Building a Spaghetti Bridge
Spaghetti Bridge
Abstract
For this assignment our task was to build as a group a spaghetti bridge with the objective of carrying the most weight as possible using only spaghetti and hot glue, meeting the specifications. The bridges will be loaded until they fall.
After testing to destruction, the bridges loading capacity was 14.4kg, with an initial mas of 0.840kg. This gave a weight to strength ratio of 17.1 putting the group at 4th/8th position in class.
From this it was learned the bridge held 14.4kg which is 140N therefore one Truss held 70N. These calculations helped us understand how our bridge coped with the forces and helped us answer the question of what caused our bridge to fail and where our bridge failed?
Contents
Abstract iii
Contents 4
Introduction 5
Background 6
Analysis 7
Design 9
In order to create the bridge it was essential to come up with a design which would be the most suitable to sustain the highest load possible. After some research, it was concluded collectively that to make the spaghetti bridge the spaghettis were shaped in triangles as it would make the bridge more stable, rather than using squares. It was also decided that the triangles would be done in a taller manner. 9
Methodology 9
Calculations 10
Newton’s laws: 10
Forces on the bridge 10
Stability: 10
Truss analysis 10
Structural stability of Final Bridge: 11
Testing: 11
Simulation: 11 11
Results: 12
Bridge failure analysis: 12
Spaghetti beams: 12
Conclusion 13
Limitations 14
Recommendations 15
List of References 16
Tatsuyuki, F., Yasuaki, C. (2008) ‘Civil engineering in engineering Japan’. Japan Society of Civil Engineers Article, Volumes 29 – 31 16
Introduction
For this assignment the aim is to research and construct a spaghetti bridge in a group consisting of six members with the objective of designing a bridge that supports the most load whilst meeting the specifications in the design brief. This will be done
Abstract
For this assignment our task was to build as a group a spaghetti bridge with the objective of carrying the most weight as possible using only spaghetti and hot glue, meeting the specifications. The bridges will be loaded until they fall.
After testing to destruction, the bridges loading capacity was 14.4kg, with an initial mas of 0.840kg. This gave a weight to strength ratio of 17.1 putting the group at 4th/8th position in class.
From this it was learned the bridge held 14.4kg which is 140N therefore one Truss held 70N. These calculations helped us understand how our bridge coped with the forces and helped us answer the question of what caused our bridge to fail and where our bridge failed?
Contents
Abstract iii
Contents 4
Introduction 5
Background 6
Analysis 7
Design 9
In order to create the bridge it was essential to come up with a design which would be the most suitable to sustain the highest load possible. After some research, it was concluded collectively that to make the spaghetti bridge the spaghettis were shaped in triangles as it would make the bridge more stable, rather than using squares. It was also decided that the triangles would be done in a taller manner. 9
Methodology 9
Calculations 10
Newton’s laws: 10
Forces on the bridge 10
Stability: 10
Truss analysis 10
Structural stability of Final Bridge: 11
Testing: 11
Simulation: 11 11
Results: 12
Bridge failure analysis: 12
Spaghetti beams: 12
Conclusion 13
Limitations 14
Recommendations 15
List of References 16
Tatsuyuki, F., Yasuaki, C. (2008) ‘Civil engineering in engineering Japan’. Japan Society of Civil Engineers Article, Volumes 29 – 31 16
Introduction
For this assignment the aim is to research and construct a spaghetti bridge in a group consisting of six members with the objective of designing a bridge that supports the most load whilst meeting the specifications in the design brief. This will be done
References: illustrated [online] available from http://formulas.tutorvista.com/physics/center-of-mass-formula.html [02/10/2013]