Timber Grid-shell Structures: form-finding, analysis and optimisation

This thesis aims to provide a set of tools for analysis and design of free-form timber grid-shells. It provides a brief introduction on the relationship between shape and structural behaviour of grid-shells, followed by an introduction to actively-bent structural systems. The design issues are then individuated and three main themes are defined, namely: Form-finding, Structural Analysis and Optimisation. The development and use of a numerical framework, based on a six Degree-of-Freedom (DoF) co-rotational beam-element in conjunction with the Dynamic Relaxation method, has formed the basis, on which a unified procedure for the Form-finding and Structural Analysis tasks are denied. A two-step analysis procedure…