How to gain a deeper understanding of Kiwi and CAE simulations?

Plug Ins Kiwi
1

Hi all,

I am an industrial designer, with no engineering knowledge.
I love math and love Grasshopper, and have recently really gotten a handle on Kangaroo, which has been great!

I have been looking at Kiwi and Karamba to add to my knowlede base and skill set.
Having seen this: Comparing Karamba3D and Kiwi!3D – Structured Parametrics
I think Kiwi is the way to go for me.

Anybody have some recomendations on what to read/watch to gain a deeper understanding of these sorts of simulation in general and how Kiwi works? I am taking about 2 things here. The plugin itself and the basics of the all the engineering / physics that is being dealt with.

For example:

image
image618×776 26.1 KB

What is prestressing? How do I calculate/estimate it? Why are there 2 prestress values on the node? When and why should one be used vs both?

Is there an indepth wiki on Kiwi!3d?

This is a broad and vague question that may need a broad and vague answer, like “read this book”…“watch this youtube channel playlist” … etc.

Thanks for your input!

2

Hey,
there is unfortunately not that much. You can check our Youtube channel for some videos: Kiwi!3d - YouTube Otherwise, there are some examples and a short documentation in the download folder. I think that there are also some other tutorial videos on Youtube.

Prestressing is the force/stretch inside the fabric when pulled into its form. There are two values, for each direction of a two-dimensional structures one. A membrane can only resist to forces but not bending. It needs the curvature and prestress in order to be in equilibrium.