MIT Engineers Present Da Vinci’s 500-Yr-Previous Radical Bridge Design Would Have Labored

We all know that Leonardo da Vinci was a genius who was properly forward of his time, however even the nice man himself might need struggled to consider that engineers would nonetheless be marvelling over his creations some 500 years later.

Engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Know-how (MIT) have analysed a bridge designed by da Vinci in 1502. Drawn up for Sultan Bayezid II, head of the Ottoman Empire, the massive bridge was meant to attach Istanbul and its neighboring metropolis Galata. 

Ultimately, da Vinci’s design wasn’t used, however the MIT crew has rigorously modelled the polymath’s design, discovering it to be structurally sound – no imply feat, contemplating it will’ve been the world’s longest bridge on the time, by far.

“It is extremely bold,” says structural engineer Karly Bast, from MIT. “It was about 10 occasions longer than typical bridges of that point.”

Da Vinci’s sketch (high left) with modern-day diagrams. (Karly Bast and Michelle Xie)

Utilizing surviving documentation, and information in regards to the development supplies and strategies of the time, the crew discovered that the 280-metre (919-foot) lengthy bridge would have been in a position to stand and stay steady.

Whereas the researchers have not but had a peer-reviewed paper revealed about their work, they did put collectively a 1:500 scale mannequin to place to a rigorous set of checks.

The crafted 126 individually created, 3D-printed blocks, then put them collectively like a jigsaw: at 1:500 scale, the mannequin ended up at round 81 centimetres or 32 inches lengthy.

(Gretchen Ertl)

Probably the most spectacular elements of the bridge design is that it is all held collectively with none fasteners or mortar to attach the blocks.

“It is all held collectively by compression solely,” says Bast. “We needed to essentially present that the forces are all being transferred inside the construction.”

Reasonably than following the up to date pattern for bridges with semicircular arches – which might have required quite a few piers alongside the bridge – da Vinci as an alternative went for a single, huge, flattened arch.

It needed to be excessive sufficient to permit sailboats to cross underneath, whereas sustaining important rigidity, particularly in opposition to lateral motions. To counter these motions, da Vinci envisioned splayed abutments on either side of the bridge, that are constructions that regular the bridge in the identical approach that somebody would possibly unfold their toes to keep away from swaying.

Further stabilisation options had been added by da Vinci to protect in opposition to the earthquakes that had been identified to occur within the space, and once more the size mannequin testing confirmed that these would have labored very properly.

The supplies and development strategies that we have developed since da Vinci’s time imply there at the moment are higher designs to utilize than this one, however it’s nonetheless an exceptional little bit of engineering, that underlines the brilliance of da Vinci’s thoughts.

The dimensions mannequin was based mostly on a small sketch in considered one of da Vinci’s notebooks – what we do not know is simply how lengthy he took to develop it. It is potential that this extremely sensible design was truly the results of only a few minutes of labor.

“Was this sketch simply freehanded, one thing he did in 50 seconds, or is it one thing he actually sat down and thought deeply about?” says Bast. “It is tough to know. He knew how the bodily world works.”

The analysis is being offered on the convention of the Worldwide Affiliation for Shell and Spatial Buildings in Barcelona.