Structural Optimization of Gridshells

Gridshells are often defined as structures that have the shape and rigidity of a double curvature shell but they consist of a grid and not a continuous surface. They are obtained by elastic deformation of a two-way grid initially flat. This paper presents a method to generate a gridshell on an imposed shape and imposed boundary conditions. A numerical tool based on the compass method is developed. It is then coupled with genetic algorithms to optimize the gridshell by minimizing the curvature in bars in order not to break the bars during the construction. Examples of application of this method are shown.