Most houses in Japan are constructed of wood, and structural calculations that take into account earthquake and wind resistance are essential for their design. Especially for low-rise wooden houses, wall volume calculations and eccentricity considerations based on the Building Standard Law are important factors. This article summarizes the basic concepts in structural design of wooden houses and introduces the optimization of structural design of low-rise wooden houses using Grasshopper. It should be of interest to those involved in structural design and those interested in improving the efficiency of design methods.

Structural analysis uses the finite element method, while fluid analysis uses the finite volume method. Why are different methods commonly used for structure and fluid analysis, even though both are the same in the sense that they are methods for solving partial differential equations discretely? In this article, we compare the finite element method and the finite volume method in fluid analysis and give a glimpse into the reason “why the finite volume method became common in CFD."

Do you have a smart phone? How many of you know that 3D scanning of objects is possible with your smartphone? This blog is an invitation to try 3D scanning with your smartphone. This blog is an invitation to try 3D scanning with your smartphone. Welcome to the world of 3D scanning.

Have you ever experienced using topology optimization? Some of you might have used commercial software but may not fully understand the internal workings or specific features of different methods. In this article, we will explain the characteristics of typical topology optimization methods in a simple manner, implement two of them, and compare the results.

This article is the second part of a blog introducing Lattice Structure Homogenization. In the first part, we introduced the homogenization of lattice structures as elastic bodies. In the second part, we will introduce the homogenization of channels created by lattice structures, including the homogenization process through numerical experiments and visualization of the homogenization results.

Have you ever done an analysis on a lattice structure? Lattice structures tend to be difficult to mesh and computationally expensive. Homogenization is an effective way to reduce the analysis cost of lattice structures. This article introduces homogenization to elastic matrices by numerical experiments and visualization of the homogenized elastic matrices.

Have you ever performed optimization in Grasshopper? Specifically, have you used Tunny for optimization? During that time, did you ever feel that the optimization was not working well? The category of optimization called black-box optimization, which Tunny uses, has slower convergence compared to sensitivity-based optimization (such as topology optimization). If the settings are not properly configured or the problem is not suitable, the result may end up being just slightly better than random. In this article, let's look at the optimization results using Tunny with different settings.

This is the second installment of our project to think about structural mechanics while taking a walk. This time, while walking around Japanese towers, we will explain the mechanics and structural devices behind the towers and ponder the greatness of our predecessors. After reading this, you should be able to see the framework of the tower through the tower.

This is a travelogue in which our structural engineer takes four bridges in Tokyo as examples and explains their structures as he travels around the city. The scenery you usually see may look a little different. Please enjoy the idyllic atmosphere.

Karamba3d is a structural analysis plug-in that runs on top of 3D CAD Rhinoceros Grasshopper. Karamba3d is not a well-known commercial CAE like Ansys, so I am curious about its performance, However, as there is not much information on this, this article will check it on a simple model.