Wednesday, May 2, 2012

WPBD vs. Knex - Lester


The West Point Bridge Designer is a very useful program for realistic bridge modeling. It has informative stress test simulations and takes multiple factors into account when calculating cost (like material type, length, and density). Members can be any size, made from one of three materials, and can be hollow or solid. Design aspects such as these are chosen at the user’s discretion. All connecting pieces are the same size and weight, but can connect at any angle and it is possible to connect a great number of members to one connecting piece in the drawing board. Only one side of the bridge can be modified. The parallel side is exactly the same and the perpendicular connecting pieces are created by the program.
K’nex bridges are very different. K’nex pieces are all made from the same solid plastic material. There is a limited variety of members each at a difference, set size that cannot be changed. If one piece is too short and the next biggest piece is too big, then it is impossible to find a member that will fit that space (unlike in WPBD). Connector pieces, known as gussets, are different as well. They have a certain amount of slots at specific angles that fit the member pieces. The K’nex kit has more artistic freedom than the WPBD, since with K’nex a design doesn’t have to be symmetrical on both sides and the perpendicular connecting pieces can be drafted by the user.
There are a few similarities between the two. Both use straight members that can bend a bit to support a design up to a certain breaking point. They have the possibility to create different shapes not limited to triangles, like pentagons, hexagons, etc. The products of both can be weight tested to determine bridge strength. Overall, the two methods are vastly different, yet the outcomes can be very similar. The bridge I designed on WPBD and the K’nex bridge I designed look somewhat similar to each other.

-Belinda Lester

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