Week 10

Last week in class we got to test or final bridge design.  The testing went in order of predicted lowest cost to weight load ratio.  The strongest bridge in the class could hold about 102 pounds and cost around $800,000, but was still able to have the best cost to weight ratio.  Our group was disappointed in the way our bridge performed.  The bridge held about 31 pounds and cost around $380,000.  We were disappointed because in the previous the bridge held around 41 pounds and we had not modified anything.  After the testing was done everyone submitted how much his or her bridge had held.  It’s too bad this was the last time we got to play around with the bridge because I really enjoyed this lab.

            I couldn’t be any happier with the way this lab worked out.  I definitely like this design lab better than the previous two.  I feel like all of the topics were covered well.  This lab really made me learn to document everything because in the blog you would have to write about what happened.  Teamwork was also something that was really emphasized.  I felt like our group worked very well with each other.  The thing that was least beneficial was the truss analysis.  While it did teach how the to calculate forces on members there was no way to really apply it to your own bridge.  I think the quality of the fellows was the most beneficial.  They were much more helpful than the fellows from the last two terms.  They actually wanted to be there and wanted to help in any way possible.  I don’t really have any suggestions for next time.  This course was organized very well and a lot was learned.