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Bridge Project 2023

Bridge Design

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Salman
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13 views4 pages

Bridge Project 2023

Bridge Design

Uploaded by

Salman
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Bridge Design Project:

You have been tasked with designing a walking bridge that will serve as a new tourist
attraction at the Great Falls National Park, spanning the width of the Potomac River and
connecting the Maryland trails with the Virginia trails that run along the tops of the cliffs. The
ideal location for the bridge is a 90-meter gap between the elevated trail paths on either side of
the river. The bridge will be built on-site on the Virginia side of the park as a single, 90-meter-
long structure. To install the bridge, a crane will be brought in on the Maryland side to lift, pivot,
and drag the bridge into place at the ideal location. Since we do not want to disturb the beauty of
Great Falls and minimize our impact on the local ecosystem, our bridge is required to have no
vertical supports between the span or along the cliffs, meaning the support structure for the
bridge needs to be entirely above the walkway.

The Design Parameters

To present your design, you are required to construct a 1/200th scale model of the bridge
that will be tested by an independent civil engineering firm (otherwise known as the Physics
Department). The prototype should reflect the exact design you wish to implement in the park.
The materials of the prototype should be rigid to demonstrate the strength of the bridge design as
it is tested in the lab. The materials should also be lightweight so that the crane would have no
issue lifting, pivoting, and dragging the bridge into place. You are not responsible for securing
the bridge to the ground in your design, so your prototype should be free-standing and able to
move as a complete unit.

The required parameters of your prototype can be found in the engineering specs below.

Prototype Specification Required Size


Span of Bridge 45 cm (minimum)
Width of Bridge at Base 10 cm – 15 cm
Required Overhead Clearance At least 5 cm (minimum for entire bridge)
Load Area - 2.5 - 4.5 cm gap (center of the bridge)
- No more than 1 cm above span contact point
Supports Outside the Span No horizontal, vertical, or diagonal supports can
be incorporated outside of the span
Types of Materials/Adhesives Nothing obviously dangerous/hazardous
Evaluation of the Design

The prototype bridge will be weighed upon its initial inspection. The bridge’s design
strength will be tested by installing a load in the center of the bridge walkway, attaching a
hanging bucket at the load point, and filling that bucket gradually with sand until the bridge fails
under the weight of the bucket. If the bridge can hold the entire 15,000-gram load (to simulate
the maximum weight the bridge is advertised to support), an additional 5,000 grams will be
added to the design score (a total of 20,000 g). The prototype bridge will then be given a design
score equal to the ultimate load sustained divided by the original weight of the bridge.

Load ¿ Failure ( g) 20,000 g


Design Score= ∨
Mass of Birdge (g) Mass of Birdge (g)

Since each bridge design is being submitted for a competitive contract, the park
supervisor must perform its fiduciary duty and consider not only the effectiveness of the design
but also the approximate costs of hiring the firm associated with the design. If a team of two is
responsible for creating the design, the park supervisor will multiply the bridge design score by a
factor of 0.667. Teams of three will absorb a factor of 0.501 multiplied by the bridge design
score. These factors associated with the cost-benefit analysis were developed during a panel
review by the independent engineering firm.

Size of team Final Evaluation Calculation


1-Person 1.000*Design Score
2-Person 0.667*Design Score
3-Person 0.501*Design Score

Each design team’s final evaluation calculation will be placed in a pool of potential
designs and a curved scoring scale will be developed. The highest evaluation calculation will
receive a 100%. All other designs will be placed on the curve based on their final evaluation
calculation.

Video Report:

To validate the originality of each design team’s creation, a video report must be
submitted reflecting the following steps of the design project. The video presentation should be
between 4-6 minutes in length and professionally prepared to be viewed by all the other design
firms. Each member of the team should participate in the development of the video report.
Bridges unsupported by video documentation will receive a 50% grade penalty.
1) Problem Identification – What are your trying to do?
2) Ideation – What ideas are your considering?
3) Research – Where did you get your inspiration for your design?
4) Potential Solutions – What ideas did your test? How did the tests go?
5) Optimization – How can you make your design more efficient?
6) Solution Evaluation – How well does your design work? How can it be improved?
7) Alterations – What would you change about your design to make it better?
8) Learned Outcomes – What did you learn as you were building your bridge?

Project Components and Due Dates:


Historical Bridge Research – Due 12/6/2023 (10 points)
-Google Slide presentation on Schoology
-Research bridges from six different continents and six different eras.
- Give information on the type/types of bridge shown (there may be multiple
design elements to the structure of the bridge shown)

Preliminary Design Report – Due 12/14/2023 (10 points)


-Google Slide presentation on Schoology
-Needs to include:
-Introduction slide
-A slide with a design drawing (scale, dimensions, etc) of your prospective
bridge
-A slide with a brief description of your design (3-4 sentences).
-A slide with the types of materials your plan on using (wood, glues, etc.)

-To find material types, do some research on items that match your design specs,
or find materials you have and base your design on that.

Video Report – Due 1/10/2023 (30 points)


-Build your video using narrated photos or videos you take as you construct your
bridge. Edit your video using FlipGrid or another video-making resource.
-All team members should participate in creating the video.
-The best way to make the video is to document your build as you go (taking
pictures and videos of your progress, materials testing, preliminary builds, and the
final test) and then displaying them chronologically in the video.

Bridge Design – Due 1/10/2023 (50 points)


-Bridge needs to be entirely constructed and brought into school on the test day.
-Bridge will be tested during class and given a design score (see previous page).
-Bridges that do not follow the seven design parameters will be tiered one level
for each rule that is broken. If your design is tiered, it cannot be ranked higher
than a design on a greater tier.
-Your final evaluation score and final tier level will be the exclusive factors
determining your bridge design grade.

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