Week 2: Civil & Mechanical Engineering

Civil Engineering: branch of engineering that primary deals with the construction of physical elements that interact with the surrounding environment; civil engineers are responsible for building things like dams, roads, and bridges.

Mechanical Engineering: branch of engineering that primary deals with the building of machines and mechanical systems. Mechanical engineers are responsible for the building of things like motors and robots.

Materials Engineering: branch of engineering that primary deals with the development, process and testing of materials used to create a range of products from computer chips and aircraft wings to golf clubs and biomedical devices.

What we did:

We utilized our knowledge of forces and geometry to construct a Balsa wood bridge that can support the weight of the car with its complementary bricks while being shaken by the earthquake simulator.

Step 5: Balsa-wood Bridge & Test

Principles:

Pythagorean Theorem (Vectors)

Truss Bridge Principles

Tension and compression forces

What we would do differently to improve?

• Make the road of the bridge smoother.
• Finish the base of the bridge first.

Obstacles:

• Hot glue gun danger
• Handling the balsa wood sticks... They kept breaking!

Successes:

• The robot car worked generally well
  • Got off track by a few degrees due to bump on bridge
• The bridge survived
• Withstanding the earthquake
• We were the only group to be successful in all 3 challenges
• Usage of materials
  • Conserved hot glue use

What we learned:

• Reinforcing the bottom of the bridge is just as important (if not more) than the top
• Simplicity is often good
• Teamwork