Textures and tectonics

TEXTURE & TECTONICS Olivia Rose Arcara ARC 550 FALL 2014 Natural Patterns and Biomimicry Structure & Organization Professor : Chris Ramano

Cloud Formation In meteorology, a cloud is a visible mass of liquid droplets or frozen crystals made of water or various chemicals suspended in the atmosphere above the surface of a planetary body.

• Cloud formation is the result of air in Earth’s atmosphere becoming saturated due to either or both of two processes: cooling of the air and adding water vapor.

With sufficient saturation, precipitation will fall to the surface.

• A cloud is a large collection of very tiny droplets of water or ice crystals. The droplets are so small and light that they can float in the air.

• All air contains water, but near the ground it is usually in the form of an invisible gas called water vapor. When warm air rises, it expands and cools. Cool air can’t hold as much water vapor as warm air, so some of the vapor condenses onto tiny pieces of dust that are floating in the air and forms a tiny droplet around each dust particle.

When billions of these droplets come together they become a visible cloud.

• A cloud is made up of liquid water droplets.

A cloud forms when air is heated by the sun. As it rises, it slowly cools it reaches the saturation point and water condenses, forming a cloud. As long as the cloud and the air that its made of is warmer than the outside air around it floats.

Cirrus Filaments

Nimbostratus

Cirrostratus, Covering Whole Sky

Cirrocumulus

Thin Altostratus

Altocumulus

Fairweather Cumulus

Layer of Stratocumulus

Cumulonimbus

Precipitation In meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of atmospheric water vapor that falls under gravity.

The main forms of precipitation include: • Drizzle • Rain • Sleet • Snow • Graupel • Hail Precipitation

forms

as

smaller

droplets

coalesce via collision with other rain drops or ice crystals within a cloud.

Approximately

505,000

cubic

kilometers

(121,000 cu mi) of water falls as precipitation each year; 398,000 cubic kilometers (95,000 cu mi) of it over the oceans and 107,000 cubic kilometers (26,000 cu mi) over land.

• Rain drops range in size from oblate,

The water cycle, describes the continuous

pancake-like shapes for larger drops, to

movement of water on, above and below the

small spheres for smaller drops.

surface of the Earth.

• The shape of rain drops depending upon their

size.

Coalescence

occurs

The water cycle involves the exchange of

when

energy, which leads to temperature changes.

water droplets fuse to create larger water

The mass of water on Earth remains fairly

droplets.

constant over time but the partitioning of the

• Unlike raindrops, snowflakes grow in a

water into the major reservoirs of ice, fresh

variety of different shapes and patterns,

water, saline water and atmospheric water

determined

is variable depending on a wide range of

by

the

temperature

and

humidity characteristics of the air the

climatic variables.

snowflake moves through on its way to the

The water moves by the physical processes

ground.

of evaporation, condensation, precipitation, require

infiltration, runoff, and subsurface flow. In

temperatures close to the ground to be

so doing, the water goes through different

near or below freezing, hail can occur

phases:

during much warmer temperature regimes

• Liquid

due to the process of its formation.

• Solid (ice)

• While

snow

and

ice

pellets

• Gas (vapor)

Molecular Precipitation Water as a chemical compound contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms that are connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at standard ambient temperature and pressure, but it often coexists on Earth with its solid state, ice; and gaseous state, steam (water vapor).

• 0.001% of the Earth’s water is in the air as vapor, clouds (formed of solid and liquid water particles suspended in air), and precipitation • Pure water (H2O), seen in the top image, is an example of a compound: the ball-andstick model of the molecule (above) shows how water consists of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen

Graupel is precipitation that forms when supercooled droplets of water are collected and freeze on a falling snowflake, forming a 2–5 mm (0.079–0.197 in) ball of rime.

• Contact between a snow crystal and the super-cooled droplets results in the freezing of liquid droplets onto a crystal which is a process known as accretion.

• Crystals that exhibit frozen droplets on their surfaces are referred to as rimed.

• When this process continues so that the shape of the original snow crystal is no longer identifiable, the resulting crystal is referred to as graupel.

• Graupel forms fragile, oblong shapes and falls in place of typical snowflakes in wintry mix situations, often in concert with ice pellets.

• Graupel is also fragile enough that it will typically fall apart when touched.

Clouds from Space Dense cloud formations can create long shadows that stretch for thousands of miles across the Earth’s surface as they eventually disappear into a black horizon.

• Small altocumulus clouds frequently form in parallel rows or “cloud streets” in stable air conditions.

