A 38 hours workshop and a complex subject: water. Designing a container and how to add value to water. This is what the students have faced with me.
Together we imagined an apocalyptic scenario, yet no so distant from our future. A scenario where water has become incredibly precious, because of its scarcity and rarity.  Water, in this perspective, has become the new gold, becoming the most expensive substance on earth. And its container, the design exercise, had to reflect this brief.
The students have faced the container’s challenge not as a simple packaging design exercise, rather an object that is water-conscious, containing the liquid in a noble, dignified way, enhancing the precious properties whilst protecting its fragile state.
The results are quite surprising, not only for the output quality, considering the time available to the students, but also because of the variety and bio-diversity given by the different interpretations.

Andrea Morgante

Finite elements method (FEM)
The target of the course is introducing students to use Finite Elements Calculation programs, explaining their potential and their employment to optimize object shape.
Actually the development of design of structural components is often carried out using optimization methods. Although in most of cases it chooses to simply optimize the particular design solution already used, without looking for new alternatives, best solution would be to operate on topology, from which variation it could get more remarkable improvements. In order to get the topology of an object, a shape optimization proceeding may be followed. In many cases such a method is based on seeking optimal values of density of the finite elements that make the mesh of the admissible domain, like in methods based on homogenization theory [Bendsoe & others 1998, Chung 1997].

Optimization method disavdvantage is the need of a lot of finite elements and consequently the rise of the amount of design variables and longer processing times. Supporting it, criterion based on fuzzy logics can be used. They give a linguistic approach suitable to describe variable’s conditions and shifts, that’s sure interesting but not possible to do during this course, due to little time provided.

Thus it introduced finite element and described what variables have to be defined for the discretization of en element through FEM proceeding:
•    Type of finite element: plane element 2D or plane element 1D (view Figure 1);
•    Finite element stiffness features: Young modulus depending on material (PVC, Corian and so on) and geometry (if 1D element) or thickness (if 2D element);
•    Determination of restrains, depending on the use of object;
•    Determination of loads to apply to the object, most of times a pressure to be applied in a direction.
After defining geometry, restrains and loads, it goes on with an analysis to get results as maximum stress in the object and movements. Analysis is a linear one, not considering problems that polymers may have (creep, viscosity, long term effects), for which non linear analysis is required.
Through an iterative process of linear analysis, it tried anyway to realize what pressure could get the material to yield, or could get displacement (even with low tensions) not suitable for object’s use. As sample, view Figures 2-5, displaying stress XX, strees YY and corresponding displacements DX and DY for a random load step.
These analysis allowed to understand where critical points of the object were, and so what points deserved a further valuation, getting to an improvement and the final optimization of the object, concerning shape and/or thickness of the element.

Enrico Milani

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