Why Is It Important To Use A Truss?
Bridge Design Questions
Question 1
Design Element: The first design element we used was our horizontal deck design. We took 11 sticks, placed them side by side horizontally so the length would be equivalent to the edge of the plate. After that we glued and pressed down two sticks on each side on each end and made five of those single deck plates. After that we glued them together to meet the measurement requirement. Next we glued also making sure to press down hard all of the plates together by connecting them with popsicle sticks on each side. Continuing on we covered one whole side of the bridge with an estimating 55 sticks since we used 11 sticks per plate and then we covered the other side. Once we had covered the bridge we had a total …show more content…
of 5 layers with more sticks to come.
Why I chose to use this design element: I chose this design element because of the way it was laid out. Firstly our sticks were laid out horizontally instead of vertically. It is stronger horizontally because vertically popsicle sticks are harder to connect. There is a connecting point if they were laid out vertically because they have a certain length, therefore you must connect your plates at that bending point making it weaker. Secondly I believe I chose this design because it added on extra weight due to its thickness. Weight in this project would help because a light bridge would have a higher chance of snapping. This is because, for example a book can hold more weight than a piece of paper could due it being heavier and more sturdy. The weight would really help the bridge from breaking as a result of any applied forces.
Design Element: The second design Element we chose was the beam. We chose to use the I beam for our bridge. This beam looks like a long 3D I, so we tightly glued three sticks on top of one another to create the web. The Web is the middle of the I beam it’s the straight vertical part of the I. Then we took two popsicle sticks equivalent in length and glued them on the top and the bottom of the beam which are called the Flanges. The Flanges are the the two straight horizontal lines on the top and the bottom of an I. At that point we created ten more beams, then glueing them on the bottom of the bridge along the edges. The bottom looked like a rectangle with high edges. So we tested out the bridge to see how it would deal with a bit of applied force. We realized that the middle of the bridge was bending a bit, in this case we decided to make a couple more beams and add them to the middle so it wouldn’t snap as easy. After this our bridge was basically done and we were just adding some finishing touches such as extra sticks to cover up weaker areas. Soon after our time was up and we had to let the glue dry before the next day.
Why I chose to use this design element: I chose this element based off its sturdiness. First off the beam is sturdy and strong because it’s a lot compiled into something small. The beam is able to bare all the live loads and dead loads well. This is because the weight first goes to the top Flange, then straight down vertically through the Web and then ends up back on a another Flange at the bottom. Because of this the weight is being held by three different parts instead of if we had just one popsicle stick supporting it. Secondly I see beams used in everyday life all around, in houses, bridges, buildings, in all types of constructional things. I even have beams in my basement, which hold up the entire house. Since beams are used in all these big places I thought to myself why wouldn’t they work on a small popsicle bridge. People have been using beams for decades and decades, the first ever beam was produced about 168 years ago. People have been using beams for that long with consistency, so I decided to go ahead and give the beam a try.
Question 2
Design Element Truss: One of the winning bridges had used a truss.
A truss is very simple look it is basically triangles connected together to use for weight support. There are many different trusses, but the one I see being used was the warren truss which is just simply equilateral triangles put together. The triangles are connected at the top with popsicle sticks. A truss at the end is just a trapezoid with supports inside.
Why this design element was so effective: The reason the truss is so effective is because of the way it handles the weight. When there’s force being applied the force goes down the triangles and into the wide base. Considering the base of the truss is wide it is hard for the bridge to break. Also because in a triangle the the edges aren’t vertical like in a square the force makes the edges go wide which they already are so it isn’t that hard for the triangles to bear the
weight.
Design Element Beam: Another element I saw that was used in the winning bridges was the beam. The beam I used was a I beam but I saw a box beam being used as well. The box beam created with popsicle sticks is just sticks stacked on top of one another. People stacked about 4-6 sticks on each other in order to make their bridge a bit taller. One bridge had a bunch of beams glued together for the most support possible.
