Reconfigurable molds and a fabrication-aware design tool for manufacturing concrete grid structures

The design and manufacturing of concrete elements need to be reconsidered in light of current trends in architectural geometry. Today, there is a movement toward greater customization and adaptability of concrete elements using “reconfigurable formworks” and “additive manufacturing.” Our study approached the issue of fabricating non-standardized concrete elements from the perspective of a “reconfigurable fabrication platform.” Specifically, we developed a method of fabricating geometrically diverse concrete joints by combining flexible pressure-enduring tubes with a rigid mechanism, resulting in an adaptive concrete-casting machine. This platform, which we named “Flexi-node,” can be used in conjunction with a relevant fabrication-aware digital design tool. Users can computationally design and fabricate a great variety of concrete joints using just one mold, with a minimum of material waste and with no distortion from hydrostatic pressure as would typically occur in a fully flexible formwork.

Nanofluid-Enhancing Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Effectiveness with Modified Baffle Architecture

As shell and tube heat exchanger is widely employed in various field of industries, heat exchanger design remains a constant optimization challenge to improve its performance. The heat exchanger design includes not only the architectural geometry of either the shell and tube configuration or the additional baffles but also the working fluid. The baffle design including the baffle angle and the baffle distance has been understood as key parameter controlling the overall heat exchanger effectiveness. In addition, a room of improvement is open by substituting the conventional working fluid with the nanomaterials-enriched nanofluid. The nanomaterials, e.g. Al2O3, SiO2, TiO2, increases the thermal conductivity of the working fluids, and hence, the more efficient heat transfer process can be achieved. This chapter provide an insight on the performance improvement of shell and tube heat exchanger by modifying the baffle design and utilizing nanofluids.

Cumulative, Collaborative, Disruptive Architectural geometry in research, practice, and its imminent mainstream future

Solutions to the significant social, ecological and economic opportunities and problems of 21st century architecture and urbanism involve a vast number of variables. These solutions will require the use of data-driven technologies to acquire physical and social information of sites and consumer communities, digital technologies to design for the briefs so acquired and robotic manufacturing to deliver the designed solutions effectively.