Paul Heffernan, Michael Santini, Mervyn Larrier

Final Blog Post

            When bridge building commenced our group decided that we would be designing a warren truss styled bridge.  We came to the conclusion that this design offered the benefits of both being stable and relatively simple to construct.  After deciding upon this, careful preparations were made by sketching a highly accurate blueprint of the bridge.  Our group had some experience working with blueprints from our USMA design.  From our blueprint we were able to assemble all of our needed materials beforehand, which enabled us to begin the construction phase of the project earlier than expected. 

            Once the building phase of the project was initiated we quickly realized some of the problems associated with real life construction.  Although our blueprint was accurate, changes were needed to correct small measurement errors made when prepping our materials.  We sanded our pieces until they fit perfectly into our truss design.  After successfully constructing our bridge we considered adding extra supporting elements to the structure not originally included in our blueprint.  Using our remaining balsa wood, we lined the bottom of the decks with slabs of wood and created supports at critical joint areas.      

            During testing our bridge fared better than expected.  Compared to other groups’ bridges ours seemed flimsy.  Our choice in design proved to be well chosen, and definitely played a major role in the amount of bricks our bridge could support.  Our design allowed for the forces of compression and tension to act in our favor and aid in the support of the structure.  When the bridge failed it was due to a key critical error made during the building process.  In an attempt to provide a space in the center of the bridge where weights would be attached we neglected to reinforce this critical area with additional support.  If reinforcement was added to this key area our bridge could have possibly held more bricks than it did. Also, we were realized that we should have made the deck thicker. We believed that the deck couldn’t be stacked; we were under the impression that using several pieces of wood would disqualify our bridge. However, had we done so (in a sandwich style like plywood: sheet, north to south grain, east to west grain, sheet), our bridge could have possibly held much more weight than it did.  Looking back on our bridge and the entire project, it has been quite amazing to learn just how much engineering can accomplish as well as just how much work goes into designing and building.  With the right knowledge, a fragile material such as balsa wood can be made into a remarkable structure that can support something more than a thousand times its own weight.  Physics: isn’t it amazing?

So the bridge is finally finished, and testing is next week. Its going to be amazing

So we’ve finished the top deck and it’s trusses and we’ve secured it to the bottom deck and trusses. Some of the trusses are a bit crooked but no biggie, its all good. For some reason, the top trusses are covered. I have no comment on the matter. I also have no comment on the SantiPaul duo not letting me clean up the bridge but watevs, its cool. Bawss out.

So the bridge is coming along nicely. All our trusses are made and we’re working on the top deck. Bridge seems surprising strong, considering its made of Balsa. Summary, everything is looking up so far.