A1- Thottakara

2D Bridge- Drawing Board View

Truck in the Middle of the Bridge

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My initial bridge design went from $495,340.42 to $324,181.28. My initial bridge design was a Through Truss Howe design that had an upper layer as well. The upper layer was made out of generally larger scalene triangles. This bridge was sturdy and consisted of all thick solid carbon steel rods. In this design the longest rod was 8.94 meters long, the largest bar size is 180 millimeters, the largest compression force/strength ratio was 0.98, and the largest tension force/strength ratio is 0.22.

My final bridge design is a Through Truss Pratt design and also had an upper layer. It started as extremely sturdy with smaller triangles. Then I took thickness off of the bars, and made some of the bars that had 0.00 compression force/strength ratio into hollow tubes. Doing this as well as taking thickness off of them made this design relatively cheap. In this design the longest rod was 5.66 meters long, the largest bar size is 160 millimeters, the largest compression force/strength ratio was 0.90, and the largest tension force/strength ratio is 0.73.

            With further knowledge on the subject I believe that I could at least make this final bridge design about $100,000 cheaper. If I had a better knowledge about the forces, tension, and angular geometry of truss bridges I could make a bridge that is stronger, that does not slope as much and is cheaper than the design I have currently.

From designing this bridge I learned that it is actually a lot more difficult to build a bridge than you would think. The concept of making a strong bridge that is cheap as well is extremely difficult without the proper knowledge. I hope to attain this knowledge by the end of this term and be able to build a bridge that is both strong and cheap.