Context: Civil Construction→ Bridges

Problem: Bridges use and waste lots of resources 

Solution: Create strong yet lightweight structures inspired by the honeycomb structure 

Result: Cheaper, takes less time to build, sturdy, and more sustainable 

Original idea: Transportation Bridge with heated roads (this evolves, but it is worth noting)

Changes made over the course of the project:

Similarities

Kept the same context: Civil Construction → Bridges. 

Followed through on iterating and getting feedback

Continued improving our honeycomb-inspired bridge design.

Differences

Changed our product from a transportation bridge with heated roads to a footbridge with a lightweight biomimetic design. 

Changed testing measurements

One of the more interesting results of our experiment was that the smaller the hexagons, the more weight the boards were able to hold.  The actual mass of the boards did not have as much of an impact on the holding capacity of the boards as the size of the hexagons.  This proves our original point that by adding hexagons, we can increase the loading capacity and structural integrity of a structure without actually needing any more material.

The small hexagon pattern lasted the same as the control board and longer than the medium hexagon pattern while having less mass.  This means our original goal of creating a design that could use less materials without losing structural integrity or load carrying capacity was accomplished.