SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
from the 3D-printed-deeplearn-cloudscale-IoT...but-where's-the-blockchain-filling? dept.
MX3D:
MX3D is 3D printing a 12 meter long stainless steel pedestrian bridge, which will be in place and crossing one of Amsterdam's canals in the old city center by 2019. We have teamed up with a consortium of mathematicians, IoT specialists and e[sic] to develop a smart sensor network to monitor the bridge's health in real time. A great example of data centric engineering.
[...] The team from The Alan Turing Institute is responsible for designing and installing a sensor network on the bridge. These sensors will collect structural measurements such as strain, displacement and vibration, and will measure environmental factors such as air quality and temperature, enabling engineers to measure the bridge's health in real time and monitor how it changes over its lifespan. This data will also allow us to "teach" the bridge to understand what is happening on it, how many people are crossing it and how quickly.
The data from the sensors will be input into a 'digital twin' of the bridge, a living computer model that will reflect the physical bridge with growing accuracy in real time as the data comes in. The performance and behaviour of the physical bridge can be tested against its digital twin, which will provide valuable insights to inform designs for future 3D printed metallic structures. It will also enable the current 3D bridge to be modified to suit any required changes in use, ensuring it is safe for pedestrians under all conditions.
Bridging a canal is kind of a cop-out. Putting piranha in the water would at least make it sporting.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @01:24AM (7 children)
A solution looking for a problem?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @01:42AM (2 children)
It's a nice swoopy shape, but it might be better to call it "public art"...that also happens to be a bridge.
Long term, I think some oversized I-beams have a better chance of surviving, without all the fancy sensors and monitoring system. Certainly the standard solution would be much cheaper over the life cycle.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @06:37AM (1 child)
That kind of public art has a name: architecture.
(Score: 3, Touché) by FatPhil on Tuesday October 23 2018, @02:52PM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 23 2018, @02:09AM (3 children)
Not sure about the solution, but the problem is, bridges are expensive, and difficult to build and to maintain. And, from time to time, bridges fail. There is little to suggest that 3D printed stainless steel is "the answer" yet - maybe it is, and maybe it isn't. But, they are making the attempt, and people are learning from the attempt.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/florida-international-university-pedestrian-bridge-collapses-miami-florida-live-updates-2018-03-15/ [cbsnews.com]
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:08PM (2 children)
Runaway wrote :
And the solution to that is to use stainless steel? Have you any idea how much that stuff costs?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 23 2018, @12:38PM
But 3d printing!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 23 2018, @01:49PM
Stainless has a premium price tag - but it don't rust. I don't know how it will work out, but the stainless could potentially outlast other choices by great enough a factor to be worth every cent. Or - it could fail, and prove a disaster. It's probably worth the attempt.