In 1502, Sultan Bayezid II envisioned constructing a bridge over the Golden Horn to connect Istanbul with the neighboring city of Galata. Among the responses from leading engineers of the time, the design by the well-known Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci stood out for its originality. Traditional bridges of that era featured prominently arched structures with multiple spans. A bridge over the bay would have required at least 10 supports, but Leonardo sketched a design for a 280-meter-long bridge without a single support. The Italian scientist's project was not accepted. We cannot see this wonder of the world. But is this project viable? Engineers from MIT answered this question based on Leonardo's sketches. a 1:500 scale model of the bridge and tested it against a full range of potential loads.
In reality, the bridge would consist of thousands of hewn stones. There were no other suitable materials available at that time (scientists attempted to closely approximate the bridge-building technologies of the period and the materials available). Modern specialists used a 3D printer to create the model and divided it into 126 blocks of specified shapes. The stones were systematically laid on scaffolding. After the cornerstone was placed at the top of the bridge, the scaffolding was removed. The bridge remained standing and would likely last for centuries. The Renaissance Italian scholar considered everything: from the seismic instability of the region to lateral loads on the bridge.
The shape of the flattened arch chosen by Leonardo allowed for navigation across the bay, even for sailing ships with raised masts, while the structure that expanded towards the base ensured stability against lateral loads and, as experiments with the scale model showed, seismic resilience. The movable platforms at the base of the arch could shift significantly without collapsing the entire structure. Gravity and no binding with cement or fasteners – Leonardo knew what he was proposing.
Bron: 3dnews.ru
