Last week in class we tested our Knex bridge ability to hold weight with a bucket of sand. For the test we decided to go with Ling's design. It was able to hold only 17.2 lbs but we learned through the test which pieces were unstable. The 360 gusset plates were unstable as they were capable of sliding out easily. Since we used a lot of gusset pieces at the bottom of our bridge, it made the bridge easily able to collapse at the bottom.
Unlike WPBD, Knex does not give us calculations and numbers as to where the piece with the most tension or compression is, and it does not show us which piece is causing the bridge to collapse. In order to calculate the Knex pieces, the weight of each bar, and the stability of the gusset pieces have to be taken into account. In order to make improvements on our design we should use longer bar pieces at the bottom and less gussett plates. We believe this change will result in our bridge being able to hold much more weight.
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