Analysis Process-Durkin

This method of analysis gave us a lot of new information about the forces on the bridge when weight is applied, however this would not be enough when analyzing a real bridge.  The analysis gave us helpful information when considering weight applied unfortunately like WPBD it does not consider weight applied laterally.  Also the analysis does only considers loads applied at certain points on the bridge whereas a real bridge would need to consider loads at every point on the bridge not just at the joints. This analysis also does not take into consideration how the bridge will hold up in severe whether conditions such as high winds. Also other information would need to be known when analyzing a real bridge such as how heavy the flow of traffic will be and how reliable of a foundation the bridge will be built on. Knowing more about the conditions the bridge will have to hold up in as well as knowing more about weight at other points throughout would be helpful in further analysis of a bridge.

       These analysis calculations began last week, the main goal of the class was to figure out how to calculate the forces on the bridge properly. Another goal our group accomplished last week was to extend our bridge in a way that would meet the three feet requirement without losing any stability or greatly increasing the cost.  We plan to test our extended bridge this coming week and to further improve it where we see fit.  Figuring out what parts of our bridge need to be adjusted will be easier in the weeks to come now that we know how to do the analysis. Granted our group had some trouble figuring out exactly how to do the calculations at first we were eventually able to figure it out which will make these calculations easier in the future.  These calculations will help us in making our bridge more efficient, getting us closer to the final goal of low cost to high carrying capacity.