Toward Structural Form Generation using Graphic Statics

In the early nineteenth century, graphic statics was introduced by Bow and Culmann in dealing with equilibrium equations. This graphic statics relying on the simple concept that the force polygon is closed when the structure is stable has strong points over many other structural analysis methods especially in two points: (1) visualization of member forces and (2) easy generation of design alternatives. However, it requires a lot of manual tasks when we draw a force polygon for the first time and moreover some changes get worse. Because of such advantage, it is been almost buried under the wave of the finite element method for a long time. Very recently, the concept of dynamic graphics has been evolved to handle a set of polygons whose relative relationships must be preserved in a consistent way. In case of graphic statics, since force polygons are drawn based on the law of force parallelogram, the two polygonal shapes have relative relationships that they are always parallel. Using the concept of dynamic graphics, we now have much freedom to exploit the strong advantages of graphic statics. This paper will discuss a way of generating design alternatives for structural design using graphic statics combined with the concept of dynamic graphics.