Week 9 - Bridge Process

Over the past 9 weeks, I have realized that my knowledge on Bridges and conducting analysis have expanded tremendously. I have become more familiar working with bridge design software such as WPBD and K'NEX to construct prototypes. Along with that, I learned to conduct truss analysis on the K’NEX Bridge by applying the “Method of Joints” and using the online software called the Bridge designer. The truss analysis enabled me to understand how tension and compression plays a major role in the designing process. Furthermore, I discovered that there are several factors that needs to be taken in to consideration during the designing process. The fact that attaching more membranes to the connectors increases the tensile pull-out force, changed my designing perspective. In conclusion, I learned the engineering aspects of Bridge Design process and understood the issues that will engage in the field of designing large structures.

During the previous week in class, our group remodeled the K’NEX bridge with the new set of constraints for our K’NEX Bridge. The Bridge redesigned to span 36 inches with a minimum width of 3.5 inches. From the information that was shown online, our group attached more membranes to the connectors to increase the pull-out force. To reduce the price, we also decided to replace the small membranes with longer membranes to reduce the amount of connectors. Our group conducted more forensic analysis and concluded that the bridge collapsed by being twisting. Therefore, the bridge went through more modification to allow the bridge to withheld twisting. This week in lab, we will be focusing majority of the time redesigning and conducting our final K’NEX Bridge test.