Designing A Bridge Made From Commercial Pasta

The purpose of the project is to investigate the Construction Engineering infrastructure and process involved with the designing and building of the Goodwill Bridge.

Initially, suspension bridges before 1940 were made of piers, towers, wires, anchorages, and roadways. Piers were the main foundation for the suspension bridges. There usually were two of them, which were made out of cement and were entrenched in ground underneath the body of water that the bridge was spanned across. Towers were built on top of the piers to provide a means of connection for the roadways and wires. Wires were connected to the towers, roadways, and anchorages to provide tension support for the weight of the bridge. The anchorages were large cement platforms that were planted into the ground on either side of the land so that the wires could be connected to it. Lastly, the roadways were the main point of the suspension bridge. They usually were wide enough to provide four lanes of traffic and stretched from one side of the bridge to the other. This was the basic design of the suspension bridges

We needed to fully utilise our knowledge by applying all the basic concepts in physics such as dynamic equilibrium and knowing the stiffness of the materials to build strong miniature bridge using given items to withstand the weight applied.

Calculations were performed to determine the effectiveness of the design of the platform. Allowing for a safety factor of 1.5 times the design weight of 10kg and considering the bridge must not be overdesigned; plans were made for the bridge to fail at 25kg, 2.5 times that of the design weight. According to the calculations, the bridge would hold a load of over 15kg and experience failure at 20kg in the members. These calculations were later disproven in the testing, breaking 8kg earlier than expected, due to unforseen errors. An analysis of the bridge design and calculations has been included at the end of this report.

Structurally, the bridge is a composition of two key metals steel (2 x 1011 Nm-2) and aluminum. These metals are common in bridges due to their properties of high strength and

Yarden: While creating our bridge our initial plans were much different than what our final product was. The more we worried about the strength of the bridge, the less time we had. We started off with the idea to have a truss bridge made of wood and cardboard. As shown here, (show picture from journal entry), but as the project progressed our ideas continued to change.

Each group will be introduced to a bridge study unit. Teachers will cover academic material of different bridge structures in relation to U.S. common core standard requirements for social studies, science, and math. Students in Group B will be asked to select a bridge discussed in the unit. Then, they are asked to draw a blueprint for a bridge of their own inspired by the bridge they selected. Once their blueprint is complete, at a later date they are asked to construct a bridge from their blueprint with various materials that the teacher will supply. During each part of this assignment students are reminded to use/include the math and science concepts that were taught in the bridge unit. Bridge blueprints and constructions done by Group B will be presented to the class for evaluation and a benchmark test will also be dispensed to all students in Group A and Group B to collect data for

The Pratt truss bridge was originally founded by Caleb and Thomas Pratt in 1844. It is mainly used to carry trains. The biggest advantage of this bridge was its low costs for construction and the materials to construct a truss bridge are minimal. It also use materials that is cheaper and light in weight. We can easily identify a pratt truss by detecting its diagonal members, which (excluding for the very end ones) all slant down and in toward the center of the span. The pratt truss was designed by applying few laws that related to the mechanics of materials concept. The bridge is mainly built using steel girders to support the construction of the structure. The below part of bridge weight is high so, it need an enough support to prevent from

Clark Eldridge, an engineer from Washington State, had designed a trusted, conventional suspension bridge that would cost eleven million dollars. He requested that amount from the Federal Public Works Administration. However, Leon Moisseiff developed a design modification that would make the total cost of building the bridge much less- only eight million dollars. He swapped out the twenty-five feet long sturdy trusses as the form of support for the much cheaper alternative of 8 foot long girders, which were proven to be an insufficient form of support from the collapse of this bridge. His design accounted for an overall thinner bridge; and since his was the cheaper option, it was chosen for construction. However, the width of the bridge in comparison to the length, as well as the absence of trusses which would provide stability, are both part of Moisseiff’s “cost-effective”, yet impractically unsafe design. Since his design was flawed, he is mainly responsible for the bridge collapse. However, the board of engineers who approved his design are also partially responsible for the bridge collapse, as this unsafe design was allowed to be constructed. Meanwhile, it is imperative to remember that theories on aerodynamics were not fully developed as of the time that this bridge was constructed. Therefore, the full effect of oscillating forces was not properly accounted for due to the

The Principle upon that the triangle is the strongest and most rigid engineering shape. By arranging the framework of triangles in patterns that change from design to design, the structure acquired different appearances and served different targets depending on the needs of bridge building. The pony truss is the smallest type and usually limited to lengths under 140 feet. It is distinguished by its low profile and absence of bracing above the roadway with most under 100 feet. The through truss by comparison is greater in length and height and consists of a tunnel-like structure that carries traffic through a system of overhead bracing which ties together the upper chords of the bridge.

Our group created a Pratt bridge design in order to maximize our efficiency with the limited amount of resources we were given. We also chose this type of bridge because it was simple and allowed for us to complete it within the given time frame. Our bridge was constructed using ⅛” x ⅛” balsa wood sticks, string, cardboard, paper, and a lot of hot glue. The balsa wood was used to make the frame, the cardboard was used to act as a level plane for the cans to stand on and as reinforcement for the sides of the bridge, and the paper and string were both used to construct the remaining roadbed. Balsa wood was used for the frame because it acts as a sturdy foundation. Cardboard was used as a level place to set our cans because of how smooth, flat, and sturdy it is. Cardboard was also used and attached to the sides of our bridge, as well as some of the joints, because it is very sturdy and does not pull apart or flex easily. Lastly, we used string and paper for the

The North Fork Campbell Creek Bridge is a prestressed, reinforced-concrete girder bridge aligned primarily in the north-south direction and located in Anchorage, Alaska. It is a combined four lane highway structure constructed in 2007.The bridge has three continuous spans supported by two center piers with total length 109 m. The bridge has a slight curvature in profile and is skewed in plane. Each span consists of 11 prestressed RC girders, connected to each other by the diaphragms and shear connectors, and an asphalt concrete layer on the top of them. Each girder is supported by steel reinforced elastomeric bearing pads at the abutments and pier caps. The piers and seat-type abutments of the bridge are skewed at an angle of 65° compared

It is shaped in a way to transfer weight to the towers and anchors with its tension (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Cables are made of high strength wires spirally bound to form a rope (O'Connor, 1971, p. 372). Vertical cable suspenders that are fastened to the main cables hang the actual roadway. Stiffening girders and trusses are along the side of the bridge to distribute concentrated loads and help to keep the motion of the bridge at a minimum (Troitsky, 1994, p115).

Arch bridge is one of the most popular types of bridges, it came into use over 3000 years ago and remained in height of popularity until industrial revolution and invention of advanced materials that make architect to create other modern bridge designs. However, even today arch bridges remain in use, the arches can be built on much larger scales with the help of modern materials. Its curved design is the basic principle of arch bridge, it does not push load forces straight down, but instead they are transported along the curve of the arch to the supports on each end. These supports (called abutments) carry the load of all of the bridge and are responsible for holding the arch in the accurate position stable position. Transporting of forces across the arch is done through central keystone on the top of the arch. Its weight pushes the surrounding rocks down and outward, making entire structure very rigid and strong.

Because of advancements in today’s technology in construction field, many types of bridges are being constructed depending on the requirement and their suitability for the situations.