New origami-inspired system turns flat-pack tubes into strong building materials
materialsscienceandengineering:
New origami-inspired system turns flat-pack tubes into strong building materials
Engineers at RMIT University have designed an innovative tubular structural system that can be packed flat for easier transport and pop up into strong building materials.
This breakthrough is made possible by a self-locking system inspired by curved-crease origami – a technique that uses curved crease lines in paper folding.
Lead researchers, Dr Jeff (Ting-Uei) Lee and Distinguished Professor Mike (Yi Min) Xie, said bamboo, which has internal structures providing natural reinforcement, inspired the tube design.
“This self-locking system is the result of an intelligent geometric design,” said Lee from RMIT’s School of Engineering.