Digitised Engineering Knowledge for Prefabricated Façades
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Digitised engineering knowledge for prefabricated façades Jacopo Montali, Christ’s College Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge This dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Cambridge, December 2018 Title: Digitised engineering knowledge for prefabricated façades Author: Jacopo Montali Façade design is a multidisciplinary activity requiring the balancing of many conflicting design requirements. Very often, however, the designed façade does not respond to these requirement, as relevant design and manufacturing knowledge, normally originating downstream in the design process, is not properly used upstream in the process. The inability to respond to this challenge increases the environmental impact of the construction sector, which is currently covering nearly 40% of the global emissions. Also, improving the stagnant sector’s productivity is of paramount importance today, as it is deemed to be nearly as half as that of the manufacturing sector. This research has thus investigated ways to collect, store, represent and digitalise the engineering knowledge that underpins the design of façade products for façades that are better designed. The work has involved a close collaboration with the British general contractor (and façade manufacturer) Laing O’Rourke. The research has explored ways of using design and manufacturing knowledge and it has developed a digital tool and tested its functionalities. In the first part, after a review of the state-of-the-art in knowledge-based approaches in other fields, the digital tool, and relevant methodology, are developed. The tool informs the user about the expected performance and manufacturability of the façade product under analysis. The boundaries of traditional research were also pushed beyond the proof-of-concept by validating the digital tool in both simulated and real- world scenarios. The goal was to understand how people can develop a design solution while being supported by a digital tool. It was found that using such tool increases the user’s awareness about the consequences of the his/her choices in less time. In the last part of the research, the tool was used to develop a novel optimisation algorithm, by including considerations about aesthetics and manufacturability, in parallel with the traditional performance-based approach. The application of the algorithm to a case study has shown that it is possible to improve existing solutions in terms of performance, without affecting aesthetic and manufacturability significantly. “puro e disposto a salire a le stelle.” “pure and made apt for mounting to the stars.” Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, Purgatorio, Canto XXXIII Acknowledgements Although obtaining a PhD can be seen as a personal achievement, reaching such a goal would not have been possible without many people around me. I want to first express my deepest gratitude to Dr Mauro Overend for his support during the whole research. He has been a careful and dedicated supervisor, whose experience and knowledge have helped me find the right direction whenever needed. A great thank goes to my industrial partner, Laing O’Rourke, and to my two industrial supervisors, Dr Michele Sauchelli and P. Michael Pelken, for making my research stronger and deeply rooted into the day-to-day construction reality. Thanks much to Adam, Dan, Jim, Dean, Dave, Jeremy, Federico, Simone, Ioannis, Roupen and Carsten, too. Living in Cambridge has allowed me to meet wonderful people that made my research activity easier. I want to thank all staff at Cambridge University Engineering Department and at Christ’s College for their support and cordiality. Many thanks to all members of the Glass and Façade Technology Research group, and in particular thanks to Carlos, Marco D., Marco Z., Isabelle, Corinna, Fabio, Alessandra, Mark and Hanxiao: with you I have shared equally-intense engineering and leisure (and pub) sessions. A big thanks goes to my two great flatmates Marrit and Edoardo, with whom I could leave the “gown” aside for a while to become a “town”. Thanks much to my former colleagues in Turin, Carlo, Luciano, Guido, Tiziano, Giulia G., Lucy, Lorenza and Giulia F. with whom I have learned so much before getting ready for this adventure. Finally, thanks to my family for their support during these years, thanks to Anita, Peter and Elvira, and thanks to my beloved Michela, who has always been encouraging me – part of this PhD is yours. I II Declaration This dissertation is the result of my own work and includes nothing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration except as specified in the text. It is not substantially the same as any that I have submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for a degree or diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has already been submitted, or, is being concurrently submitted for any such degree, diploma or other qualification at the University of Cambridge or any other University or similar institution except as declared in the Preface and specified in the text. This dissertation does not exceed the prescribed word limit for the relevant Degree Committee. The full length is 34,735 words and it includes 61 figures and 15 tables. III IV List of contents (compact) Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ I Declaration ........................................................................................................... III List of contents (compact) ..................................................................................... V List of contents (extended) .................................................................................. VII List of figures ........................................................................................................ IX List of tables ........................................................................................................ XV Nomenclature ................................................................................................... XVII 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................1 2 Knowledge-based engineering in the shipbuilding, aerospace and AEC sectors 19 3 A methodology towards digitally-supported façade design ........................... 35 4 A digital tool for the design of precast concrete panels ................................. 55 5 Validation of the digital tool .......................................................................... 70 6 Fully-automated façade design ...................................................................... 92 7 Conclusions and future work ....................................................................... 112 References ......................................................................................................... 118 Appendix A: Data, information and knowledge (and wisdom) ............................ 128 Appendix B: Design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) ............................... 132 Appendix C: List of investigated tools ................................................................. 134 Appendix D: Detailed features of the digital tool ................................................ 136 Appendix E: Workshop with façade consultants ................................................. 146 V VI List of contents (extended) Acknowledgements ................................................................................................ I Declaration ........................................................................................................... III List of contents (compact) ..................................................................................... V List of contents (extended) .................................................................................. VII List of figures ........................................................................................................ IX List of tables ........................................................................................................ XV Nomenclature ................................................................................................... XVII 1 Introduction ....................................................................................................1 1.1 Context .......................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background .................................................................................................... 4 1.3 Research questions ...................................................................................... 14 1.4 Structure of the manuscript ........................................................................ 15 1.5 List of publications ....................................................................................... 17 2 Knowledge-based engineering in the shipbuilding, aerospace and AEC sectors 19 2.1 Introduction and methodology ................................................................... 19 2.2 Review ......................................................................................................... 20 2.3 Conclusion ................................................................................................... 32 3 A methodology towards