Design and volume optimization of space structures

Caigui Jiang, Chengcheng Tang, Hans-Peter Seidel, Peter Wonka

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

We study the design and optimization of statically sound and materially efficient space structures constructed by connected beams. We propose a systematic computational framework for the design of space structures that incorporates static soundness, approximation of reference surfaces, boundary alignment, and geometric regularity. To tackle this challenging problem, we first jointly optimize node positions and connectivity through a nonlinear continuous optimization algorithm. Next, with fixed nodes and connectivity, we formulate the assignment of beam cross sections as a mixed-integer programming problem with a bilinear objective function and quadratic constraints. We solve this problem with a novel and practical alternating direction method based on linear programming relaxation. The capability and efficiency of the algorithms and the computational framework are validated by a variety of examples and comparisons.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1-14
Number of pages14
JournalACM Transactions on Graphics
Volume36
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 21 2017

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