Author
O. Baverel
Abstract
Nexorades are a family of lattice space structures. The elements of a nexorade are interwoven with one another, creating an eccentricity between any two connected elements. The shape of a nexorade is dictated by the way in which the elements are interwoven and the eccentricities between them. Typically, the geometric particulars of a nexorade are difficult to work out without suitable conceptual tools. Creation of such conceptual tools constitutes a major objective of this thesis.
In the past, many people thought about interwoven systems but very little work on the configuration processing was carried out. In the present thesis, two approaches for the generation of the geometry of nexorades are proposed. The first approach is based on analytical geometry and the second approach is based on the use of the genetic algorithm.
Three methods using analytical geometry are proposed. These are the method of translation, method of rotation and the extended method of translation. These methods are mainly applied on the generation of nexorades based on regular and semi-regular polyhedra. The process of using the genetic algorithm for the generation of nexorades is referred to as the fanning process. This process transforms a lattice configuration into a nexorade. The fanning process has been implemented as a formex function in the programming language Formian. Virtually any lattice configuration can be transformed into a nexorade but there is no guarantee that the resulting nexorade can be physically realised.
A chapter of the thesis is devoted to practical considerations such as suitable configurations for the construction of nexorades and the types of elements that should be used. Also, a number of nexorades have been subjected to structural analysis and the results are discussed. Finally, conclusions are drawn and suggestions for further work are proposed.
