Abstract
Natural structures are known to be the source of inspiration for numerous architectural and structural rules in the fields of aesthetics, function, and structure; therefore, the application of the principals governing them could be used for appropriate and optimal design. The present paper was conducted to model the natural structure of load transfer in order to design the structure of a pedestrian bridge with a span of 100 meters. This bridge is located in a mountain park in the tourist area of Kashan, 230 km south of Tehran. For this purpose, by examining the patterns in the nature, which provides a relevant answer to the problem, the spine of animals was identified as the bearing skeleton of the body, the best option for patterning. Inspired by it, a stable structure was designed as a skeleton of a bridge without a middle pillar. Based on a form inspired by the spine of a four-legged animal, the bridge structure was designed. To control the stability of the bridge structure against the loads, the initial design idea was analysed employing the Karamba plugin in Grasshopper software to identify its weaknesses and the final design was obtained. The final design was analysed with SAP2000 structural finite element software to ensure the stability and control of permissible deformations. Additionally, attention to the modular structure of the spine was the source of inspiration for the design of prefabricated elements of the bridge parts, which in addition to reducing the cost of execution, increases the speed of construction of the project. The final design of the pedestrian bridge, which acts similar to a suspension bridge in terms of load transfer and was inspired by the structure of a four-legged vertebrate, is a combination of truss and tensegrity structure and in addition to visual aesthetic, has optimal structural performance.
Highlights
The structural system is an essential component of any entity with physical dimensions
The evolution and promotion of natural and biological structures of living organisms has been done during thousands of years of formation and using and evaluating certain principals governing them, an optimal design can be achieved
The study on the body structure of animals showed that their spine is optimal in terms of structure and form to withstand the loads. If this structure is utilized in design of human-made structures, the optimal design could be achieved
Summary
The structural system is an essential component of any entity with physical dimensions. The primary role of the system is to help the entity withstand physical loads, ensure its stability, and correct its function. Overall, this system could serve other purposes, for instance, aesthetic, organizational, and even cultural contributions. The term “structural design” refers to the art and know-how behind the creation of a structural system in the natural or the built world. “Structural design in nature” hints at the methods via which the nature is created (Mosseri, 2004). In the top–down approach, designers look for solutions in the nature in order to solve the problems identified in human life. In the bottom-up approach, the specific developed solutions are used to tackle the problems (Ali El-Zeiny, 2012)
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