After reading up on our blog Mohammad Yazdi, a research student at the University of Tehran, was enthusiastic about sharing his biomimetic research as part of the masters of architecture program he is currently enrolled in. His project involves researching the form of the walnut shell, specifically calculating the optimal loading conditions for the particular shape if applied to architecture. VERY technical images and more descriptions below…
Mohammad explains the project in his own words as so:
“I modeled the walnut shell by help of a 3d object modeler and then made
two different models by covering the boundary of the shell with circular
and parabolic arches. The model’s (walnut shell,circular model and parabolic
model) was studied under different loading conditions (self weight, point
load, uniform load, etc) and it was shown that the walnut shell is
optimized for point load and dynamic loads (free vibration for closed plan
shells with interior partitions). I have also studied on a parametric arch
which was driven from cutting the shell at the mid point. The arch was
introduced as a double curvature NURBS curve (Bezier curves) which will
have a similar form to the walnut shell section under point load. Also by
analyzing the shell with a FE program it was shown that the walnut shell
makes two local maximum displacement areas under self weight which will
decrease the maximum displacement of the shell under point load when
compared with the two possible models.”
Mohammad was so kind to share with us some of his research images that show the results of the various test that were run.
