A 500-year-old unbuilt bridge design by Leonardo da Vinci holds up

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A 500-year-old unbuilt bridge design by Leonardo da Vinci holds up

By Sean Joyner

Oct 11, '19 4:00 PM EST

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"Masters of engineering student Karly Bast shows off the scale model of a bridge designed by Leonardo da Vinci that she and her co-workers used to prove the design’s feasibility." Credit: Gretchen Ertl (Courtesy of MIT)

Researchers at MIT have proven Leonardo da Vinci correct yet again, this time involving his design for what would have been at the time a revolutionary bridge design. Although clients rejected da Vinci's work at the time, over 500 years later, the researchers have proven that his bridge would have worked. — Popular Mechanics

Part of a proposal for Sultan Bayezid II of the Ottoman Empire, da Vinci's bridge was intended to connect what is now Istanbul to Galata, a neighboring city. The proposed design spanned about 918 feet and was of masonry construction, making use of the compressive characteristics of an arc geometry. The team had to investigate the available materials of the time and study da Vinci's sketches and letter to the Sultan. If the design was implemented at the time it would have revolutionized architecture, writes Popular Mechanics.

"Leonardo da Vinci’s original drawing of the bridge proposal, showing a plan view at top and a side view (elevation) below, including a sailboat passing under the bridge, along with drawings that students Bast and Michelle Xie produced to show how the structure could be divided up into 126 individual blocks fthat were 3D printed to build a scale model." Credit: Karly Bast and Michelle Xie (Courtesy of MIT)
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