Bio-inspired Bridge Design - Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering - page 236

Fig. 10.4 Bridge design cases of bio-inspired structural system: a Butterfly bridge (photo
Wilkinson Eyre architects); b Dragon bridge (photo Structure Website, Id 108893); c Campo
Volantin footbridge (photo Structure Website, Id 141499); d Jerusalem Chords bridge (photo
Wikimedia Commons)
architect Antonio Gaudi, many bridge designs by Calatrava were inspired from the
structural forms of plants and animals. The main girder of the Campo Volantin
Bridge was inspired from the spine structure as shown in Fig. 10.4 c, while the
tower of the Chords Bridge (Fig. 10.4 d) was created with inspiration from the leg.
Knippers and Speck ( 2012 ) used design principles in natural structure character-
ized by heterogeneity (geometric differentiation of their elements), anisotropy
(fiber-reinforced composite materials), hierarchy (multilevel structure with inde-
pendent functional properties), and multifunctionality.
It is worth mentioning that both structure and material in nature often appear in
a composite way. Thus, the principle of more efficiency and less material in nature
also indicates the trend of composite materials and structures for future bridge
design.
The innovation of structural forms was reliant on the development of new
materials. History clearly demonstrates that new materials are only successful
when the substitution phase has been surmounted and when a transition to new
material-tailored structural concepts and construction processes occurs (Dooley
2004 ). Great builders were then liberated from tradition and tried new materials in
the old forms: cast iron in a wood arch, steel in a wood truss, and reinforced