Why this design element was so effective: This design was effective due to its support. The bridge that i saw the beam being used on had used it in very smart way. They clustered a bunch of beams together so the bottom of the bridge wouldn’t move at all. This was effective since the bridge is already connected together the beams just seal off the bridge making it even stronger. This also makes the middle of the bridge a lot heavier preventing any snapping.
Design Element Cross Bracing: The last element that I saw being used was cross bracing, cross bracing is used for the deck. Cross bracing is very simple, the first layer of sticks are laid out one way and the next layer of sticks will be the other way. Cross bracing is just a pattern that you can compare to maybe a plaid shirt or maybe a checkers board. Cross bracing is a fast way to make sure u have a good deck base and then can add on other things.
Why this design element was so effective: Cross bracing is really effective because it’s built to last a while. Every stick is supporting each other without any weakness. People like myself made single deck plates then connected them together, but when you’re cross bracing it’s one whole deck that need no connection. If it’s that strong already then adding extra support systems like trusses and beams would make your bridge stronger than you ever expected. If a bridge had the combined elements of a truss, beam and cross bracing you would have yourself one beast of a bridge.
Question 3 One change that definitely would’ve helped our bridge meet the design criteria more effectively would have to be the support of my peers. There were only about 3 people taking this project seriously and we still managed to be one of the winning bridges. But if had some help our bridge could have been a lot better than our current result. Next we could’ve used a bit more popsicle sticks to improve our bridge’s weight. Since we still had about 50 grams left that we could have still used to make our bridge even stronger. The extra popsicle stick would’ve also led to better stability considering our bridge was a bending a bit as well. Thirdly we could’ve added a truss under our bridge, this would have helped a lot because one of the winning teams did this and won with ease. The truss underneath would help support the beams and the beams are already strong enough. Lastly I feel that if we had managed our time better and put more thought into our design we would’ve absolutely had a better result. If we had done all this I believe our bridge could have held maybe 15 more pounds at the minimum.
Question 1
Design Element: The first design element we used was our horizontal deck design. We took 11 sticks, placed them side by side horizontally so the length would be equivalent to the edge of the plate. After that we glued and pressed down two sticks on each side on each end and made five of those single deck plates. After that we glued them together to meet the measurement requirement. Next we glued also making sure to press down hard all of the plates together by connecting them with popsicle sticks on each side. Continuing on we covered one whole side of the bridge with an estimating 55 sticks since we used 11 sticks per plate and then we covered the other side. Once we had covered the bridge we had a total …show more content…
of 5 layers with more sticks to come.
Why I chose to use this design element: I chose this design element because of the way it was laid out. Firstly our sticks were laid out horizontally instead of vertically. It is stronger horizontally because vertically popsicle sticks are harder to connect. There is a connecting point if they were laid out vertically because they have a certain length, therefore you must connect your plates at that bending point making it weaker. Secondly I believe I chose this design because it added on extra weight due to its thickness. Weight in this project would help because a light bridge would have a higher chance of snapping. This is because, for example a book can hold more weight than a piece of paper could due it being heavier and more sturdy. The weight would really help the bridge from breaking as a result of any applied forces.
Design Element: The second design Element we chose was the beam. We chose to use the I beam for our bridge. This beam looks like a long 3D I, so we tightly glued three sticks on top of one another to create the web. The Web is the middle of the I beam it’s the straight vertical part of the I. Then we took two popsicle sticks equivalent in length and glued them on the top and the bottom of the beam which are called the Flanges. The Flanges are the the two straight horizontal lines on the top and the bottom of an I. At that point we created ten more beams, then glueing them on the bottom of the bridge along the edges. The bottom looked like a rectangle with high edges. So we tested out the bridge to see how it would deal with a bit of applied force. We realized that the middle of the bridge was bending a bit, in this case we decided to make a couple more beams and add them to the middle so it wouldn’t snap as easy. After this our bridge was basically done and we were just adding some finishing touches such as extra sticks to cover up weaker areas. Soon after our time was up and we had to let the glue dry before the next day.
