Bionic approach to the manufacture of cast lightweight metal structures for the construction of modular structures

Abstract

Prefab modular building metal structures have several advantages, especially for reuse, compared to building structures made of concrete and wood. Analysis of the structure of the cost of such metal structures and their installation proved that the most effective way to reduce their cost is to reduce metal consumption. Unlike welded for bolted structures, installation is simplified and bolted connections provide the possibility of disassembling the structure with transportation to another place, which is important for hangars, warehouses that change location. Casting of lightweight metal structures can help increase the potential for new and rapid construction. For this, the most suitable method is the Lost Foam Casting (LFC) process in vacuum molds made of loose sand. No other casting method can compete with LFC in the production of frame-bearing structures of complex geometry. Examples of the optimization of metal structures by imitating the structures of nature, in particular biological and DNA structures, as a bionic approach to the design of man-made metal products are considered. Framework and cellular spatial materials obtained by the LFC method expand the existing range of properties compared to compact materials. And the described cast materials based on analogues from the macro- and micro-world of nature and on prefab models will simplify the design and production of frame lightweight products, which are classified as "materials of the future". Ukraine receives metal from its own ores and is able to transform it into a high-tech, knowledge-intensive product in the form of machines, mechanisms and building structures. The technological direction of borrowing the structural properties of natural materials is studied not only for copying them, but also for obtaining new materials and structures with optimization for specific mechanisms or buildings, promoting the use of metal structures as an effective solution in the construction industry during the reconstruction of the country. Keywords: building metal structures, modular structures, modeling, structures of nature, castings