A topic that is becoming present more and more, inter alia in the building industry, is sustainable construction adapted to the needs of nature. One possibility is the implementation of the efficient principle of lightweight construction, for example by following Frei Otto�s structural principle of cable-nets. Hereby, an impressive connection exists between form, construction, load-bearing and deformation behavior. To ensure an optimal load transfer of the minimal, optimally utilized material, a form finding has to occur. Geometric and static aspects are regarded and a moment-free surface in equilibrium is generated. In the beginning, this process was carried out with experimental methods but due to a lack of scalability of the physical models to arbitrary scales, computational methods were strived for. Therefore, in 1972, during the construction of the Olympic stadium in Munich, Klaus Linkwitz and Hans-J�rg Schek developed the force-density method, which enables a linearization of the form finding process. In the context of this thesis, after a derivation of this method, the implementation and validation of a force-density truss is conducted in Rhinoceros, with the help of Grasshopper and C#. Using this plug-in, a concept for two cable-net constructions for the main campus of the Technical University Munich is created, on the basis of which the advantages of the force-density method are devised. Due to the linear connection between the coefficients of the stiffness matrix and the system coordinates, a fast, stable and illustrative computation can be performed. After a completed form finding, the values of the cable forces, tensions and elongations can be established directly. In contrast to that, disadvantages and further developments are discussed. By determining additional boundary conditions, the force-density method can be expanded to a nonlinear calculation. However, the force densities already have to be defined in an appropriate range as an input parameter. Because of that, assumptions about the resulting form changes have to be made and iterative adjustments of the values during the computation process might be necessary. Nowadays, the force-density method has been expanded to the form-finding of membranes and tensegrity structures and was used as basis for the development of the Updated Reference Strategy. Due to such developments, an increased user-friendliness and a wider range of applications of the method is achieved, whereby the realization of near-natural and resource-friendly construction should be facilitated.
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A topic that is becoming present more and more, inter alia in the building industry, is sustainable construction adapted to the needs of nature. One possibility is the implementation of the efficient principle of lightweight construction, for example by following Frei Otto�s structural principle of cable-nets. Hereby, an impressive connection exists between form, construction, load-bearing and deformation behavior. To ensure an optimal load transfer of the minimal, optimally utilized material, a...
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