Why I chose to use this design element: I chose this element based off its sturdiness. First off the beam is sturdy and strong because it’s a lot compiled into something small. The beam is able to bare all the live loads and dead loads well. This is because the weight first goes to the top Flange, then straight down vertically through the Web and then ends up back on a another Flange at the bottom. Because of this the weight is being held by three different parts instead of if we had just one popsicle stick supporting it. Secondly I see beams used in everyday life all around, in houses, bridges, buildings, in all types of constructional things. I even have beams in my basement, which hold up the entire house. Since beams are used in all these big places I thought to myself why wouldn’t they work on a small popsicle bridge. People have been using beams for decades and decades, the first ever beam was produced about 168 years ago. People have been using beams for that long with consistency, so I decided to go ahead and give the beam a try.
Question 2
Design Element Truss: One of the winning bridges had used a truss.
A truss is very simple look it is basically triangles connected together to use for weight support. There are many different trusses, but the one I see being used was the warren truss which is just simply equilateral triangles put together. The triangles are connected at the top with popsicle sticks. A truss at the end is just a trapezoid with supports inside.
Why this design element was so effective: The reason the truss is so effective is because of the way it handles the weight. When there’s force being applied the force goes down the triangles and into the wide base. Considering the base of the truss is wide it is hard for the bridge to break. Also because in a triangle the the edges aren’t vertical like in a square the force makes the edges go wide which they already are so it isn’t that hard for the triangles to bear the
weight.
Design Element Beam: Another element I saw that was used in the winning bridges was the beam. The beam I used was a I beam but I saw a box beam being used as well. The box beam created with popsicle sticks is just sticks stacked on top of one another. People stacked about 4-6 sticks on each other in order to make their bridge a bit taller. One bridge had a bunch of beams glued together for the most support possible.
Why this design element was so effective: This design was effective due to its support. The bridge that i saw the beam being used on had used it in very smart way. They clustered a bunch of beams together so the bottom of the bridge wouldn’t move at all. This was effective since the bridge is already connected together the beams just seal off the bridge making it even stronger. This also makes the middle of the bridge a lot heavier preventing any snapping.
Design Element Cross Bracing: The last element that I saw being used was cross bracing, cross bracing is used for the deck. Cross bracing is very simple, the first layer of sticks are laid out one way and the next layer of sticks will be the other way. Cross bracing is just a pattern that you can compare to maybe a plaid shirt or maybe a checkers board. Cross bracing is a fast way to make sure u have a good deck base and then can add on other things.
Why this design element was so effective: Cross bracing is really effective because it’s built to last a while. Every stick is supporting each other without any weakness. People like myself made single deck plates then connected them together, but when you’re cross bracing it’s one whole deck that need no connection. If it’s that strong already then adding extra support systems like trusses and beams would make your bridge stronger than you ever expected. If a bridge had the combined elements of a truss, beam and cross bracing you would have yourself one beast of a bridge.
Question 3 One change that definitely would’ve helped our bridge meet the design criteria more effectively would have to be the support of my peers. There were only about 3 people taking this project seriously and we still managed to be one of the winning bridges. But if had some help our bridge could have been a lot better than our current result. Next we could’ve used a bit more popsicle sticks to improve our bridge’s weight. Since we still had about 50 grams left that we could have still used to make our bridge even stronger. The extra popsicle stick would’ve also led to better stability considering our bridge was a bending a bit as well. Thirdly we could’ve added a truss under our bridge, this would have helped a lot because one of the winning teams did this and won with ease. The truss underneath would help support the beams and the beams are already strong enough. Lastly I feel that if we had managed our time better and put more thought into our design we would’ve absolutely had a better result. If we had done all this I believe our bridge could have held maybe 15 more pounds at the minimum.