Vacuumatics: vacuumatically prestressed (adaptable) structures

Vacuumatics rely on a relatively "new" and therefore yet unproven structural principle of prestressing incoherent (structural) elements by means of atmospheric pressure, by creating a (partial) vacuum inside an enclosing skin (figure 1). This technique leads to rigid – but reconfigurable – load bearing structures (figure 2), quite analogue to vacuum packed coffee. In an attempt to explore the structural potential of vacuumatically prestressed structures the force distribution throughout a simplistic 2-dimensional representation of such a structure is approached by means of an analytical model. A comparable numerical approach of the technique illustrates a remarkable resemblance in prestress derivation, differentiating a so called "direct" and an "indirect" prestressing component, indicating the significance of the elasticity of the applied skin material. This paper sets out to describe the ongoing study on the structural – as well as geometrical – behaviour of vacuumatics, aiming for a fundamental understanding in and control over the underlying design principles.