Computational Design of Geometric Materials

In this project we want to research novel materials whose mechanical behavior is described by the complexity of their geometry. Such “geometric materials” are cellular structures whose properties depend on the shape and the connectivity of their cells, while the actual physical substance they are built of is constant across the entire object. Our goal is to develop the first computational model for the analysis and simulation of complex geometric materials, as well as a so-called goal-based computational design framework for their synthesis. Goal-based means that the desired behavior can be specified a-priori by the designer, and an appropriate geometric structure that best approximates the given goals is computed automatically. Our main research problem is how to map mechanical properties to geometric connections of cellular structures.