A Computational Framework for Interactive Form Finding of Textile Hybrid Structures through Dynamic Topology Control

Textile Hybrid Structures refer to the coupling of tensile formand bendingactive components into a stiffer construct. Several computational frameworks built upon the Dynamic Relaxation method have been developed for interactive explorations of material and geometric properties during form finding. However, efforts are still required when addressing dynamic alterations of topology without completely resetting the simulation. The main problem to face is the data structure design when information is dynamized. In other words, dynamic resizing of topological data without losing consistency of connectivity. As a result, data structure design needs to be considered as a transcendental aspect when looking for increased flexibility and interactivity in form finding. In this paper, we present the development of a computational framework for form-finding textile hybrid structures enabling dynamic explorations of complex topological configurations during solver ́s execution. A so-called evolving network formulation used to model mutable assemblies of interconnected particles is presented as well as the numerical scheme adopted to find the equilibrium state of such structures. The implementation of the framework is further described through the development of ElasticSpace, an interactive form finding tool for textile hybrid structures built with Java.