School of Architecture and Planning

 

many of you are using lightweight tension structures.

on the tensinet website (http://www.tensinet.com) you can find links to design and engineering firms working with fabric.
more interestingly, in the "Designing Tensile Structures" section ( http://www.tensinet.com/library.php?section=Designing_Tensile_Structures) you find some papers and presentations with lots of examples. these references might be very inspirational to imagine correct details. i especially recommend:
- tensinetsymposiumlast.pps (very big... but a lot of nice detailing examples)
- understanding tensile forms.pdf

good luck with your project and all other deadlines you have to work towards!!
ph

 

 

hey all,

office hours from 5pm to 7pm today... come by with all your remaining questions about the preliminary calculations.

for those of you doing tensile structures, you can download a demo version of the program cadisi here: http://www.technet-gmbh.de/english/Frame-main/specialization/arch_engineering/products/isimem_cadisi/arch_engin_products_cadisi.htm
this program is the design module of the form-finding/ analysis program for tensile structures, EASY. it is used a lot in practice...
it might help you visualizing and understanding these complex three-dimensional equilibrium systems.

for those of you using arches (and even trusses), it might be interesting to use the simple parametric drawing software cabri.
you can download a demo version here: http://www.cabri.com/v2/pages/en/downloads_cabri2plus.php
the program allows you to construct interactive graphical constructions (similar to those in Active Statics), so that you can explore
different solutions/shapes easily without having to redraw the funicular construction every single time
for some tutorials on making these constructions in cabri: http://web.mit.edu/masonry/interactiveThrust

these programs might be interesting to refine your designs later...
let me know if you need help using them.

see you later,
ph

 

 

yo,

the pics i took (send an email if you want the originals...): http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/beam_04-09-07_web/
the excel sheets: http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/beam_excel/

i'll be having office hours from 5pm to 7(-ish)pm today...

ph

 

 

hello,

things not to forget:
1. tomorrow you are having a midterm for 4.440 from 9:30am to 11am;
2. bring your calculator and rolling ruler;
3. the exam is in 3-343 (note: not the usual room).

some errors have been found in the solution of the review problems:
1. bar 34 of the truss in question 3 is in compression;
2. bar A2 has the same value as bars 23 and 34, so 2.89 kips and not 8.66 kips;
3. the maximum tensile force in 3.c. should have been 4.33kips and not 3.75 kips.

thanks for pointing these out!

see you tomorrow morning,
ph

 

 

hey,

we saw some nice columns being crushed today... very nice work!!

download your group's excel sheet (with the load - displacement curve of your column) from
http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/column07/excel/

01 = the jolly green giant
02 = frank
03 = "cassandra/elizabeth"
04 = the chinese baby trap
05 = totally tubular
06 = banana
07 = the cat attack
08 = tom thumb
09 = please, don't die
10 = the ??? g'bu (sorry forgot the adjective... great?)
11 = yulishu
12 = the MAAAAAAN
13 = "randall/jose"
14 = "david"

two picture pages of some serious structural action!!
- column testing:   http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/columns_03-05-07_web/
- straw and string exercise:   http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/straws_02-12-07_web/ 

if you want my pics in their original format, you can download them at
http://web.mit.edu/ph_block/Public/column07/pics/columns_03-05-07/

wednesday there will be a special-edition-office-hours : "column report" (5-7pm, 3-402)

good luck with your reports,

ph