Structural Optimization of Free-Form Grid Shells

In the 21st century, as free-form design gains popularity, free-form grid shells are becoming a universal structural solution, enabling merger of structure and façade into a single layer – a skin [1]. This paper shows some of the results of a research project concerned with the optimization of grid structures over some predefined free form shape, with the goal of generating a stable and statically efficient structure. It shows how combining design and FEM software in an iterative, Genetic Algorithms based, optimization process, stress and displacements in grid shell structures can be significantly reduced, whereby material can be saved and stability enhanced.