Shaping Indeterminate Frames

The large impact of building structures on the environment must be reduced to meet the global targets fixed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Standard building structures with constant prismatic cross-section have material inefficiencies of around 66% (and up to 75% in some cases) that need to be addressed. Structural shaping, a subfield of shape optimization, offers a pathway to reduce the impact of building materials on the environment. Shaping statically determinate structures such as simply supported beams is relatively straightforward, but offers few design options compared to statically indeterminate structures. However, no methods provide an efficient way for designers to shape these systems according to their design intent or efficiency goals. Based on plasticity theory, this paper presents a shaping methodology to explore the design space of shaped indeterminate frame structures. The methodology is implemented in three case studies. In all the case studies, the methodology allows for the exploration of material-efficient yet diverse designs of shaped indeterminate frame structures. The implementation of this methodology can promote the use of structural shaping by offering more agency to structural designers to create diverse and efficient structural systems.