Design of three-dimensional Voronoi strut midsoles driven by plantar pressure distribution

Abstract

The customized production pattern has brought significant innovation to the design and manufacturing of footwear. To improve the matching degree between the consumer's feet and deepen the customization of the sole's personalized function, a 3D Voronoi strut midsole structural design method driven by plantar pressure distribution is proposed in this paper, which not only realizes the functional requirements but also takes into account the aesthetic of midsoles. In this method, the foot characteristics and pressure information obtained by the foot measuring system are employed as the data-driven basic of the midsole structural design, and a weighted random sampling strategy is introduced for constructing the Voronoi sites. Moreover, a Voronoi clipping algorithm is proposed to make the 3D Voronoi diagram adaptive to the midsole boundary. And then, taking the clipped 3D Voronoi edges as skeleton lines, the smooth and continuous 3D Voronoi strut midsoles are generated by the implicit surface modeling technology and implicit function fusion. All the algorithms are integrated into a digital framework by independent programming. And both the static and dynamic tests show that the 3D Voronoi strut midsole can make the plantar pressure distribution more homogenous and can effectively reduce the load on the metatarsal and heel region. What's more, it can provide superior energy absorption and cushioning properties, offer better resilience, bring consumers a more comfortable wearing experience and reduce the probability of joint injury caused by the abnormal plantar pressure concentration.

Characterization of 3D Printed Re-entrant Midsole Structure with Various Infill Density and Print Direction

“…Additionally, this can be achieved by providing cushioning through the hardness of the midsole [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11] . Recently, research has been progressing on midsoles using meta-structures and biomimetic structures to provide these functions [11][12][13][14][15] . Especially, meta-structures are arti cially designed structures with properties and functions that natural substances cannot achieve.…”

“…It can be manufactured in the form of an insole integrated with a sock and a sensor. The sensor is an elastomeric smart plantar sensing system and can be attached with a capacitive, piezoelectric, force-sensitive resistor, or pressure sensor [10][11][12][13][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40] .…”

Computational Wearables Design: Shoe Sole Modeling and Prototyping

“…In the case of the Voronoi lattice, the geometry built is related to a set of points spread in 2D or 3D space. As a result, finding the appropriate algorithm for controlling the point coordinates lead to a fully controllable 2D/3D geometry for a number of applications [4,5,6]. Pattern design both in 2D and 3D can be used with computational design tools, because they can take advantage of the parameters' value involved and their influence on the final geometry needed.…”

Managing Complex Geometries through Rhinoceros: Voronoi cells

“…The process is carried out for each seed. Voronoi diagrams have both practical and theoretical applications in many fields, especially in science and technology (Cheng et al, 2022;Frizziero et al, 2021;Pan et al, 2020). Engineering and Operations Management, Sydney, Australia, December 20-21, 2022…”