of LAVA’s visions of tomorrow’s architecture. The design unifies nature’s organization system with advanced computing technology, to achieve an architectural expression of ultimate lightness, efficiency, and sophistication.
The Challenge
The Bionic Tower, a high-rise tower proposal in Abu Dhabi designed by the Laboratory for Visionary Architecture (LAVA), is a symbol of LAVA’s visions of tomorrow’s architecture. The design unifies nature’s organization system with advanced computing technology, to achieve an architectural expression of ultimate lightness, efficiency, and sophistication. The structural expression of this architecture is a proposed organic exoskeleton which acts to structurally stabilize the building. The major challenge was to generate a unique structural form that is lightweight and organic in appearance in order to achieve the free-form exoskeleton structure.
The Solution
James Kingman, a graduate of the School of Civil Engineering Master Degree program at the University of Leeds, took the geometry of the CAD model provided by LAVA and created his own finite element model using Altair HyperWorks. Loading and boundary conditions were applied to the model representing gravity and environmental loading along with idealized foundation support. He conceptualized the building structure as a central core braced by the external exoskeleton. He undertook a series of studies using Optistruct, Altair's structural analysis and optimization solver, to investigate how topology optimization could be used to develop the design of the exoskeleton structure. The entire building envelope was defined as a designable domain in the topology optimization. A sensitivity study was undertaken and it was found that finite elements with a nominal size of approximately one meter produced satisfactory results. The automatic mesh generation process created a mesh composed of approximately 100,000 finite elements.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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