Topological Interlocking Cylinder Configurations: A Geometric Approach
Date09/12/2018
Author(s)Andres Bejarano, Christoph Hoffmann
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The generation of stable Topological Interlocking Configurations (TICs) based on non-traditional surfaces is a problem with no documented solution up to date. Our approach characterizes a cylinder using a polygonal approximation and coloring of the faces following a chessboard pattern. The proposed method generates two types of pieces: regular tetrahedra and quasi-tetrahedra. As the number of pieces per level increases to infinity, the shape of the quasi-tetrahedra pieces get closer to tetrahedra. The method generates a valid TIC with the shape of a cylinder; however, its stability is compromised as its height increases but the number of pieces per level doesn't. A couple of physical prototypes as well as simulation results will be shared during the talk.