COLLEGE NEWS Leaning on Each Other Brings Italy to Norman Faculty, staff and students build Tower of Pisa replica as part of university anniversary By Becky Cavnar The Tower of Pisa didn’t appear in just a day. In fact, it took more than 800 years from the start of construction to its finished state. But with a capable team of faculty, staff and students from the University of Oklahoma Gallogly College of Engineering, a model one-tenth of the original size was conceived, constructed and erected in only a year. And now it stands – or leans – in Bizzell Memorial Library as one of the showpieces of the Galileo’s World exhibition celebrating the university’s 125th anniversary.
Pisa. With a Pantone color wheel in hand, we studied the marble colors and photographed the design motifs while the others explored the tower, the degree of lean and the entire complex.
The team brought together multiple engineering disciplines to incorporate the landmark’s famous lean, its iconic architecture and paint colors, and an Archimedean screw to illustrate Galileo’s legendary experiments conducted from the original tower in Italy. Their work illustrates the complex and intricate nature of engineering while celebrating the university’s history of creativity and collaboration. For a glimpse into how the team recreated the iconic structure, several project leaders described their roles and collaborative efforts.
Robert Huck – Director of Applied Research and Unmanned Systems; Designed the tower’s façade material
OU Engineer: The model of the tower is not an exact replica but rather a studied adaptation of the original. What research did you conduct to make the replica appear as close to the original as possible?
We researched which material would work best Theresa Marks, GCoE assistant dean for Academic Student Services, to construct the tower. It congratulates Kerry Magruder, curator needed to be lightweight, of the History of Science Collections, on rigid and machinable. completion of the project. Using knowledge of digital machining and additive manufacturing, we chose Expanded Polystyrene or Styrofoam.
Theresa Marks – Assistant Dean for Academic Student Services; Tower of Pisa project point of contact and façade artist
OU Engineer: The replica is much more than a visual display. Describe the interactive nature of the exhibit.
We wanted to be certain that our model was instantly recognizable as the Leaning Tower of Pisa and that it exuded the true essence of Pisan Gothic design. Photographs were helpful during the planning phases, but visiting the tower in person was essential to bringing our replica to life. During a study abroad program in Italy, I traveled with 18 engineering majors to analyze the Tower of
John Dyer – Research Assistant Professor and electrical engineer; Designed the automated ball drop experiment One of the famous experiments attributed to Galileo involved dropping two balls of different masses from the Leaning Tower of Pisa to demonstrate that their time of descent was independent of their mass. Although the experiment is considered a legend, we wanted to replicate this experiment to demonstrate its importance in history and to engineering. So we investigated different ways to automatically raise and drop the balls, measuring their fall time. Although not the simplest mechanism to build, we chose an Archimedean screw lift for raising the balls to the top of the tower. Chris Ramseyer – Director of the Fears Structural Engineering Laboratory; Designed and built the tower’s steel frame, foundation, railing, monitor supports, marble tile floor, ball delivery and recovery system and Archimedean screw
KOKH Fox 25 news reporter Mitch English interviews a civil engineering student, Amanda Martinez, who assisted with the painting and installation of the Pisa tower.
26 OU ENGINEER
I remember thinking that the Archimedean screw was genius. But building one that was nearly 16 feet tall and vertical while lifting both balls at the same time? I thought you were crazy!