Name: Anish Roy

Class Period: 1B

Home Campus: Heritage High School

Project Objective: The objective of this project is to make brainstorms of a working bridge and then test our ideas in a trial and error and objective format on the West Point Bridge constructor program. Furthermore, we were given the challenge of making the bridge cost as less as possible with the maximum being $400,000 with it having less than 120 members and 40 joints.

Learning Target: Understand how to both build working bridges and change the member and join locations so the bridge is able to withstand the force of the struct while also maintaining a proper price amount.

Personal Reflection: This project had a wild timeline for me because I was sick toward the end and then there were snow days. However, it was definitely a very fun project as we were given the opportunity to experiment and find the best design we could for ourselves. While fitting all the price requirements was quite challenging as I had to find the prefect fit where I would need to change what parts were used in some locations because of pricing problems. However, other than that, this project was pretty straight forward in what needed to be accomplished and how it needed to be done. Looking back at it, I believe that I should have researched what the different types of members I could have used were and that would've saved me a lot of time when deciding which parts to use and where. Furthermore, I think my prior experiences with trusses helped extensively on this project as I was able to distinguish and triangulate where the weakest points would be and as a consequence, it was easier for me to add supports in places that required them. I also believe that the price requirement really pushed me as I had to think outside of the box and figure out ways to make it so my construction costed under $400,000. I tried to make it lower however, when I did so, the bridge ended up collapsing, so I left it as it was because it seemed like it was functionally viable and aesthetically not displeasing. The failures also pushed me as it took me a whole class period and I was unable to find a good working solution under $400,000, however, after I played around with the software, the solutions essentially came to me.

Research Summary

Brainstorm Sketch #1

Brainstorm Sketch #2

Brainstorm Sketch #3

Revision Sketch of #2

Revision Sketch of #3 (Chosen base for Final)

Final Bridge Design & Simulation

Final Bridge Design Cost Report

Final Bridge Test Report

Personal Reflection and Conclusion Questions

Personal Reflection

Identify the characteristics of your bridge design.

My bridge utilized a triangle scheme as they have the strongest foundation and this helped my bridge withstand the most amount of weight. Furthermore, I used different types of members such as hollow members when I saw that some places didn't have that much tension, I changed it so that the price is lower in locations where there is barely no tension. Furthermore, the frame replicates the golden gate bridge as it works in real life, therein should probably work in the simulation.

Why did you make it with the chosen materials?

I chose to put quenched and tempered steel on the bottom because that the bottom needs the most structural integrity and thus needs better pricing. To make sure that the bottom can support the most amount of force, I chose that material. I used carbon steel for the rest because it is the most feasible. In its entirety My bridge consists of carbon joints, high-strength low alloy steel joints, as well as hollow carbon members, solid carbon member bars, and solid high-strength low alloy member bars.

What was the biggest change you made from your initial design?

The biggest change is that I used a more triangle based scheme in relation to the base, all the other previous ones are more triangles in relation to the middle of the high point and low point. Additionally, I built higher instead of longer and made the force spread out more instead of more congested, and to that end I removed more of the support members.

What new concepts or learning took place throughout the unit 2 section over trusses and structural design that you feel made the most impact on you personally?

I feel like understanding the importance of forces and the distribution of forces is the most important when considering what to do for the bridge project. I understood that different places of the structure garner more force and require more support than others. Additionally, I also understood how the direction of which way forces go is important, like this helped me understand how members would be affected as I was able to make connections of patterns between when there would be tension and where there would be compression.

Conclusion Questions

1. How does the type and direction of stress applied affect the selection of the material type and the cross-sectional area?

If stress is applied more directly on a member, then a more durable material needs to be used to counteracts such stress. This is why most bottoms of bridges are better with quenched and tempered steel.

2. How can the forces of compression and tension work together to make a stronger bridge?

If a bridge is made in a manner that effectively spreads out the stress put on the members of the bridge, then compression and tension can act as counteracting forces that work together to maintain the stability of the bridge. As compression pulls things together and tension stretches them out, they can be made into opposing forces through which a strong, stable bridge may be made.