Reciprocal frames designed by Leonardo. An analytical approach

Abstract

It is a topic to refer Leonardo when we introduce any branch of the art, science o technique because his manuscripts ever contain news that before him never where explored, nor profited even later. This can be understood because these manuscripts never where published till five centuries later. Observations referred to design of structures are the less known and otherwise the less studied. Really the most important problems about this subject are contained in the Codex I of Madrid, some in the Codex Atlantic, and less in the Codex II of Madrid. Other books do not refer these questions. Leonardo, in his drawings, manifested an obsessive search for solutions to the problem of how to span great distances with short pieces. In his notebooks, we find reiterative diagrams which seem to be searching for variants of frames capable of constituting structures, mainly roofs, floors and bridges, which could cover large distances by using manageable pieces that could easily be supplied. In this paper we analyze with actual computer programs how his proposals could be achieved and we establish some conclusions about it.