Actuation Characteristics of Basic Body Plans for Soft Modular Pneubotics in Architecture

The article examines the actuation characteristics of different basic structural schemes—basic body plans—for soft modular pneubotics in architecture are investigated. Eight basic body plans are translated from abstract expressions into their corresponding modular structures and (re)constructed in their physical form using up to 12 soft unit elements in the shape of a cube. Reconstructed basic body plans are then examined through a qualitative analysis of their ability to actuate and change the shape of the structure. Through adaptive manual inflation of an individual element, a group of elements, or all elements at once, motions and transformations are produced and evaluated. The results show that five out of eight basic body plans have higher actuation capacity while three show a less pronounced capacity to change shape. Based on the most pronounced characteristics of the examined basic body plans, design opportunities for potential architectural applications are proposed. These include structures that can self-erect, lift, tilt, bend, change thickness, curvature, etc. What is also shown is that basic body plans could be combined into one complex structural body.

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Hydrocerussite-related minerals and materials: structural principles, chemical variations and infrared spectroscopy

Acta Crystallographica Section B Structural Science Crystal Engineering and Materials ◽

10.1107/s2052520618000768 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 74 (2) ◽

pp. 182-195 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Oleg Siidra ◽

Diana Nekrasova ◽

Wulf Depmeier ◽

Nikita Chukanov ◽

Anatoly Zaitsev ◽

...

Keyword(s):

White Lead ◽

Synthetic Analogue ◽

Lead Carbonate ◽

Electron Pairs ◽

Synthetic Materials ◽

Structural Principles ◽

Basic Lead Carbonate ◽

Complex Structural ◽

Modular Structures ◽

First Time

White lead or basic lead carbonate, 2PbCO3·Pb(OH)2, the synthetic analogue of hydrocerussite Pb3(OH)2(CO3)2, has been known since antiquity as the most frequently used white paint. A number of different minerals and synthetic materials compositionally and structurally related to hydrocerussite have been described within the last two decades. Herein, a review is given of general structural principles, chemical variations and IR spectra of the rapidly growing family of hydrocerussite-related minerals and synthetic materials. Only structures containing a hydroxo- and/or oxo-component,i.e.which are compositionally directly related with hydrocerussite and `white lead', are reviewed in detail. An essential structural feature of all the considered phases is the presence of electroneutral [PbCO3]0cerussite-type layers or sheets. Various interleaved sheets can be incorporated between the cerussite-type sheets. Different sheets are stacked into two-dimensional blocks separated by the stereochemically active 6s2lone electron pairs on Pb2+cations. Minerals and synthetic materials described herein, together with a number of still hypothetical members, constitute a family of modular structures. Hydrocerussite, abellaite and grootfonteinite can be considered to constitute a merotype family of structures. The remaining hydrocerussite-related structures discussed are built on similar principles, but are more complex. Structural architectures of somersetite and slag phase from Lavrion, Attica, Greece, are unique for oxysalt mineral structures in general. Thus, the whole family of hydrocerussite-related phases can be denoted as a plesiotype family of modular structures. The crystal structures of hydrocerussite from Merehead quarry, Somerset, England, and of its synthetic analogue, both determined from single crystals, are reported here for the first time. The results of the infrared (IR) spectroscopy show that this method is useful for distinguishing several different minerals related to hydrocerussite and their synthetic analogues.

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X-ray microtomography

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100107058 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 998-999

Author(s):

H.W. Deckman ◽

B.F. Flannery ◽

J.H. Dunsmuir ◽

K.D' Amico

Keyword(s):

Computed Tomography ◽

Internal Structure ◽

Imaging Technique ◽

Three Dimensional ◽

Tissue Structure ◽

Individual Element ◽

X Ray ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Panoramic Imaging ◽

Three Dimensional Images

We have developed a new X-ray microscope which produces complete three dimensional images of samples. The microscope operates by performing X-ray tomography with unprecedented resolution. Tomography is a non-invasive imaging technique that creates maps of the internal structure of samples from measurement of the attenuation of penetrating radiation. As conventionally practiced in medical Computed Tomography (CT), radiologists produce maps of bone and tissue structure in several planar sections that reveal features with 1mm resolution and 1% contrast. Microtomography extends the capability of CT in several ways. First, the resolution which approaches one micron, is one thousand times higher than that of the medical CT. Second, our approach acquires and analyses the data in a panoramic imaging format that directly produces three-dimensional maps in a series of contiguous stacked planes. Typical maps available today consist of three hundred planar sections each containing 512x512 pixels. Finally, and perhaps of most import scientifically, microtomography using a synchrotron X-ray source, allows us to generate maps of individual element.

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