Structural Optimization through Biomimetic-Inspired Material-Specific Application of Plant-Based Natural Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites (NFRP) for Future Sustainable Lightweight Architecture

Under normal conditions, the cross-sections of reinforced concrete in classic skeleton construction systems are often only partially loaded. This contributes to non-sustainable construction solutions due to an excess of material use. Novel cross-disciplinary workflows linking architects, engineers,...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Timo Sippach, Hanaa Dahy, Kai Uhlig, Benjamin Grisin, Stefan Carosella, Peter Middendorf
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2020-12-01
Series:Polymers
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/12/12/3048
Description
Summary:Under normal conditions, the cross-sections of reinforced concrete in classic skeleton construction systems are often only partially loaded. This contributes to non-sustainable construction solutions due to an excess of material use. Novel cross-disciplinary workflows linking architects, engineers, material scientists and manufacturers could offer alternative means for more sustainable architectural applications with extra lightweight solutions. Through material-specific use of plant-based Natural Fiber-Reinforced Polymer Composites (NFRP), also named <i>Biocomposites</i>, a high-performance lightweight structure with topology optimized cross-sections has been here developed. The closed life cycle of NFRPs promotes sustainability in construction through energy recovery of the quickly generative biomass-based materials. The cooperative design resulted in a development that were verified through a 1:10 demonstrator, whose fibrous morphology was defined by biomimetically-inspired orthotropic tectonics, generated with by the fiber path optimization software tools, namely <i>EdoStructure</i> and <i>EdoPath</i> in combination with the appliance of the digital additive manufacturing technique: Tailored Fiber Placement (TFP).
ISSN:2073-4360