Resumen de Diseño en flexión activa con neumáticos recuperados: análisis de la morfología bio-inspirada en la estructura del cactus
This thesis deals with the methodology and development of a case study of biomimicry applied to the architectural design process. The case study integrates aspects of plant biology with architectural design in a theoretical framework that is sensitive to environmental issues. The research focuses on the discovery of biological mechanisms as a source of inspiration in the creative exploration of new technology. Design in biomimicry follows a bottom-up process that starts from the study of a biological model to define the abstraction of the organic mechanism and its technical implementation.
The research maintains the function of the biological model in question and stays within the field of functional biomimetic and biomorphic products. The work process allows the natural dynamics of a specific application to be seen in a human context. The framework enables the discovery of bending- active morphology, an innovative design principle that integrates the structural behaviors of bending and buckling as an alternative to rigid-body configurations and predefined typologies.
The application of the case study assesses the structural support system of live cacti (Chapter 1). It analyzes specimens of the Cactaceae family of the genera Echinopsis and Opuntia, which have lost their mechanical and resistant tissue in favor of non-specialized cells for the storage of liquids. The thesis collects samples, performs field studies and bibliographic analysis to verify the potential of the biological model as a generator of concepts. The abstraction of the organic mechanisms of growth and adaptability enable the separation of the biological model and the discovered principles (Chapter 2). In constructing physical models on a small scale, tire tread is used as the main material and the strip as a basic morphological element. The characteristics of elasticity of the material allow to work in the field of the living fabric of the plant. Mechanical properties of the material are analyzed and the choice to use recovered tires is in keeping with the environmental motivation of the thesis Three spatial configurations are defined and assessed: the sinusoidal mesh, the dome in pre-deformed strips in alternating petals and the dome in pre-deformed strips closed in rings. The morphologies generated are included in the bending-active structures (Chapter 3), which are analyzed according to the deformations of the fibers and the geometric resistance obtained by the aggregation system. The obtained systems are self-organized and/or self-supporting through the balance of internal forces. In parallel, the digital simulation of the three cases (Chapter 4) allows the verification and systematization of the factors that determine the variations of form through the generative design. Laws of transformation are thus established and enable us to differentiate between the implicit and explicit processes that generate the morphology.
Plants are a promising source of inspiration for structures in the field of elasticity. The research proposes the geometry of the strip as a morphological archetype that defines the topology of the system. The implemented strategy follows an algorithmic design that uses the search for repetitive patterns to explore the generative processes. The iteration and deformations applied to the strips identify two morphological groups and three spatial configurations. The interaction of the parts generates new phenomena as emergent properties of the system. And the bio-inspired design process generates bending-active morphology where deformation is an alternative modality to create architectural forms.
Keywords: Biomimetics, Bio-inspiration, Morphology, Bending-active, Generative design, Cactus, Recycling, Tire tread, Tires out of use
