Bridge Design - Hudson

This term I learned a lot about bridges that I never knew before. I learned about different types of bridges - truss, suspension, etc. - and how these bridges work and I learned a lot about bridge failure along the way.

Through the use of the West Point Bridge Design software I learned about tension and compression and how bridges work in general. I learned how bridges were likely to collapse and what bridge designs wouldn't work at all due to they way they were constructed.

Through the use of Knex I learned that sometimes the way you model bridges isn't actually how the bridges will turn turn out and the way you predict failure isn't always how the bridge will actually fail. I learned that some bridges can look simple and be deceptively strong, and others can look strong but break under the slightest pressure.

The most important part of bridge designing, though, was doing the actual analysis and using Physics and Trig to figure out how the bridge would break, how much weight would be distributed where, etc. Even though WPBD gave all of these numbers, without context it really made no sense. I could tell you where the bridge was going wrong, but I couldn't tell you why. Doing the actual analysis helped me see how it all works together to make the cohesive product.

This week I hope to have our bridge do well in testing - hopefully over 30 pounds or the modifications would not have been worth it. Our bridge nearly doubled in cost but I don't know if the ratios will be any better considering we had an inexpensive bridge before that held 18 pounds where as much more expensive bridges could only hold up to about 40.

Next week I look forward to doing my final assessments on what I did and learned throughout the term.