Spine of a blue whale. Zoological Museum Copenhagen, Scientific collection. Photo K. Hertz
Pearl-chain reinforcement is a curved compression zone like a spine of a skeleton designed as a chain of prefabricated segments of a strong material assembled by one or more prestressing wires. Casting the compression zone into a light material, the compressive strength of the zone may be used almost fully, because the light material hinders buckling of the zone. This is comparable to the way a spine of a skeleton interacts and is kept in place by the surrounding soft parts of a body.