{"id":1746,"date":"2013-05-28T06:30:21","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T13:30:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/compositesandarchitecture.com\/?p=1746"},"modified":"2013-05-28T11:03:22","modified_gmt":"2013-05-28T18:03:22","slug":"an-abstract-sex-goddess","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kreysler.zaab.org\/?p=1746","title":{"rendered":"An Abstract Sex Goddess"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/em>The towering, hour-glass shaped sculpture in the Effnerplatz, Munich, Germany, is called Mae West, although it has a far more dramatic waist than the voluptuous 1930\u2019s comedienne it is named after.\u00a0 The original Mae was, perhaps, a bit hefty by today\u2019s swimsuit-model standard, but her somewhat abstract namesake sculpture need not worry about weight: constructed of carbon-fiber reinforced polymer, she\u2019s probably the lightest 52m\/170-ft tall sex symbol in Europe.<\/p>\n

Mae West is made of carbon-fiber tubes that are wet-wound using an innovative, mandrel-less process.\u00a0 \u201cWet-wound\u201d means that the carbon fiber is wetted with liquid resin during the winding process, and then cured to \u201cfreeze\u201d the shape.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0If fact, it is because of the specialized technological capability of a German fabricator that the sculpture is structurally feasible. Carbon Grosssbauteile GmbH (CGB, Wallerstein, Germany) has the ability to make carbon composite pipes up to 42m\/137.8 ft in length and 800 mm\/31.5 inches in diameter. (A very detailed technical article explains the process in Composites World magazine<\/a>.\u00a0 It is only summarized here.)<\/p>\n

The artist who conceived the work, Rita McBride, formerly from New York and now a professor of sculpture at the D\u00fcsseldorf (Germany) Academy of Arts, was one of eight artists invited in 2002 to submit proposals for an Effnerplatz sculpture.\u00a0 McBride\u2019s winning entry was conceived as a carbon-fiber work from the beginning, inspired by the recent examples of the material being used in bike design.\u00a0\u00a0 She originally imagined telescoping carbon tubes.\u00a0 The ability of CGB to produce single long tubes made the telescoping idea unnecessary.<\/p>\n

A single 40m\/131-ft-long composite pipe for the sculpture weighs 1,102 lbs.\u00a0 In steel, it would weigh 6,614 lbs., more than six times as much.\u00a0 This huge strength-to-mass advantage is one of the hallmarks of composite construction.<\/p>\n

In this project, both fiber and resin were customized to the load requirements of the sculpture.\u00a0 Fiber orientation and winding pattern were also engineered to this specific project. Pipe dimensions and winding patterns were designed using CADWIND software from Material SA (Brussels, Belgium), along with a computer design program that is proprietary to CGB. They calculated the finite element model (FEM) mesh, or fiber architecture, using ESAcomp 4.1 structural analysis and design software for composites materials from Componeering (Helsinki, Finland). The final pipe design features 20 plies of longitudinal, circumferential and low-angle helical fibers.<\/p>\n

The City of Munich raised concerns about the safety of the sculpture, probably the tallest carbon fiber structure ever built.\u00a0 A system of carbon-wrapped steel pipe was developed for the lowest level of the sculpture.\u00a0 While the design suggested that it could have been built exclusively from carbon composite, the steel gives an extra measure of safety, including crash-worthiness (since it sits in the midst of traffic).<\/p>\n

The winding method is an ingenious, mandrel-less process.\u00a0 The winding machine has a steel cylinder at each end of the pipe-length, with pins sticking out radially from the cylinder.\u00a0 The machine winds resin-wetted filament around a pin, carries it to the other end of the pipe-length and around another pin and back again.\u00a0 When all the longitudinal threads have been strung, they define a pipe.\u00a0 A curing hood is lowered over it to make the shape permanent.\u00a0 Then the stiffened filaments serve as a mandrel for further winding in other orientations.\u00a0 It\u2019s almost like building a bridge: if you can string one cable from point A to point B, you can string many.\u00a0 Enough cables define a bridge, and then the structure can be filled in and beefed up.<\/p>\n

The aesthetic \u201cmeaning\u201d of Mae West may vary depending on the beholder.\u00a0 Its shape is said to relate to the round shapes of the Effnerplatz and the movement of traffic on the Mittlerer Ring road that encircles the inner city district.\u00a0 Its significance in terms of material science and structural engineering may be more profound.\u00a0 It is to composites, perhaps, a bit of what the Eiffel Tower was to iron construction in its day: a highly visible and engaging proof of concept.<\/p>\n

images via Composites World<\/em>\n\t\t\t