Bringing Logic into Disco : Structural Load Transfer on Bases

[nOmnomnOm]

WARNING: IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN THE WORLD OF SCI-FI FANTASY THEN DONT READ THIS THREAD. K?
NOTE: THIS IS NOT A QQ THREAD TOWARDS DEV TEAM CONCERNING BASES OR BLAH BLAH...

Note: Im a architectural student studying this stuff... so yeah.

Before I begin the discussion I would like to put out a few assumptions that I made prior to posting this and to whom I am talking about. The following are a list of assumptions:

1. Artificial gravity on stations exist which makes it possible for people to actually walk and perform correctly on stations.
2. People know generally how loads are transferred.... or can quickly learn via me explaining.

Assuming those two points are correct, I will first talk about the issues and what the game fails at doing/showing concerning any base in general in game. I will then focus on the design of PoBs since that is the topic I want to get at in the end.

So what is load transfer in buildings and construction?
Basically there are two different types of loading you have to consider when creating a structural design. Dead Load and Live Load. Dead load is to do with the force coming from the structure itself. It can be the weight of the members, the concrete, etc. The live load is to do with the loads that can be changed. For example: People, furniture, wind, snow, rain, etc. With all this in mind, a general formula for this is 1.25D + 1.5L. (ofc there is more formulas and stuff like that but this is the extreme basics.This formula shows how much these loads are important as they are factored a bit more for safety)

In any case these loads have to travel somewhere and here on earth 99% of the time (1% if i dunno something) it is to the ground. The ground use force that acts in the opposite direction which creates equilibrium if the forces can be equal or the resistance is greater than the actual load. This results in the building not falling apart. Get my drift?

Now sure there are planes and all that and spaceships but they are quite compact. The huge spaceships in sci-fi are just no. No plz. The enterprise is bad.

Here are some pictures of how load transfer works:

https://sites.google.com/site/frenchyae3...ilding.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d22MhEqLu9E/U2...com%5D.png
http://www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/l....IL.24.gif
https://engineeringrome.wikispaces.com/f...0Domes.png


Now that we have very basic knowledge, lets get to the topic.

In order for a station to work it would need either the use of compartmentalization or columns... which there is nothing to make a force to react to it.... unless you make like a huge thick slab to counter it. So domes and arches I have no idea how they work. Sorry zoners. Your bio-domes are prooooably wrong. It is just a huge force acting down PLUS the live load of plants PLUS the dead load of the earth that they grow in... PLUS water... Eh... You would need a large slab to pull that off and that will crack. Because we assume gravity.


But hey is there a way for there to be gravity and when the load goes to a section that has no gravity it dissipates? Yeah I have no idea. No idea at all.

So what is the maximum span then of beams? It wont be that far actually. 10 meters? 15? trusses will work but... they need that counter force.

The only solution would be I think to make small compartments and stick them together... just like PoBs kinda... core 1. the only problem is those sticks attached to them. they can easily break off due to moment. And also they are in the wrong place too! Beams/trusses located there would have to be embedded into the structural skeleton. This would create thermal bridging into the structure AND YOU DONT WANT ANY THERMAL BRIDGING IN SPACE! Basically cold gets in.


So really we should assume that PoBs and other bases are just 3D logos of an actual hypothetical base. What I am going to attmept to do is make a design that will WORK.

On other topics there is the issue of how the base will work off grid and the docking procedure and stuff like that... but loading is the main issue here because it influences the form and spatial organization of the base.

So yeah.... leave your comments below and please only constructive ones.
Get it? Constructive?
Ba dum CCCccccccc

---