Explorative study on adaptive facades with superelastic antagonistic actuation

Glass facades and enclosures are highly attractive structures with increasing popularity between architects and engineers. These structures show very specific design requirements so as to guarantee an efficient interaction with the other building components. This is especially true in the case of “adaptive” glass systems, with continuously changing configurations according to a given design criteria. The main goal of this explorative study is the design of an adaptive facade module with antagonistic actuation. The geometry of the glazing system is controlled by pairs of superelastic cables actuated against each other in a reversible way. Superelasticity is here exploited so as to improve the structural behavior of the facade system subjected to wind loads. The efficiency of the proposed design concept is demonstrated via finite-element numerical analyses and also from test data obtained from an experimental prototype. It is shown that the proposed control approach can yield substantial structural enhancements and benefits for the adaptive facade module, which are substantiated by important reductions of maximum deformations and stresses in the cladding elements.