• These cloud streets denote the prevailing wind direction, the cloud streets lying parallel with the wind.

• Turbulent air lifted by the windward portions of the islands promotes cloud formation downwind.

• Islands or high land, elevated above the surroundings

and

interrupting

the

air

stream, can produce “tails” as well as “wakes.”

• Shuttle

astronauts

have

frequently

observed Dek Island in Lake Tana in Ethiopia, the source of the Blue Nile, with a well-developed cloud tail.

• This occurs when the land mass disrupts the air flow, creating downwind turbulence that promotes condensation.

• These wispy rows of cloud or “cloud lanes” are recognized as a “landmark” by successive shuttle crews. This unique cloud formation off Oman is virtually constant at certain times of year. The clouds are created by a small vortex in the low level wind current.

• Like other cumuliform and stratocumuliform clouds, altocumulus signifies convection.

It is usually white or grey, and often occurs in sheets or patches with wavy, rounded masses or rolls.

• Altocumulus

is

also

commonly

found

between the warm and cold fronts in a depression, although this is often hidden by lower clouds.

• Altocumulus may appear as parallel bands

Altocumulus Cloud

or rounded masses.

• Typically a portion of an altocumulus cloud is shaded, a characteristic which makes

• Abbreviation Ac

them distinguishable from the high-level

• Genus Alto- (middle), -cumulus (heap)

cirrocumulus.

• Altitude 2,000–6,100 m(6,500–20,000 ft)

• Altocumulus

clouds

usually

form

by

• Classification Family B (Medium-level)

convection in an unstable layer aloft, which

• Appearance Similar to cirrocumulus, but

may result from the gradual lifting of air in

individual segments are larger and darker.

• No Precipitation

advance of a cold front.

• The presence of altocumulus clouds on

• (Alto, “medium”, cumulus, “heaped”) is a

a warm and humid summer morning is

middle-altitude cloud genus that belongs

commonly

to the stratocumuliform physical category

later in the day.

characterized

by

globular

masses

or

followed

by

thunderstorms

• Altocumulus clouds that appear on a

rolls in layers or patches, the individual

clear

elements being larger and darker than

thunderstorm will approach later in the

those of cirrocumulus and smaller than

day. The reason is altocumulus clouds

those of stratocumulus.

often precede cold fronts.

humid

morning

can

indicate

a

Mackerel Sky • Describes

a

altocumulus

sky

mostly

clouds.

It

covered is

rare

by with

altocumulus and extremely rare in its cirrocumulus form.

• The occurrence of these clouds is an indicator of moisture and instability at intermediate levels (2400–6100 m, 800020,000 ft).

• Rainshowers or thunderstorms may occur should any lower cumulus clouds reach the layer of the altocumulus form.

• A disintegrating frontal system. The cloud was probably originally altostratus and has been broken up into altocumulus as the weather front disintegrates (usually as a result of encountering an area of high atmospheric pressure).

• Little, if any rain most often follows a

• A Mackerel sky can occur anywhere in

mackerel sky. Another common place

the world, Altocumulus clouds (Mackerel

that it is found is in the warm sector of a

clouds) usually form by convection in an

depression preceding the cold front and

unstable layer aloft, which may result from

associated showery weather, however

the gradual lifting of air in advance of a

usually here it is obscured by lower stratus

cold front.

clouds.

• Mackerel skies are spoken of in the popular

• The presence of altocumulus clouds on a warm and humid summer morning is

bywords, “Mackerel in the sky, three days

commonly

dry,” “Mackerel sky, mackerel sky. Never

later in the day.

long wet and never long dry,” and the nautical weather rhyme, “Mare’s tails and mackerel scales / Make tall ships carry low sails.”

• The phrase mackerel sky came from the fact that it looks similar to the markings of an adult king mackerel.

followed

by

thunderstorms

Little color varriance, perpective view

Sun distorting, perspective view

Perspecitive view, not a full bleed image

Not enough of the texture

Not a full bleed, perspective view

Not a full bleed pattern week texture

Too extreme of a color tone change

Perpsective view, uneven texture

Full bleed, even tone, good white contrast

Ice Molecules

Dust Particles

Ice Molecule attracting water molecules

Water Molecule

Liquid State

Ice Molecule

Solid State

Dust Particle

Attraction of H20 molecules

Water Droplet

Cloud Formation

Images of Graupel at the Molecular level

Riming • Once

a

small

ice

crystal

forms,

its

subsequent growth is determined by two mechanisms transfer of molecules from droplets into an ice crystal, and riming

Water molecule Aggregation water molecules Ice molecule

resulting from collisions with droplets during their fall through the atmosphere. • Since the pressure is higher over the droplet, water-vapor molecules diffuse toward neighboring ice crystals and they condense (deposit) from the vapor onto the ice crystal. • When the ice crystals attain a large-enough size, they fall and gain mass by colliding with some of the larger super-cooled droplets, which subsequently freeze onto the crystals in a second process called riming.

