Square and Hexagonal Hypar Floating Platforms for Amphibious Houses

Abstract

The past decade has shown that climate change has threatened human civilization, and will continue to threaten it. Riverside and coastal communities are especially affected as severe hurricanes and the threat of rising sea levels will obliterate through entire zip codes. An effort to engineer novel ways of living near and on water has commenced, with amphibious houses being a promising solution. Amphibious houses are structures located in flood plains that are set on the ground but capable of floating as the area is inundated. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze the feasibility of square and hexagonal hypar floating platforms (floating thin shell hyperbolic paraboloid (hypar) umbrellas that undergo large loads), for amphibious homes. To accomplish this, a finite element analysis in SAP2000 and buoyancy analysis and design in MATLAB was performed. Results confirmed the structural efficiency of hypar platforms and showed new findings that a hypar float can be designed to be buoyant. Along with these results, practical considerations for implementation, specifically economical, architectural, and policy were considered. Altogether, the hypar floating platform is a very promising solution for amphibious houses and can be a promising foundation for future research concerning living on water.

Keywords: hypar platforms, hypar floating platforms (hypar floats), amphibious houses