Wind turbines are classic examples of structures where their operating lifetime is controlled by the fatigue properties of the material. This is exacerbated by the 2D nature of the composite materials used in blade construction which are typically fabrics in a variety of formats (e.g. non crimp fabrics, uniweave, woven). The formation of internal detailed shapes within the blade, allowing features such as spars, shear webs and other connections, inevitably requires these 2D material configurations to be formed into 3D shapes. This introduces positions within the structure where load transfer occurs across regions with no fibre reinforcement. These weak areas become natural positions for the initiation of damage that can occur well before fatigue damage would be expected in the basic material subject to simple in-plane loading. The aim of this study is to modify and improve the blade structure in order to extend its working life and minimize geometry related fatigue issues. To achieve this goal T-sections have been manufactured as representative element of the blade's spar. T-sections have been made of carbon or glass fabric infused with epoxy resin using a vacuum-assisted resin-transfer moulding technique. The structure has been modified with different toughening techniques to increase its interlaminar fracture resistance (toughness) and hence delay or stop crack propagation. Methods such as the use of veil layers, tufting and 3D weaving techniques have been employed to improve the interlaminar fracture toughness of the T-joint. The changing parameters in samples are, the addition of the veil layer to the composite structure, veil material, tufting stitches and use of different 3D fibre weaving architectures in the fabrication of the composite T-joint. For T-joint testing, there was no standardised specimen shapes and no standard for specimen dimensions; as well as no test fixture designs or test procedures. Consequently, it was required to design a test rig and develop a test procedure for tensile and fatigue tests of T-joints. An additional investigation was performed to establish test specimen geometry suitable for testing in available Instron machines. Manufactured specimens were quasi-static and fatigue tested. Test results were compared and showed that 3D woven and polyester veil T-joints had the best performance among modified structures. However, it has been found that these structural modifications are performing differently in quasi-static and fatigue loading. The 3D woven four layer to layer inter wave sample that showed the best result in a quasi-static test was not the one with the best fatigue results but it was amongst the ones with the highest performance. SEM and optical microscopy were used to investigate fractured specimens in an attempt to establish the mechanisms involved in the fracture process of the T-joint. Finally, based on test and investigations results it has been concluded that the 3D weaving was the most effective modification to improve the static and fatigue properties of the T-joint. The T-joint modified with polyester veil showed the second best performance in both static and fatigue tests but the addition of the polyamide caused had negative effects on these properties.

A presente dissertação, intitulada Estruturas Contingentes e Formas Resguardadas: o tecer como prática artística inserida no cotidiano, propõe a análise do processo de tecitura manual dos objetos que compõem a pesquisa. Ao sistematizar e analisar o processo dos referidos objetos, abordarei as interferências e intercorrências em espaços privados e públicos – experienciados enquanto lugares de atividades cotidianas e do exercício de tecer. Também estarão sob foco as reverberações dessas experiências no atelier e nos modos de exposição. / This dissertation, titled Contingent Structures and Withdrawn Shapes: weaving as an everyday art practice, proposes the analysis of the process of hand weaving the objects that make up the research. By systematizing and analyzing the process of said objects, I will approach interferences and events in private and public spaces - experienced as venues for everyday activities and for the act of weaving. Echoes of these experiences in the studio and in exhibition methods will also be addressed.

Waste is a big problem in the textile industry; one area of waste is cut off selvedges from the weaving industry. This degree work in textile design questions the need and motivation to produce fully new textiles, choosing instead to use waste material in order to create sustainable design. The work aims to apply waste selvedges in a textile design context by using it in handweaving, as both warp and weft. This project also explores food waste as dyestuff, dyeing selvedge waste with it, achieving a large variety of colours. Using selvedge waste in both warp and weft, along with dyeing using food waste, brought many possibilities in both technique and aestethics, as well as expanding the sustainable perspective in textile design by challenging the use of waste from textile and food production. The result is three handwoven examples with varying expressions, created to bring inspiration for others to use waste selvedges as a material.