Attachment to Ribs

Ice Molecule

Ice molecules, snowflake fromation

Ice Molecule attracting water molecules

Water molecule

• Riming Process - Ice molecules attract water molecules to the edges of the rigid ice molecule which then start to

Aggregation water molecules Ice molecule

aggregate around the ice molecule and begin to envelop and surround encasing the molecule in a caccoon increasing the molecules desity. The newly increased mass causes the encased ice molecule to fall to earth as a new form of percipition.

Attachment to Ribs

• The water molecules are attracted to the ice molecule due to a change in the high and low perssure systems in the attmosphere. As the water molecules attract they begin to converge and encase the molecule increasing its mass and then gravity takes hold causing the newly formed graupel molecule to falls.

Water molecules attached to a snowflake

Attraction of Water Molecules

Fully encased Ice molecule

Mass increases and the Grapel Falls

Water Molecules drawn to the ribs

Water Molecules Enveloping the Ice Molecule

Ice Molecule

Water Molecule Complete Enveloping of the Ice Molecule Converging Water Molecules

Final Choosen Texture for Cloud Analysis

Line work overlay to differentiate clouds

Black and White inverese texture

Color differentiating the sky from clouds

Black and white high contrast

Exploring the Horizontal nature of the texture

Pixelated breakdown texture

Analysis of tonal quaility

High Contrasted white vaule

A 4

2

3

C

1 B

C

2

A 1

B

4

3

C

2

A 1

B

4

3

Phase Change • Once

a

small

ice

crystal

forms,

7" its

subsequent growth is determined by two

2"

mechanisms transfer of molecules from droplets into an ice crystal, and riming resulting from collisions with droplets during their fall through the atmosphere. • The process that determines the basic crystal form occurs by direct transfer of

5"

water-vapor molecules from the supercooled water droplets in the cloud. • It has been determined experimentally and theoretically that the vapor pressure over the water droplet is higher than over the ice crystal at a given temperature.

6"

ICE

WATER

Irregular Grid • Overlaying the standardized pattern of the transitional phase change of clouds from Ice to water with the Irregular Grid derived from the chosen principle image of altocumulus clouds creates a fluxuation of densities within the standardized pattern.

C

2

A 1

B

4

3

Connection of midpoints to create pattern

Truncated Icosahedron • In geometry, the truncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid, one of 13 convex isogonal non-prismatic solids whose faces are two or more types of regular polygons.

• It has 12 regular pentagonal faces, 20 regular hexagonal faces, 60 vertices and 90 edges.

• This geometry is associated with soccer balls

typically

patterned

with

white

hexagons and black pentagons. Geodesic domes are often based on this structure.

And it also corresponds to the geometry of the “Bucky Ball” (Carbon-60, or C60) molecule.

Soccer Ball Unrolled, Unravelling of Surface

Modular Construction • The standardized pattern of the transitional phase change of clouds from Ice to water.

Variation of aggregated water molecules

The pattern was then standardized even further to accommodate the production

Fold Lines

Cut Lines

of a planar surface by connecting the midpoints of the water molecules that have

Void Space

aggregated around the ice molecules in the pattern. • The Dotted lines represent cut lines in the

Ice Molecule

modular construction process of the 3-D representation of the phase change. • The Thickest solid lines represent the folding lines in which the water molecules start to envelope around the ice molecules to create a spherical encasing.

Water Molecule

3-D construction • When the water molecules aggregate around the ice molecules small gaps occur in between the compression of the water molecules. In the 3-D model these gaps are derived from the same process Modual Connection of Water Molecules

creating a pentagon shape to differentiate the negative space, from mass of the water and ice molecules

Water Molecule Ice Molecule

Air space inbetween Water Molecules

31 2"

6"

31 2"

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13 4"

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13 4"

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2"

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Ice Molecule

Water Molecule

Air Space Inbetween Water Molecules

Geometry Analysis • The equilateral hexagons represent the Ice

Water Molecule

molecules, while the irregular hexagons are created from an aggregation of water

Air Space Inbetween Water Molecules

molecules surrounding the ice molecule.

