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This research creates adaptable civil infrastructures using thick origami assemblages. Our current civil infrastructures are static and unable to adapt to the rapidly changing climate and social needs. Here, we reimagine the structural system of civil infrastructures using origami systems. We showed that thick origami can build large-scale load-carrying structures with multiple configurations for different applications. In the following Fig. 1 and the video, we show that the proposed origami structure can rapidly deploy from a densely packed configuration to form bridges, columns, and bus stops. The system can reconfigure between these shapes within 45 minutes.
The key contribution of this research is to integrate adaptability of different shapes and the load-carrying capability into uniformly thick origami-inspired structures. Mathematical equations are derived to ensure design of developable, flat-foldable, and uniformly thick origami vertices, which allows the proposed structure to have advantageous characteristics including dense packaging, load-carrying, and high adaptability.
Figure 1. Thick origami for adaptable civil structures. The same thick origami package can rapidly deploy from a small package and evolve to form different structural configurations such as bridges, columns, and bus stops. The reconfiguration between different shapes can happen in less than an hour.
I believe the proposed large-scale origami systems can enable us to reimage our built environment, where structures no longer needs to be stationary and waiting for the materials to degrade. We can dynamically retrofit, renew, and/or adapt existing structures to new shapes and functions without demolishing. Avoiding demolishing is a more sustainable way to evolve our infrastructure and the built environment.
This work is currently accepted at Nature Communications. Apart from the scientific advancement, I also hope to demonstrate the aesthetic aspects of this proposed structure using the following figures.
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