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An effective approach to determine optimum welding process parameters is implementation of advanced computer aided engineering (CAE) tool that integrates efficient optimization techniques and numerical welding simulation. In this thesis, an automated computational methodology to determine optimum arc welding process parameters is proposed. It is a coupled Genetic Algorithms (GA) and Finite Element (FE) based optimization method where GA directly utilizes output responses of FE based welding simulations for iterative optimization. Effectiveness of the method has been demonstrated by predicting optimum parameters of a lap joint specimen of two thin steel plates and automotive structure of nonlinear welding path for minimum distortion. Three dimensional FE models have been developed to simulate the arc welding process and subsequently, the models have been used by GA as the evaluation model for optimization. The optimization results show that such a CAE based methodology can contribute to facilitate the product design and development.

The thesis project proposes to explore into the design possibilities for the Civic Center for Municipal Corporation of Delhi and extract the richness of the site conditions into architecture through means of computational design. The computational design approach will provide a degree of variance which will be an interesting thing to explore in terms of defining spaces, program and systems.. The design would hinge on to one of the major centers of Delhi and aim to enhance social permeability through means of forms and articulation of spaces. It would cater to all classes of people and help in promoting small local businesses thereby weaving into the social and cultural fabric of India.

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The centuries-old neocolonial relationship between the United States and Latin America is marked by acts of silencing, either directly in the hands of U.S. foreign affairs organizations or by proxy governments economically supported by the United States. These attempts to de-memorialize the atrocities of the past consolidate the power dynamic between the inheritors of colonial rule, and those who were colonized. U.S. interventionist policies––borne of corporate interests, the safeguarding of capitalism, and a skewed sense of national security––have created mass and enduring violence in Latin America, resulting in waves of migration north, where the journeys of the displaced are often denied, erased, and forgotten. This thesis began as an exploration of the U.S -Mexico border wall, understanding it as a flagship banner of propaganda, and has developed into the analysis of a state of surveillance across the Mexican territory. By analyzing and interpreting migratory paths through the states of Chiapas, Guanajuato and Chihuahua, the thesis centers, validates, and upholds the multiplicity and variability of the phenomenon of migration. This proposal takes a critical stance towards the current state of refuge and safety throughout Mexico for migrants. Currently, humanitarian efforts deny the permanence of human mobility in the Americas by only affording provisional housing. Focusing on migration by foot, the thesis envisions a network of hyper-visible, and thus invisible, spaces of shelter that are permanent and rely on communal action in defiance of xenophobic laws. Nested within an already existing network of community chapels and working within the language of contemporary vernacular architecture, the spaces of shelter provide respite, information, as well as legal and medical services, and dismantle centralized approaches to humanitarian aid. Their existence as permanent structures memorialize migration, signify resistance, and attempt to provide dignity and power to those migrating through the Mexican territory towards a promised land.

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Mechanical metamaterials are novel materials that display unique properties from their underlying microstructure topology rather than the constituent material they are made from. Their effective properties displayed at macroscale depend on the design of their microstructural topology. In this work, two classes of mechanical metamaterials are studied within the 2D-space. The first class is made of trusses, referred to as truss-based mechanical metamaterials. These materials are studied through their application to a beam component, where finite element analysis is performed to determine how truss-based microstructures affect the displacement behavior of the beam. This analysis is further subsidized with the development of a graphical user interface, where users can design a beam made of truss-based microstructures to see how their design affects the beam's behavior. The second class of mechanical metamaterial investigated is made of self-assembled structures, called spinodoids. Their smooth topology makes them less prone to high stress concentrations present in truss-based mechanical metamaterials. A large database of spinodoids is generated in this study. Through data-driven modeling the geometry of the spinodoids is coupled with their Young's modulus value to approach inverse design under uncertainty. To see mechanical metamaterials applied to industry they need to be better understood and thoroughly characterized. Furthermore, more tools that specifically help push the ease in the design of these metamaterials are needed. This work aims to improve the understanding of mechanical metamaterials and develop efficient computational design strategies catered solely for them. / Master of Science / Mechanical metamaterials are hierarchical materials involving periodically or aperiodically repeating unit cell arrangements in the microscale. The design of the unit cells allows these materials to display unique properties that are not usually found in traditionally manufactured materials. This will enable their use in a multitude of potential engineering applications. The presented study seeks to explore two classes of mechanical metamaterials within the 2D-space, including truss-based architectures and spinodoids. Truss-based mechanical metamaterials are made of trusses arranged in a lattice-like framework, where spinodoids are unit cells that contain smooth structures resulting from mimicking the two phases that coexist in a phase separation process called spinodal decomposition. In this research, computational design strategies are applied to efficiently model and further understand these sub-classes of mechanical metamaterials.

