
Izzy & Danny's Bridge
Bridge Design Description


Brainstorming
As beginners, this was the first project that we had in our statics engineering class. At first, we did not have a clear direction for how to begin the design process. As a result, we experienced a few challenges given that this was our first hands on experience with the software, materials, and applying our knowledge thus far to a real-world scenario. We began by individually drawing out designs on paper. It took us coming up with a handful of designs to get to the final two, one from each of us. The most important factor we prioritized was having a strong foundation for our bridge.
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Final Design
Ultimately, we decided to design a bridge consisting of right triangles and various members, in order to ensure that our bridge had a strong support system. Given that triangles are the most structurally sound shape, we determined that including them throughout our design would help to equalize the loads on all sides. We also considered that designing it in that manner would be more simple, whilst maintaining effectiveness.

Design Specification Table


Analysis & Construction of bridge
In terms of analysis, there are various aspects to consider. First, is the use of a method. The method we used to assess our bridge is the method of sections. This method allows us take a section of the bridge and cut it, so that we can then analyze it using the skills that we have learned throughout the course. We began this process by cutting through the bridge and following this, we went on to take a moment at any point of the section we cut. After that, we found an unknown and then summed up the forces in both the x and y-axis. Next, we used the Truss Simulator software to construct the design of the bridge as well as calculate the hypothetical loads in the bridge and see how it would perform when various loads were applied to it. Unfortunately, our hand writing calculations do not verify what the Truss simulator gave us. There must have been an error in the beginning of our analysis that we did wrong.
Body Diagram


Testing Results & Failure Analysis



