Skyscrapers are modern marvels. Feats of ingenuity that allow us to reach for the sky while living and working closely together inside of diverse, densely packed cities. Without them we would quickly run out of room, our talent and best ideas spread out among vast urban sprawl. A reality that would quickly stifle our ability to innovate.
As important as they are, usual skyscraper innovation is reserved for unique designs or attempts to break the record for world’s tallest building. But now we have a new approach altogether that involves an entirely new building block: sponges.
As Popular Mechanics puts it:
“The next generation of skyscrapers could be, well, spongey. Researchers at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences say a lattice reinforced with diagonals, inspired by the structures built by sponges, could mean lighter, but stronger skyscrapers and bridges.”
Why is that? What makes sponges so special?!
Well, “Sponges are wild. They’re not just alive—they’re resilient predators that reproduce sexually, despite having no organs or tissues or even a traditional ‘inside; of their body structures. In a way, they’re living structures already, and their sturdiness is what helps them survive.”
So, where do we go from here?!
“Beginning with this structure as a guide, the scientists built a 3D physics model and put the sponge and a selection of other traditional building types through the ringer. ‘[U]sing a combination of finite element simulations and mechanical tests on 3D-printed specimens of different lattice geometries, we show that the sponge’s diagonal reinforcement strategy achieves the highest buckling resistance for a given amount of material,’ they conclude.
[Furthermore] the sponge-inspired lattice is double layered, resulting in something more like a basket weave you may have seen on the seat of a wooden chair. By testing the structural strength of the sponge, researchers have combined the best of building with the best of weaving, in a way.
The most important takeaway, they say, could be to build the same strength and size of building, but with less building materials. They could also just broadly improve the materials used for less optimal designs, especially in infrastructure like bridges.”
All in all, this sponge based approach reminds me of biomimicry and all of the other innovations around the world that have been inspired by mother nature. Not to mention a certain Seinfeld episode. Hopefully, this research continues to progress though and we do one day wind up with Sponge Scrapers that allow us to create buildings that are even sturdier and safer than today’s top designs.
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