WARP and WEFT is a textile making guild, intricately woven into KNOOP, the proposed Clothing and Consumer Science building for the University of Pretoria. This building is situated in Hatfield next to the railway line, in close proximity to the Gautrain station and Rissik Station. KNOOP was designed in 2008 by Korine Stegmann in fulfilment of her MArch(Prof) at the University of Pretoria. Therefore, the building in which the intervention is proposed is, to date, only an architectural proposal and has not yet been built. The project was initiated due to a fascination with textiles and the relevance of textiles in interior architecture. This fascination with textiles is ascribed to the following: The first intriguing aspect of textiles is the structure and the underlying construction principles of textiles. The second aspect is the unique character of textiles compared to other building materials. Another interesting notion is the current international textile trend and current re-focus on textiles as a construction material after a long period of being neglected. The current hype about textiles is ascribed to the tactile qualities of textiles, which opposes an increasing movement towards virtualism. The raw and organic production process of handmade textiles is desirable and opposes automated production. Similarly to the Arts and Crafts movement, designers are once more interested in handmade products. Fourthly, textiles used in architecture has the intriguing ability to create an architecture which better relates to fashion in terms of fashion’s ability to easily change and adapt; fashion’s fleeting nature. Lastly, handmade textiles of a specific region have the ability to convey the identity of that specific region. This is a crucial ability to resist globalization and monotony in cultural identity. Appropriately, the fascination of this dissertation is with traditional African handmade textiles and its relevance in interior architecture. The contemporary unbuilt building was selected to demonstrate the value of a collaborative approach between an architect and interior architect prior to construction. The analysis of the architectural proposal shows that the interior architect can effectively recognize the strengths and weaknesses of a building from an interior perspective and enhance and improve these aspects. The aim is also to show that two programmes can function collaborative in one building and that intervention is possible within a building with a fixed programme. The site was selected due to the location and framework it falls within. The location of the site allows for exposure due to the pedestrian demand on the site. Also, the site is advantageously located within close proximity to main transportation nodes. The site falls within the extended Arcadia Arts and Cultural Corridor. The vision for this corridor is a lively and multicultural precinct which hosts a variety of arts and cultural facilities. The vision for these facilities is to portray the zest of local culture, especially to those disembarking the Gautrain. The textile making guild, WARP + WEFT is an important project within this precinct, due to the core concept of the guild to celebrate African textiles. The aim of the guild is to produce contemporary woven textiles which portray the identity of traditional African woven textiles. The vision for WARP + WEFT within the precinct is to exhibit textiles, expose the textile making processes and to create a unique African textile experience for both the public and the users of the guild. The interior intervention will celebrate African textiles by demonstrating how textiles are used to solve and embrace aspects identified through the analysis of the architectural proposal. These aspects include acoustic absorption, solar screening, adding softness, texture and colour to an environment predominantly defined by cold, hard, smooth and monotone surfaces, as well as providing versatile branding elements. The use of textiles in the interior intervention introduces the unique design question of how to design with textiles for a textile related programme, opposed to textiles being used for another programme, such as a theatre or a hotel. It is a matter of “textiles for textiles” instead of “textiles for music” or “textiles for sleeping”. The solution to this unique design problem is to differentiate between spaces which celebrate textiles by acting as a background or blank canvas for the exhibition and production of textiles and spaces which celebrate textiles by becoming textile-like. To create these spatial variations, the exclusive use of textiles is not sufficient. Textiles need to be translated into interior architecture which will be achieved through the following five methods: Translation through metaphor, translation through structure, interpretation of actual textiles, engagement through text and the translation of the unique qualities of textiles. Thus, the aim of the investigation is to celebrate textiles through the application of textiles and through the translation of textiles in interior architecture. / Dissertation MInt(Prof)--University of Pretoria, 2012 / Architecture / MInt(Prof) / Unrestricted

This degree work is a project that started out from weaving, which became the founding technique for how a modular textile took its shape, woven together as interlaced parts. Modularity was taken into this work in order to avoid a flat result and give the woven textile playful attributes and multiple functions. By using bold colours and layers in weaving, an investigation of the interactive and playful side of this textile technique was done. The method was based on workshops where geometrical forms were systematically woven into a repetitive pattern according to the plain weave binding. The result were three voluminous textiles with a given hierarchy of colours and material as they were placed at different levels. Practically, it is a textile that can be fitted to different spaces by being either diminished or built out, in order to be interactive. The quantity of elements within the textiles became the essence and the quality in the project and the advantage is that it is a textile that can be made from waste.

