Principal Symmetric Structures

We introduce a new class of quadrilateral gridshell structures in axial force equilibrium where beams run symmetrically to the principal stress directions of their limit membrane shell. This kind of structures have the property that, at each node, the axial forces in the four connected beams are approximately equal. This allows for a more homogeneous distribution of forces in the structure, particularly in shapes where stresses are significantly anisotropic, in which case a conventional gridshell typically results in numerous beams remaining nearly unloaded. In this work, we first discuss the properties of principal symmetric structures and evaluate their advantages relative to other types of gridshells. We introduce then a computational pipeline for the design of such structures based on a quadrilateral remeshing and a subsequent optimization, and show some results.