# Research Progress on Curved Plates in China: Applications in Architecture
###### Abstract  
Curved surfaces can give plates a unique aesthetic effect and physical advantages in acoustics and optics. Assembling such curved plates can greatly improve the image of buildings and enrich their functions. It is thus not surprising to notice that their wide applications in designed or completed buildings in China have become a trend. Thus, this study offers a comprehensive summary of the application progress of curved plates in the architectural field from three aspects: image expression, acoustic characteristics, and optical characteristics. On this basis, future directions are proposed. The main findings or suggestions are as follows: (1) climate harshness has increased recently, and the safety of structures and materials and the coupling effect of the two must be fully considered when designing the shapes of curved surface buildings; (2) research on the mechanism and numerical calculation of curved diffuser systems with different sizes and curvatures needs to be further developed; and (3) experimental studies of various and complex curved plates and different conditions to explore their optimal reflectivity, transmittance, absorptivity, and other optical properties will be an important development direction.  
curved plate; surface; building elements; architectural appearance; architectural acoustics; architectural optics +
Footnote †: journal: Applied sciences  
In 2008, [PERSON] et al. [26] studied the influence of the initial clearance on the final welding deformation of asymmetric bent-plate structures. In 2011, [PERSON] et al. [27] compared the anti-explosion impact performance of curved metal sandwich plates, flat sandwich plates, curved single-layer solid plates, and flat plates. Later, the same team [28] reported that the curvature of curved plates also had an impact on anti-explosion performance. In 2015, [PERSON] et al. [29] reported the vibration characteristics of curved sandwich plates with square honeycomb cores, which provided a necessary theoretical reference for the dynamic optimization design of honeycomb sandwich curved-plate structures. It can be seen that these quite systematic theoretical mechanics analyses and laboratory test research have laid the foundation for the application in the field of architecture.  
Meanwhile, also thanks to the development of three-dimensional (3D) design algorithms [30], structural calculation theory [31], and preparation and construction technology [32; 33] in recent years, complex surfaces that only existed in the imagination in the past have begun to be gradually applied in modern architecture. The structural form of the curved surface allows full philosophical concepts to be expressed more freely. Additionally, curved surfaces have been fully studied and developed in the practice of architectural construction [34]. Naturally, a large number of curved surface building cases in China came into being. However, they are mostly displayed in the form of engineering reports that lack systematicity. Therefore, to develop curved plates and their applications in engineering more effectively and accurately, on the basis of previous papers [1; 18] that the description, preparation methods, and mechanical properties of curved plates have been reviewed, this paper focuses on improving the application of curved plates in China for building image and physical properties (especially acoustics and optics). Finally, the future development directions of these fields are proposed.