Biomimetic approach for the creation of a deployable structure based on the blooming of the Morning Glory flower.

This research project proposes the design of a freestanding, biomimetically inspired, deployable canopy. Nature inspires the structure in terms of mechanism and shape, allowing for the creation of a lightweight, multifunctional, and efficient deployable awning. A review of the key features characterising deployable structures along with an in depth investigation into the biological world created the rationale for the modelling of a foldable structure inspired by the blooming of a Morning Glory flower (Ipomea Violacea). By providing controls for each of the degrees of freedom in the system with hydraulic rams, the geometry was frozen at set deployment stages and a time-stepped analysis was created based on pseudo-static principles, showing the structure at various stages of deployment. The freezing of the structure allowed a parametric investigation of the most suitable deployment sequence to minimise the deployment forces and associated quantities of steel.