Kangaroo Physics Plug-in

I became interested in the Kangaroo plugin a few years ago. While teaching in the graduate program at Texas A&M University I had the opportunity to teach structures. I have always thought the structures course was a hidden gem in the architectural curriculum. It holds so many opportunities for connection to architectural design. In my first experiment teaching this class I tried to introduce an FEA plugin, Karamba, for Grasshopper. It was, for the most part, a failure. It required too much structural understanding for students to make meaningful use. It also required a good amount of grasshopper experience, which most of the students did not have. Lastly, it required obtaining academic licenses, which is not a big deal but was just a hurdle I did not want to deal with. Since kangaroo is built into grasshopper I decided to start there. Turns out it’s a lot of fun and, frankly, a little addictive.

This script is a simple flat truss. It uses Kangaroo to fix the endpoints and apply a load in the Z vector to the top nodes. It then measures the original chord length, compares it to the modified chord length and colors the chord based on tension or compression. Red for tension, Blue for compression. It’s great little script. As the depth of the truss is increased, the deflection decreases. I’m pretty sure there is a way to calculate the force in the members, I’m still working on it. Nevertheless, paired with the traditional methods of understanding trusses, method of sections, and method of joints, it can be a handy little tool to determine tension and compression.

Flat Truss Script – download the script