Week 3: Bridges

Types of Engineering

Civil Engineering is an engineering field that focuses on the design, development, and construction of structural works that usually serve to the general public, including roads, bridges, canals, pipelines, railways, or buildings.

Building Science is the study of the physical behavior of buildings, the field consists of principles from engineering, architecture, chemistry, physics, and biology.

ModelSmart3D Bridge

3D Printed Bridge

TinkerCAD Bridge

3D Printed Bridge

ModelSmart3D + TinkerCAD Bridge

We followed the instructions on the slideshows to create this the ModelSmart3D bridge (this is not an accurate representation of our bridge)

We made a simple bridge design for the TinkerCAD bridge (also not an accurate representation of our bridge)

Bridge Design Process

Brainstorming whiteboard

Brainstorming & Planning

We made a few initial designs that we decided not to use, as drawn on the board on the right side. On the bottom left and top left, we drew the initial designs of our final bridge. The bottom left is the broad design of the tables + bridges. The top left is a top view of the piers (diamond shape). Near the middle of the board, we wrote notes of our results with the paper bridge tests. In short, more trusses --> sturdier bridge.

Piers

The piers are made out of the wide planks and are 15 inches tall. We attached a 6in x 3in base with 3in x 3in squares on the sides of the base. Next, we attached 9in x 1.5in rectangles to support each of the four sides of the pier. Finally, we cut small slots into the top of the pier for the tracks to insert into.

When we were cutting the small slots into the pier, we cut near the corner and we were worried that it would damage the strctural stability of the stilts. Therefore, we glued more thick planks onto the sides of the top of the stilts to reinforce the tops.

The two piers, side-by-side (before reinforcement)

One pier (after reinforcement)

Pier #1

Pier #2

Inside the Piers

Inside the piers, we attached a series of trusses to support the piers. Additionally, we accidentally misplaced one of the planks in the pier so that it could easily fold in on itself. Therefore, we attached several trusses on that plank to hold it in place.

Tracks

The tracks are made of alternating planks sticking out on the side to make the track a length of 5 feet. Then, we added some sticks to the sides in order to widen the track to make sure the cart fits on the track. Finally, we added guard rails to sides of the tracks.

Final Bridge

For the final design, we inserted the tracks into the slots on the piers and connected the tracks with sticks and glue.

After testing our bridges, we concluded that our bridge was able to hold around 11 bricks. It was able to break the record from previous years which was 7 bricks.

Research Paper

Research Paper G12 Week 3.docx

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