• 3D printing
• additive manufacturing
• Digital
• optimization
• remeshing
• Selective Laser Melting
• topological

The new challenges that structural engineering faces focus on the use of technologies that have been developing over the past twenty years, such as rapid prototyping. The evolution of software, of 3D printing and of the related materials used in additive manufacturing, increase the engineering opportunities and reduce lots of issues of traditional method. New tools, like topology optimization, are rarely introduced in the design process and it could be very useful for a designer and also for CAE engineer. Structural engineering is in a hard competition to develop structure lighter for both economical and environmental reasons and the challenge is to remain, or even improve, stiffness while reducing weight.
This thesis wants to use these tools to redesign a generic node of a reticular hybrid structure, in order to find a more efficient geometry. The results provided by the optimization of the topology could have the possibility of finding a totally new solution and solving the problems related to construction using traditional techniques and inconsistent behavior.
The new design of the component is obtained from load cases at the ultimate limit state, has to be hierarchically higher than the other structural elements and it must respect geometric constraints for the assembly and maintenance phases. Because of that, the focal aspects for the development of the new geometry were the choice of base material and the relative mechanical characteristics such as yield strength and tensile strength, the initial geometric constraints and the need of space for maintenance and assembly. Engineering through rapid prototyping, the last step in the process studied, allow to realize free, organic and rounded geometries, respecting the boundaries constraints.