Modeling of Curvilinear Steel Rod Structures Based on Minimal Surfaces

Abstract

The article deals with shaping effective curvilinear steel rod roof structures using genetic algorithms by implementing them for the analysis of various case studies in order to find new and efficient structures with positive characteristics. The structures considered in this article are created on the basis of the Enneper surface and minimal surfaces stretched on four arcs. On the Enneper surface, a single layer grid is used, while on the other surfaces, two-layer ones. The Enneper form structure with four supports and the division into an even number of parts along the perimeter of the covered place proved to be the most efficient, and the research showed that small modifications of the initial base surface in order to adapt the structure to the roof function did not significantly affect its effectiveness. However, the analysis and comparison of single and double-shell rod structures based on minimal surfaces stretched on four arcs have shown that a single-shell structure is much more effective than a double one. The paper considers the theoretical aspects of shaping effective structures, taking their masses as the optimization criterion. The optimization helped to choose the best solutions due to structures’ shapes and topologies. However, the obtained, optimized results can find practical applications after conducting physical tests.

Keywords

• engineering materials
• engineering structures
• optimization
• genetic algorithms
• parametric design
• shaping structures