This degree work places itself within the field of textile design, with an artistic approach. The motive with this work is to introduce Kente cloth as a textile expression to be developed as a contemporary textile technique. The aim is to explore ways of reinterpreting the West African weaving technique of Kente cloth in combination with the use of recycled toys in order to create contemporary artistic textile designs. The design method consisted of workshops that focused on the deconstruction of the technique and the categorisation of toys. Experimental sketches on the handloom and jacquard machine were produced. The outcome of this design work is a collection of three handwoven artistic textile designs. Toys’’R’’Cloth engages the viewer to produce more sustainable designs by using recycled toys as material reuse. This work and its design method have the potential to be developed further and applied onto other textile techniques.

The artist discusses her Master of Fine Arts thesis exhibition Holler, held at Tipton Gallery March 2ndto March 13th, 2020. The exhibition features an installation of works on fiber, paper, and found objects tied to her upbringing in Southern Appalachia. A variety of collected materials including bedsheets, chalkboards, and barbwire are taken out of their traditional contexts and brought into a new vantage point through the artist’s alterations. Gregg re-contextualizes materials, language, and signifiers as a process of decoding formative experiences in domestic and academic spaces. Themes examined in the work include rote learning, tradition, indoctrination, identity, and cultural psychology. Literary references include writings on critical pedagogy by educators Paulo Freire and Bell Hooks. The influence of conceptually driven artworks by Adrian Piper and Bruce Nauman and their relation to language and repetition are discussed, as well as the themes of identity and domesticity as seen in the works of Tracey Emin and Mona Hatoum.

The continuously increasing demand of the customer requires equivalent response from the industry. This phenomenon of lean supply chain has also been seen in the paper and textile industries. TEXO AB produces customized weaving looms for the paper and textile industries. As every machine is redesigned to the customer requirements, TEXO needed to make the process efficient and effective. Once again the application of new computing technologies comes in handy. The practice of parametric design is applied to the TEXO’s FSX concept, which is one of the three weaving loom machine series supplied by TEXO. The frequent customization of FSX concept for each customer has created the need for faster redesign, better communication and quick order to suppliers. The automation is done on Autodesk Inventor using its iLogic and Shrinkwrap features. The parametric model is complete where all components to be customized are included. An excel sheet with design calculations, parameters and possible machine modules is developed together with the model. The feasibility of the automated design has been shown by the complete conformance of the model to the requirement. The excel sheet is very useful for improving the internal and external communications. After the completion of this project the redesign time is significantly reduced and the communication is simplified. It is also now possible to identify customization and module opportunities for future machines.

Ecologically, spiders are both predators and prey. Therefore, they must balance being aggressive enough to forage successfully, but not so aggressive that they become overly exposed to predation. Some species of spiders actively forage during clearly defined periods of the day, leading to the hypothesis that they should be less aggressive (or more defensive) during periods when they are not foraging, predicting that antipredator behaviour should be more pronounced during inactive foraging times. We tested the antipredator 'huddle response' in a nocturnal foraging orb-weaver, Larinioides cornutus, and found that, as predicted, the spiders huddled longer in the day than at night. We then conducted tests to determine whether the cycling of the response was regulated by an internal clock (circadian), and we found that huddle duration continued to cycle under constant dark (with periodicity significantly less than 24. h) as well as under constant light (periodicity nonsignificantly longer than 24. h). This work adds a novel behaviour to the list of behaviours under circadian control and also to the surprisingly short list of studies demonstrating circadian rhythm in spiders.

In the current globalisation of the planet, Indigenous peoples are attempting to reclaim their lands from extraction and natural disruptions due to new sustainable energy projects and dam constructions. This study is exploring how choreography and dance are addressing the issue of exploitation of land and bodies, directly weaving together ideas of ancestry and indigeneity through gathered testimonies from three Indigenous choreographers. The work allows for activist ideas to shift the perspective on humans’ relationship to soil and its emancipation from coloniality by acknowledging the ancestral body as an intrinsic, lived experience within the Indigenous choreographer. Positioning the study in relation to critical artistic practice, the text is proposing an opportunity for the reader to explore the link between bodily rights, minority politics and soil, thus revealing how the reconstruction of ancestral memories and movement can remind us how to repatriate our dismantled and dislocated history. By finding ways of connecting choreography to agency over body and indigeneity, this work is exploring how dance can constitute Indigenous connectedness and how testimonies by these choreographers are passed on through their embodied experiences of indigeneity, ritual, repatriation and recognition of the Indigenous body. / <p>Presentationerna av examensarbetet 31 Maj 2021 skedde på Zoom, online på grund av covid-19</p>