tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6470543006314152962.post3724818015984343799..comments2024-03-11T16:49:27.614+00:00Comments on The Happy Pontist: Tensegrity bridges: 2. Passerella TorVergata, RomeThe Happy Pontisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15252272118786667592noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6470543006314152962.post-68423780190937936202009-06-04T12:26:08.558+01:002009-06-04T12:26:08.558+01:00This is an intereting article. About two years ago...This is an intereting article. About two years ago I undertook the design of a tensegrity bridge, and got quite a long way before admitting defeat.<br /><br />The main issue I found to be stiffness, with the prestressing forces required in the cables to minimse deflections resulting in very high stresses in both tension and compression members. This significantly increased their size, and a lot of the 'transparency' was lost.<br /><br />After about two weeks of toying with the idea, it became apparent (as with so many things) that there was a good reason why a 1950's idea had not yet been translated into functional design! <br /><br />I expect, as you note, that the compromises required to fulfill the structural requirements negate much of the aesthetic appeal of 'pure' tensegrity. <br /><br />I will be very interested to see how the Australian bridge in the previous post deals with all the problems, but wish the designers the very best of luck!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6470543006314152962.post-38190469988320662482009-06-04T02:43:23.013+01:002009-06-04T02:43:23.013+01:00Hi THP! It is a nice surprise to find this fair an...Hi THP! It is a nice surprise to find this fair and detailed review on your blog.<br />Tensegrity systems have good properties for soft, variable geometry structures but, unfortunately, 'pure' tensegrities do not carry loads very well. <br />As footbridges are open to a pluralism of solutions, this one is intended to be like a sculpture which can be observed not only from a distance but also by walking in its interior. Moreover, being built close to the faculty of engineering, it embodies the challenge in research.<br />The newer design is much cleaner and has less additional cables, as you can see in the last part of the ppt presentation.<br />Just a footnote, the linked abstract at the beginning of the post is contained in a poster first presented at the IASS Symposium 2004, Montpellier, France.Andreahttp://www.uniroma2.it/ppg/ts/micheletti.htmlnoreply@blogger.com