Hello everyone, let’s explore the magical engineering behind Da Vinci’s self supporing bridge. Da Vinci invented the self supporting bridge sometime between 1485-1487 to be used as an emergency bridge for troops in times of war.
source.image: Sabins Civil Engineering
This unique design is held together by its own weight without requiring any ties or connections, in fact when a downward force is applied to the structure the braced members are forced to interlock and tighten together through the structural concepts of shear and bending. Da Vinci called it “The Bridge of Safety”. Leonardo himself called this “the bridge of safety,” and it counts as only one of the ingenious bridges he designed in his lifetime.
To build the bridge, Leonardo used a method that had never been used before: he laid out his design and then used ropes attached to pulleys to raise each stone block (or log) into place at once. This process required careful coordination with other workers and experts who helped him test each block’s stability before moving on to assemble the rest of the materials needed to build the bridge.
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He also invented several other bridges, including a revolving bridge that, according to Leonardo da Vinci, could be quickly packed and transported to enable fleeing armies to cross waters, cross streams or moats, put the bridge on the other side for easy passage of soldiers” and “fitted with a system of ropes and pulleys for quick deployment and easy transport.