The voids within the water molecules represent the air gaps where the molecules converge. The irregular shaped pentagons that emerged from the folding process creates the air pockets derived from the original pattern of the aggregation of water molecules that envelop around the ice molecule.

Ice Molecule

Material Thickness • Adding

thickness

and

materiality

to

structure created a series of complex joints.

These are a few examples and

experiments in the jointing process.

• 1st joint - The creation of a tabbed

Rotation of key

system, that would be slotted into

Perpendicular Connection

Full panel overlap

place.

Full panel overlap

• 2nd joint - The creation of a full panel overlap system. The full panel overlap

Tabs

will be bolted into place and created a rigidized system.

• 3rd joint - The creation of a full panel overlapped system, with the crucial element of adding the intersection of a third element. This intersection of a tab that is perpendicular to the overlapping plates creates a lock and key type joint where the key would be inserted at the diagonal of the overlapping plates and

Joint One: Tab and Bolt System

Joint Two: Full Panel Overlapp System

Full Panel Overlapp With Perpendicular Key

Modular Connection Lock and Key

rotated into place.

• This connection creates the catalyst in which the modular start to aggregate to from the structure.

The keys become a

tabs in which the modules start to connect to each other.

Joint One: Tab and Bolt System

Joint Two: Full Panel Overlapp System

Joint Three: Lock and Key System

Full Panel Overlapp With Perpendicular Key

Modular Connection Lock and Key

Flexible Connection of Joints

Lock and Key Detail

Sigular Moudal

Perpendicular element experiment

Folding Process

• The red lines are the edges on which the panels join to create a single module.

• The process of creating a pattern and the

a full panel overlay, where the panels in

folding it into a three-dimensional object is a powerful symbol. The action of wrapping and enveloping relates to the formation of clouds, and how the fold and swirl around

intersection to allow for the aggregation and connection of other modules.

which the joints are connected fully overlap

• These tabs act as the keys which intersect

to create a more rigid connection with the

with the locks. The locks formed by the

maximum surface area.

overlapping panels makes a truss like

• The red panels are the full overlays to

each other in space.

4

attach to the module at main points of

• To connect these panels the joint detail of

action of directly taking the pattern and

• The black panels are the tabs which

create the fixed jointed connections.

unravels and falls apart loosing its form.

4

4

4

system. If the lock is removed the structure

5

6

5

6

5

6

5

6

1

7

1

7

1

7

1

7

2

2

2

2

3

3

3

3

Modular Unroll and Construction

Modual

Connection of Moduals

Reorientation of Moduals

Ice Molecule

Full Panel Overlap

Tab System Module Connection Air Space Inbetween Water Molecules

Water Molecule

Flexibile Connections • The cloud is a constantly changing and shifting form in nature. This unstable form has the ability to break apart and then come back together, forming new connections of a constant intersection and collision of matter.

To embody this movement and

flexibility of the cloud instead of making the form a rigidized structure, these two separate jointed systems start to embody the original movement of the cloud.

Slotted system allows Expansion and movement

Slotted Bolted Panel Overlap System

Two Part Lock Construction

Lock and Key Overlaping bolted panels

Multiple Joint Conncetions creating a moveable structure

6

Joint Connections • 1st joint - is a full overlapping panel system with rigides notched out to lock the panels into place. The key is a two part systems that intersects the lock from both sides and 7 then is bolted into place. The keys are part of a tab systems which is attached to the modulars allowing for module to module connections to create the aggregated cloud form. • 2nd joint - uses the Ice fullMolecule overlapping panel system as well with the addition of a slotted Full Panel Overlap

key that allows for the shifting and sliding of panels. This allows the form to move

Notched system for multiple directions of attachment and shift like the inspiration of the cloud, Water Molecules a flexible structure. creating

Modular Aggregation • When the water molecules aggregate around the ice molecules small gaps occur in between the compression of the Bolted Module Connections

water molecules. In the 3-D model these gaps are derived from the same process creating a pentagon shape to differentiate the negative space, from mass of the water and ice molecules Modual Unit

Modual Joint Conncetions

Tab System Module Connection Module Connection to Potential Adjoining Module

4

Slot system for allowing for expansion of shape

5

6

1

7

Bolted Connection

Full Panel Overlap

2

Ice Molecule

Single Module

Full Panel Overlap

Notched system for multiple directions of attachment

3

Water Molecules

Full Panel Overlap

Unrolled Single Modual Flexible Connections

Concept Diagram of Cloud Formation

Slotted Bolted Connections

Noteched Bolted Connection

Tabbed Lock and Key Connection