Week 2: Structures
Use the buttons below to navigate to each subpage in this week
Civil Engineering:
Civil engineering is a specialization that involves the design, construction and maintenance of industrial and natural structures, examples of which was public structures such as roads, canals, bridges, dams, railroads and pipelines. This type of engineering is forever evolving and growing, and because of this each and every year new revolutionary buildings are built that stretch the imagination and are a combination of an evolution in the design process and used materials.
Building Science:
Building science is an area of science that is concerned with the analysis of buildings and how they can be affected by a variety of factors. Subsection in this area include building physics, architectural science and applied sciences, as they all in one way or another share knowledge and areas of interest. People in this field are often called to assist in the designing of structures that have to deal with extreme conditions, such as tall structures or structures that are built in extreme locations.
Design Process
- Define the Problem
We need to create two bridges, each of which with specific specifications in two different programs.
- Generate Alternative Solutions
create a simple bridge with minimal supports but practical.
create bridge that is tall and overly sturdy at the expense of cost.
Combine the two previous approaches to find a equilibrium of cost and strength.
- Evaluate and Select a Solution
The first two solutions will not work as they both sacrifice one thing for another, which with our specifications does not work. Therefore the last solution is the best one as it combines the best parts of two previous solutions by combining strength and cost.
- Detail the Design
Our group spent time to refine each bridge so that there was a good equilibrium between cost and strength, we looked through multiple structural tests to see which parts of each bridge should be made weaker and which parts should be made stronger for an optimal result.
- Defend the Design
As a group, we looked over the design and decided that this is the most cost-effective, sturdy solution. A bridge with minimal supports proved to be ineffective as it collapsed when tested. On the other hand, an overly sturdy bridge proved to be too costly and unnecessary. Overall, the last design was the best solution.
- Manufacture and Test
The Bridge Designer bridge was tested through the simulation. A truck was driven over the bridge. We ran the simulation several times. We tested the ModelSmart 3D bridge with the inbuilt stress test.
- Evaluate the Performance
The Bridge Designer bridge worked very well as it we very inexpensive and also met all the requirements. Because of this trucks could easily cross the bridge with minimal strain on the bridge. The ModelSmart3D bridge, also succeeded as after running the inbuilt stress test we were give a success.
- Prepare the Final Design Report
We have spent most of Thursday completing the web page and everything else that is needed to complete the project.