Introduction

Civil Engineering: Civil engineering is the part of engineering that works with the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings. This field of engineering works heavily with physics and math to ensure that certain structures are stable and safe to use. Not only do civil engineers need to make a functional project , they need to design and manipulate it in order to save as much money as possible. Now, civil engineers can use virtual programs to confirm that their design is usable. Civil engineers also make civilian life safer and more efficient. For example, they can do this by designing flood prevention projects or by making new roads and highways to lower traffic.

Building Science: Building science involves the acknowledgement of the surrounding factors that affect buildings and structures. For example, the sunlight, building material, and location are all examined in order to make a safe and stable structure. Additionally, safety and luxury circuits such as ventilation, heating, lighting, electricity, fire protection, and renewable energy are all taken in to factor to optimize the building's efficiency. Building science uses these factors during the design and construction phase to prevent building failure.

DESIGN PROCESS - Bridge Designer:

1. Define the problem: Design a bridge meeting the requirements that would be under 300,000 dollars since the initial price was at 360,000 dollars.

2. Generate alternative solutions: Increasing/decreasing size and changing type of tube which made the total price lower.

3. Evaluate and select a solution: Used hollow tubes and increased dimensions to save money. Also lowered the size of the tube to reach either 0.40 compression force or 0.45 tension force.

4. Detail the design: We kept going through each member to check if we could make it smaller while maintaining the tension or compression force under the requirement. After multiple occurrences of trial and error, the bridge cost was under the 300,000 dollars, which was our initial goal.

5. Defend the design: After multiple occurrences of trial and error, the bridge cost was under the 300,000 dollars, which was our initial goal. Additionally, each member of the bridge met the requirement for tension and compression force.

6. Manufacture and test: We tested the bridge through the animation and it was stable and met the requirement for the compression and the net force.

7. Evaluate the performance: The truck was able to pass through the bridge without it breaking. Additionally, the bridge cost was lowered by 60,000 dollars. Finally, the "safety" requirements were met for the bridge.

8. Prepare the final design report: By manipulating the size of each member, our group was able to design a bridge that be cheaper than a bridge made up of only carbon steel while performing the same function.

Bridge Designer

ModelSmart3D

LINK TO PROJECT EVALUATION QUESTIONS:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1NL6AKRnyX8_6cVafPwRBew849QDiUhWvRDQCw-R65SI/edit?usp=sharing

LINK TO RESEARCH PAPER:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tuvtLQ9bO1HYk-i0nq0wCTrm3rnC_cmRAZaqsMxJFgQ/edit