Tuesday, May 1, 2012

A2 - THOTTAKARA


The goals in coming up with this design for the bridge are to build a bridge that can hold the greatest amount of weight, but cost the least. This influenced the design of the bridge by the uses of smaller bars. Smaller bars are cheaper and have a smaller chance of bending under strenuous weight. This bridge’s longest bar is 5 inches long. 
 


ELEVATION






1st LEVEL PLAN




2nd LEVEL PLAN










During the design of the bridge it changed in many aspects. Initially the idea was to use as few bars and gusset plates as possible, because having few parts could be cheaper. The design then changed at the realization that having multiple smaller pieces were both stronger and more cost efficient than having fewer, longer pieces. This changed the design because I used this information to make my bridge better. A few of the longer bars were switched out for smaller bars and extra gusset plates. This bridge when build would be a little over 2 ft long. and about 7 inches tall.
From this bridge design I learned that there is more that one way to build a strong cheap bridge. It depends on the approach that is taken when designing the bridge. In class I noticed some people try to use the longer bars with the shorter bars to make the trusses. I learned as well that there is a fine line until the bridge will collapse.


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