Quilt pattern inspired engineering: Efficient manufacturing of shelter topologies

• First investigation of quilt patterns as inspiration for structural systems
• Principle of quilt-inspired, rigid wall sheltering topologies is demonstrated.
• Quilt-inspired forms shown to be more efficient than existing rigid wall shelter

Lightweight, thermally insulated, temporary shelters are essential for disaster relief and military operations. To minimize cost and increase sustainability, it is advantageous to reduce wasted material in manufacturing these shelters. This paper investigates quilt patterns – designs of interlocking geometric shapes – as inspiration for structural topologies that can be manufactured from flat sheets with minimal wasted material (shape interfaces serve as cut and fold lines). A series of quilt-inspired concepts based on established quilt patterns are developed into structural topologies using shape grammar rules. The detailed finite element analysis and design of three concepts is presented. To achieve a lightweight, thermally insulated design, the structures are comprised of sandwich panels (fiber-reinforced polymer faces and a foam core). The performance of each design is compared to an existing rigid wall shelter, demonstrating the efficacy of quilt-inspired forms. This paper is the first investigation of quilting as inspiration for structural systems.