Origami wooden board structure can bear load and can be folded

Using laser cutting technology and joining triangular panels of uniform thickness, the team of engineers created structures that can withstand heavy loads.

Engineers Evgueni T. Filipov and Yi Zhu at the University of Michigan, USA, have developed a modular origami structure that can be folded up, consisting of high-strength wood fiberboards with high applicability, Design Boom reported on March 20. This structure can be used as a bridge, to build a habitat on the Moon, to be used as an emergency shelter, walls, floors, columns, etc.

The team used a laser cutter to shape the medium-density fiberboard panels. They then joined the individual panels together using aluminum hinges and locking pins. These two components turned the fiberboard panels into an origami-like structure. The triangular panels are directionally independent and can be installed in any orientation needed. They have symmetrical joint holes on both sides.

Yi Zhu said that to build common structures like bridges and bus stops with origami, mathematical tools were needed to directly estimate thickness during the early design stages. The team later discovered that uniformity in the origami structure was key to making the fiberboard able to withstand loads. “If you add one level of thickness here and another level of thickness there, it becomes mismatched. When you put loads on these parts, warping starts to occur,” Evgueni T. Filipov explained.

Many current origami systems lack uniformity in thickness, says engineer Evgueni T. Filipov. “When that is achieved, combined with appropriate locking devices, the applied weight can be distributed evenly throughout the structure,” he says. In the new study, the team shows how they turned reinforced fiberboard panels into a 4-meter-long footbridge, a 2-meter-high bus stop, and a 4-meter-high column.

Origami fiberboard construction technology could help quickly rebuild facilities and systems damaged or destroyed in natural disasters. It could also be deployed in previously impractical places like outer space or the Moon, or in structures that need to be built and dismantled quickly, such as concert and event stages.

Thu Thao (According to Design Boom )

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