International UTM Bridge Model Competition 2019 (UTMBridge 2019)

| 22-25 September 2019 |

written on March 21, 2022

Among the competitions that I have participated in, UTMBridge 2019 was the most challenging and memorable competition for me so far. Our team has been preparing for this competition for 3 months. We needed to submit our proposal with project brief and drawings one month before the competition for initial selection purposes. Bridge design was a new topic for us, so we did a lot of research when designing our bridge.

Overview of UTMBridge 2019

UTMBridge 2019 was a bi-annual bridge model testing competition organised by School of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. This was the 11th time that UTM has organised this event. The objectives of the competition were to encourage students to use their knowledge and creativity to solve problems and expand their knowledge in practical design projects, enhance interpersonal and professional skills, encourage innovation, and foster effective relationships between students and industry. It was held at the Dewan Sultan Iskandar, UTM from 22 September 2019 to 25 September 2019.

This competition was opened to undergraduate students from local and international higher learning institutions and Form 4, 5 and 6 students of secondary schools in Malaysia. Each group consisted of a maximum of five members. A total of 128 teams participated in this competition. 78 teams were from institutions of higher education including international groups from Indonesia and Australia, while another 50 were from secondary schools throughout Malaysia.

In addition to the materials provided by the organiser, other materials such as paper, thread, straws, masking tape can be used during the model construction. In the competition, only two materials were provided by the organiser, namely:

24 x Balsa stick

(5 x 5 x 1000mm)

2 x Balsa sheet

(1.5 x 100 x 1200mm)

The theme for UTMBridge 2019 was a vertical-curved bridge. Each team was required to prepare a proposal for their bridge model design concept for initial selection purposes. If successfully selected, each team had to prepare one A3 poster and 3 minutes multimedia presentation for the exhibition purpose during the competition. The bridge model must be constructed on 23 September 2019 at UTM. All models were tested with 5 kg load which was applied using four strings. The string was equipped with a hook at the end. The models were assessed based on lightness, strength, creativity, buildability, poster and multimedia.

Feature of the Model

Model specifications

Clear span between supports should be 1000 mm. The overall length should be not less than 1200 mm.
The model must be simply supported.
The deck slab of the bridge should be vertically curve from 0.0 mm at support to 100 mm at mid-span and must be part of the bridge structure.
The width of the deck should be a minimum of 120 mm and can accommodate dual carriageway of at least 50 mm wide each.
Maximum height is 300 mm.
Base area at both ends must not be greater than 100 x 100 mm.
There should be NO STRUCTURE below the deck.
Connection : glue or tie (thread).

My Story

It was OCULUS - A Latin word with the meaning of "eye" was our group name. This group name was inspired by the design concept of our bridge model, which was Eye of Malaysia Bridge. Our team consisted of 5 members from Years 2, 3 and 4. Overall, 3 teams from our university took part in UTMBridge 2019 while two teams were from our faculty.

Before competition

When I first heard about this competition, it was during semester break. Thanks to today's advanced technology, we
were able to conduct our discussions through Whatsapp. We encountered many problems when discussing the architectural concept of the bridge. Many ideas came up, but we were still not satisfied and we still felt that some elements were missing that made the bridge look ordinary. In the end, we reoriented the main objectives of our design. Our team was made up of different races and this gave us the inspiration to design a bridge with Malaysian symbolism. This was how we came up with our final bridge design.

After finalising our design, another challenge we faced was how to turn the design into reality. Unlike the SES competitions, which only required cutting and sanding balsa woods during model construction, we had to bend the balsa sticks into curves during the bridge model construction. We only had one practice session before the competition. During the practice, we found that it was very challenging to bend the balsa sticks into curves as the balsa sticks tended to bounce back to their original shapes. Besides that, we had to ensure that the span between supports was 1000 mm when bending the balsa sticks. We solved this problem by using a template made by our team leader. By using this template, it has helped us save a lot of time. Kudos to our team leader.

We have analysed our bridge model using SAP2000 to determine its displacement when loads were applied. In addition to using the software, we also tested our bridge model with a 5 kg load. Besides the preparation of poster and multimedia, there was a model exhibition on day 4 of the competition. In other words, we had to decorate our booth to display our bridge model. We planned to have a construction site and park when presenting our bridge model on exhibition day. I still remember I spent several nights with a team member making the decorative items. It was one of the fondest memories for me during this competition preparation.

The day of competition

[Day 1 | 22 September 2019]

We departed from Perlis on 22 September 2019 around 5 am. Supposedly, we should have left earlier, but due to some circumstances, our trip was delayed by a few hours. It was indeed a very unforgettable journey for me. I think this might be my first and last experience travelling from North to South of Malaysia, which took approximately 10 hours. Thanks to the bus drivers, who took turns driving and brought us to our destination safely.

Day 1 was the registration day for the competition. After registration, we returned to the hotel. A team member and I continued to make the final effort for our exhibition, we made the decorative items for the exhibition until midnight.

[Day 2 | 23 September 2019]

After the model construction briefing, we started our model construction at 9.15 am. We were given 8 hours 15 minutes to construct our bridge model. The process went smoothly. After that, we continued to prepare for our booth. On that day, each of us seemed to have forgotten about hunger and devoted ourselves to our bridge model and booth preparation. We didn't have time to have a proper meal and we had our first meal around 11 pm.

[Day 3 & 4 | 24 & 25 September 2019]

Day 3 and 4 were the days for model exhibition, poster and multimedia presentation and model testing. The model testing and presentation for the participating teams from higher learning institutions were on day 3 while the secondary school category was on day 4. Overall, it was a very relaxing two days for us. We walked around to see the bridge models and booth decorations from other participants. I was amazed by their creativity and design philosophy and I have learned a lot from them.

The award ceremony was on day 4 and this marked the end of the competition. The competition was intense and the marks for each team was very close. We didn't win any awards in this competition. However, it was worth mentioning that our poster and multimedia ranked 16 out of 78 in this competition which was beyond our expectations. Although we lost the game, I gained a lot in terms of knowledge, experience and friendship. We encountered many problems along the way, but we solved them one by one through teamwork. This made me believe even more that teamwork can achieve infinite possibilities. A big thanks to the organisers and my teammates for making this happen.

Team OCULUS

| IT’S NOT JUST A BRIDGE. IT PRESERVES MALAYSIA'S SYMBOLIC CULTURAL HERITAGE. |

Design Concepts

Wau Bulan

The main idea of designing this bridge was based on Malaysia’s cultural heritage. Hence, the architectural design concept for the bridge was inspired by Wau Bulan. Wau Bulan is an intricately designed Malaysian moon-kite. It is one of Malaysia's national symbols and also a symbol of the unique heritage. The front view of the bridge looked like the upper part of Wau Bulan and triangle as the head of Wau. This bridge consisted of representative elements of Malaysia and, in addition to being a bridge, it preserved Malaysia's symbolic cultural heritage.

Eyes

From the combination of structures from the curved arc of the Wau wing, it formed a geometry that looked like an eye from the top view. The eye shape geometry was formed by intersecting both of the Wau wing curved arcs. A circle was put at the centre of the curved arc. Thus, based on this eye shape, this bridge was named as Eye of Malaysia Bridge.

Pigeon wings

When looking at the side view of the bridge, the eye shape curved arc looked like the pigeon wings which gave the symbol of love and peace. It was like Malaysians of different races living together in peace and harmony.