Development of a prototype deployable bridge based on origami skill

In recent years, the world has seen many natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, and tsunamis. We need to develop a new rescue structure in engineering skills to survive such disasters. We have to consider how to recover a damaged structure or how to rebuild a new type of rescue system as soon as possible after a disaster occurs because time is of the essence when trying to save lives. In this paper, we have created an optimum deployable bridge based on an origami folding structure determined by computer analysis. Such computer analysis based on origami is a skill that is useful for making new designs for light structures or achieving high stiffness in mechanics. To design a new emergency bridge called Mobilebridge (TM) we have originally obtained a shape-optimization structure with a new type of deployable bridge. We have recognised that this scissors structure is so useful to move this present bridge system by making an experimental prototype just after recovering a damaged bridge as soon as possible. (C) 2013 Elsevier By. All rights reserved.