Form-finding and construction of ice composite shell structures

Form-finding and construction of ice composite shell structures

Wu, Yue (Harbin Institute of Technology)
Liu, Xiuming (Harbin Institute of Technology)
Li, Q. (TU Delft Structural Design & Mechanics)
Chen, Boxuan (Harbin Institute of Technology)
Luo, Peng (Harbin Institute of Technology)
Pronk, Arno (Eindhoven University of Technology)
Mergny, Elke (Université de Liège)

Bögle, Annette (editor)
Grohmann, Manfred (editor)

2017-09

By using inflatable moulds and then spraying cellulose-water mixture, one ice dome and two ice towers were built in Harbin in December 2016. During the whole process, form-finding of the inflatable moulds as well as the construction of these ice composite shell structures are very important for the final results.
The mould for the ice dome structure was a result of the manipulation of a synclastic membrane with a rope net. The mould for the ice tower structure consisted of some anticlastic surfaces. Form-finding of the inflatable moulds was conducted by the parametric tool “EasyForm” which is a self-programed plug-in in Grasshopper based on Vector Form Intrinsic Finite Element method.
In a low-temperature work environment (-10 ℃ and below), the ice shell structures were constructed on the inflatable moulds. The cellulose-water mixture was sprayed in thin layers continuously and uniformly in order to make the surface of a shell of cellulose-reinforced ice. The construction process is introduced detailedly in this paper.

Ice composite shell
form-finding
Vector Form Intrinsic Finite Element
construction
inflatable mould
cellulose-reinforced ice

http://resolver.tudelft.nl/uuid:3420c6e4-5e1a-4ae8-b1a1-54481cffee6e

Proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium 2017

IASS Annual Symposium 2017, 2017-09-25 → 2017-09-28, Hamburg, Germany

Institutional Repository

conference paper

© 2017 Yue Wu, Xiuming Liu, Q. Li, Boxuan Chen, Peng Luo, Arno Pronk, Elke Mergny