In Juuka, Finland, a group of engineering students from the Eindhoven University of Technology have been inspired by one of the models designed by the great Leonardo da Vinci in 1501 to build what is already considered the largest ice bridge in the world .
Da Vinci’s original design consisted of building, with a single span, a bridge that would span 240 meters over the Golden Horn, the historic estuary at the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait that divides the Turkish city of Istanbul, although it was never reached to build. Here the model has been replicated with a version of the same bridge but 65 meters long and five meters wide.
It’s not actually made from ice alone, but from a mixture of ice and 2% paper fiber . It seems that a body made of this material should be unsafe, but the truth is that it is capable of supporting the weight of an average car. Once frozen, this material is three times harder and up to ten times stronger.
The bridge construction team will work in staggered shifts, with continuous work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for seven weeks. After the ice bridge melts in spring, the paper fiber will be used as compost.
Via | Mega brain