Fiber-Reinforced Polymers in Freeform Structures: A Review
Metadatos
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MDPI
Materia
Fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites Freeform structures Bionic structures Biomimetics Architectural geometry Double-curved surfaces Form-finding Static equilibrium
Fecha
2021-10-16Referencia bibliográfica
Moskaleva, A.; Safonov, A.; Hernández-Montes, E. Fiber-Reinforced Polymers in Freeform Structures: A Review. Buildings 2021, 11, 481. [https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings11100481]
Resumen
This article is a survey discussing the application of fiber-reinforced polymer composites in
freeform structures and their impact on the design and shape generation process. The analysis of
case studies showed that the use of FRP composites not only helps to overcome some challenges in
the construction of objects with complex geometry, but also creates brand new types of structures and
design approaches. On the other hand, there is a problem—although FRP materials are frequently
used in construction, the shapes of structures and design methods are often traditional and are simply
copied from materials such as wood, concrete, and steel. FRP composites have been applied in civil
engineering for several decades, since the 1960s, as building envelopes, façade skins, load-bearing
structures, and internal and external reinforcement. The article aims to analyze this accumulated
experience and to explore the role of FRP materials in the design of buildings with free, complex,
fluid, and organic shapes. A new classification of freeform composite structures is proposed. They
are classified in this article according to the methodology applied at the conceptual design stage:
structures created by using a geometric approach, a form-finding (equilibrium) approach, or a
biomimetic approach. Each approach is described in its own separate section, with a thorough
literature and state-of-the-art review.