Structural performance of flexible freeform panels subjected to wind loads

Abstract

An increased number of hurricanes and tornadoes have been recorded worldwide in the last decade, while research efforts to reduce wind-related damage to structures become essential. Freeform architecture, which focuses on generating complex curved shapes including streamlined shapes, has recently gained interest. This study focuses on investigating the potential of kerf panels, which have unique flexibility depending on the cut patterns and densities, to generate complex shapes for façades and their performance under wind loads. To investigate the kerf panel’s potential capacity against wind loads, static and dynamic analyses were conducted for two kerf panel types with different cut densities and pre-deformed shapes. It was observed that although solid panels result in smaller displacement amplitudes, stresses, and strains in some cases, the kerf panels allow for global and local cell deformations resulting in stress reduction in various locations with the potential to reduce damage due to overstress in structures. For the pre-deformed kerf panels, it was observed that both the overall stress and strain responses in kerf cut arrangements were lower than those of the flat-shaped panels. This study shows the promise of the use of kerf panels in achieving both design flexibility and performance demands when exposed to service loadings. Considering that this newly proposed architectural configuration (design paradigm) for facades could revolutionize structural engineering by pushing complex freeform shapes to a standard practice that intertwines aesthetic arguments, building performance requirements, and material design considerations has the potential for significant practical applications.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

freeform structure / kerfing method / wind load analysis / cladding component

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Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11709-024-1070-6 and is accessible for authorized users.

Acknowledgements

This study is funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) under Award Nos. CMMI 1912823 and 1913688. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations presented in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of NSF. This financial support is greatly appreciated. The finite element analyses were conducted at Texas A&M’s High-Performance Research Computing Center. This support is gratefully acknowledged.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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