Bio-inspired Bridge Design - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 234

Table 10.2 Recent bridge projects with varied level of bio-inspiration (Hu et al. 2013 )
Bridge name Built Location Main bio-inspired

aspect

Inspiration
level

Campo Volantin
bridge

Bilbao, Spain Structure of beam Mechanics

1997

Foldable bridge Kiel, Germany Kinematics of beam Mechanics

1997

Butterfly bridge Bedford, UK Structure of arch Partial

mimicry

1998

Nesenbach valley
bridge

Vaihingen, Germany Structure of beam and

pier

Mechanics

1999

Millennium bridge Gateshead, UK Kinematics of main

arch

Abstraction

2001

Ribble Way bridge Lancashire, UK Shape of layout Abstraction

2002

Webb bridge Melbourne, Australia Shape of layout Abstraction

2003

Rolling bridge London, UK Kinematics of beam Mechanics

2004

Dragon bridge Recklinghausen,

Germany

Shape of
superstructure

Total
mimicry

2008

Chords bridge Jerusalem, Israel Cable-stayed

structure

Abstraction

2008

Henderson bridge Singapore Shape of beam Mechanics

2008

Double Helix
bridge

Singapore Structure of beam Partial

mimicry

2009

Chunhua footbridge Shenzhen, China Shape of layout Total

mimicry

2011

Peace bridge Calgary, Canada Structure of beam Abstraction

2012

Dragon Eco bridge Chongqing, China Structure of arch Partial

mimicry

2012

Not coincidentally, structural forms in nature also integrate these three tenets,
ranging from a plant stem to animal skeletons. The awareness of learning from
natural shapes pushed architects and engineers to think out of the box in many
recent bridge designs, practically in the design of small-scale structure such as
pedestrian bridge. Some architects have realized the benefit of using bio-inspired
philosophy to improve visual impact and esthetic value of a pedestrian bridges, but
this leads to the tendency of defining the structural forms by architects which leads
to extravagance in pedestrian bridge design (Gauvreau 2002 ). Two examples in
Singapore are shown in Fig. 10.3 a, b. The curvilinear steel ''ribs'' along the side of
the Henderson Road Bridge may be inspired from natural waves, while the double
helix bridge was inspired from the shape of the DNA. Both have become a new
landmark for the community. However, a partial mimicry of the geometric shape
from nature led to awkward designs with difficult construction and high cost. The
efficiency and economy of these designs are questionable. The Chunhua footbridge
(Fig. 10.3 c) at Shenzhen, China, copied the shape of a flower, but it is not a cost-
effective design compared to a regular design. Another recent controversial design