O processo de projeto de arquitetura, engenharia e construção (AEC) tem evoluído consideravelmente com a finalidade de responder à complexidade dos sistemas interconectados de um edifício (TOULOUPAKI e THEODOSIOU, 2017). Vêm sendo solicitados à arquitetura contemporânea, processos de projeto capazes de quantificar e qualificar o maior número de variáveis presentes nos sistemas de um edifício, com a intenção de balancear suas dinâmicas e inter-relações (SHI e YANG 2013). A presente pesquisa utiliza o processo de projeto orientado ao desempenho como condutor de sua investigação. Os projetos e pesquisas que exploram o desempenho através da otimização de projetos em AEC são predominantemente internacionais. Além desse aspecto, grande parte dos processos e seus conjuntos de procedimentos não são publicados, especialmente os métodos para gerar os algoritmos utilizados. Muitas destas não detalham, tampouco disponibilizam suas implementações. Tal condição impossibilita conclusões seguras sobre as características das otimizações produzidas, dificulta a reprodução dos métodos e desampara discussões sobre soluções alternativas. Desta maneira, torna-se reduzida a reflexão na arquitetura sobre quais métodos são mais apropriados para a otimização de determinados problemas do projeto arquitetônico (WORTMANN et al., 2015). Neste contexto, a presente pesquisa estrutura-se na metodologia Design Science (SIMON, 1996), dada sua natureza de produção de conhecimento através da abordagem pragmática e interdisciplinar, envolvendo conteúdo da arquitetura e da ciência da computação. Pode-se por fim afirmar que com o apoio da metodologia empregada na presente pesquisa, desde a revisão bibliográfica ao plug-in ArchOptimum desenvolvido nos experimentos realizados, obteve-se resultados que colaboram com a compreensão e abertura dos potenciais da associação entre a arquitetura e a ciência da computação através do design computacional. / The architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) design process has evolved considerably in order to respond to the complexity of the interconnected building systems (TOULOUPAKI and THEODOSIOU, 2017). In contemporary architecture, computational design processes are capable of quantifying and qualifying better variables present in the building, balancing their dynamics and interrelationships (SHI and YANG 2013). This research uses the process of Performance-oriented Architectural Design as the driver of its investigation. Research and projects in AEC that explore performance through optimization are predominantly international. In addition, most of the processes and their sets of procedures are not published, especially the methods to generate the algorithms used. Many of these do not detail and make their implementations available. This makes it impossible to secure conclusions about the characteristics of the optimizations produced, makes it difficult to reproduce the methods, and disregards discussions about alternative solutions. These facts reduce the reflection on which methods are more appropriate for the optimization of specific problems of the architectural design (WORTMANN et al., 2015). In this context, the present research is structured in the Design Science methodology (SIMON, 1996), given its nature of knowledge production through the pragmatic and interdisciplinary approach, involving the content of architecture and computer science. Finally, it is possible to state that with the support of the methodology used in the present research, from the bibliographic review to the ArchOptimum plug-in developed in the experiments, we obtained results that collaborate with the understanding and opening the potencies of the association between architecture and computer science through Computational Design.