Closing the gap towards super-long suspension bridges using computational morphogenesis.
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Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32483204.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-020-16599-6 and PMC identifier 7264174.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Girder design for suspension bridges has remained largely unchanged for the past 60 years. However, for future super-long bridges, aiming at record-breaking spans beyond 3 km, the girder weight is a limiting factor. Here we report on a design concept, inspired by computational morphogenesis procedures, demonstrating possible weight savings in excess of 28 percent while maintaining manufacturability. Although morphogenesis procedures are rarely used in civil engineering, often due to complicated designs, we demonstrate that even a crude extraction of the main features of the optimized design, followed by a simple parametric optimization, results in hitherto unseen weight reductions. We expect that further studies of the proposed design, as well as applications to other structures, will lead to even greater weight savings and reductions in carbon footprint in a construction industry, currently responsible for 39 percent of the world's CO<sub>2</sub> emissions.