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strong bridge references recycled materials - Google Search

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truss bridge design straw bridge suspension bridge arch bridge sustainable recycled plastic bottles design sustainable bridges balsa wood craft

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1.Do you like to teach?

2.Do you ever go on field trips?

3.What is your favorite subject to teach?

4.Do you have class parties? What are they like? Do you like them? Does your class like them?

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Learning by practice is always the best, says civil engineering professor Amr ElRagaby. That's what makes a contest to design and build a model bridge from popsicle sticks a valuable experience for his students.

"They can understand the principles, but when they have a chance to apply the theories, they learn something they will never forget," he says.

Students of his third-year class in Finite Element for Analysis and Design will test the load-bearing capacity of their structures Wednesday, and invite the campus community to watch. The competition measures their skills in analyzing, designing and constructing truss bridges built only with craft sticks, toothpicks, and glue. Each bridge will measure 750 mm and will be subjected to a load test until it collapses.

"Failure is the ultimate goal, because only then can we know the ultimate limits of their strengths and flexibility," says Dr. ElRagaby.

The competition offers cash prizes in three categories:

highest ratio of load borne to structure mass and deformation;

most accurate prediction of maximum load; and

most creative and innovative design.

The testing is open for public viewing and begins at 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 31, in the Industrial Courtyard, Centre for Engineering Innovation.

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Model competition to test engineering students' bridge-building skills

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The public is invited to watch engineering students test the strength of their model bridges on Wednesday.

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As a part of the Engineering 210 course at Cal Poly Humboldt, students were tasked to work in groups of 3 or 4 to build a truss bridge out of balsa wood and super glue. Our group included David Topete, Kong Vang, and Andrew Kizer (listed left to right in Figure 1) and we are the KAD Group. This page is designed to showcase the bridge we built including the design, how it was made, and how it performed.

The class project had specific requirements and parameters that each bridge must follow for both design and building:

The bridge must span 36 in and rest between 2 surfaces with a 1/2 overlay on either side.

The bridge must have a minimum height of 4 in

The bridge must have a minimum width of 4 in

The bridge must support a minimum weight of 24 lbs

The bridge must be made of balsa wood and super glue only.

Our design was modeled after a typical Howe Bridge design utilizing right triangles that mirrored over the center. However, prototyping of this design was required to understand the best way to build the bridge and utilize our resources most efficiently.

Our first prototype was made of plastic members, small plastic plates to connect the joints, and metal screws to hold everything together. The purpose of this prototype was to test the construction of the Howe design on an actual scale of the project (see Figure 2). Although our with the materials being used, getting an exact scale model was not possible due to the members being longer than the desired height and width.

Our first prototype also allowed the testing of how forces would be applied to the bridge (see Figure 3). By applying weights to the center of the bridge and using sensors along various members close to the weights, we were able to determine which members would be taking the most force and thus allowed us to adjust our design to reinforce those members. While prototyping, it was found that the cross members along the top and bottom of the bridge took very little force compared to most of the side members.

Our second prototype was created to practice cutting the necessary angles for each diagonal member and to test the best types of cuts. This prototype helped us determine the two sided cuts needed to align all the center lines of each member to add extra reinforcement in the joints.

The final dimensions of our bridge were 36" by 5" by 5". Our bridge utilized 1/2" by 1/2" balsa wood for the side members, 1/4" by 1/4" balsa wood for the cross members, and 1/8" by 3" balsa wood for the gusset plates along the side and top of the bridge. All the members along the sides and the cross members had center lines aligned at the joint with 1.5" by 1.5" gusset plates covering each joint along the sides of the bridge and slightly smaller pieces for the top of the bridge.

Our bridge was able to hold 201 lbs and had a mass of 303 grams. The final load to mass ratio after conversions was 301 meaning that the bridge could hold 301 times its weight making it the winner of our lab period and also bending the metal rod that spanned the width of the bridge for the weights to hang from.

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As a part of the Engineering 210 course at Cal Poly Humboldt, students were tasked to work in groups of 3 or 4 to build a truss bridge out of balsa wood and super glue. Our group included David Topete, Kong Vang, and Andrew Kizer (listed left to right in Figure 1) and we are the KAD Group.

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He's an American who teaches 4th grade at Shekou International School (SIS) in Shenzhen, China.

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Unit 3: Cultural Partnerships Project Rubric  