week 4

Since we have been experimenting with West Point Bridge designer, we have noticed many helpful options.  Some ways to make the strongest and most cost effective bridge would be to use hollow tubes and to change each of their size.  These variables now restrict us less and allow us to be more creative in our designs.  I also enjoy the fact that this program also allows us to pick each weak member and make appropriate modifications to it.  There are some drawbacks.  For example, this program shows a truck moving across so the force is felt in different areas of the design.  This conflicts with future designs for our Kinex design will have a fixed load in the middle.

Week Four - Greenwood

Week three was both a very productive and very informative lab.  The main focus of the lecture and the rest of the class was the cost efficiency of our bridges.  It was made clear to us (through COMP1) that we could not get a contract without proposing a cheap and effective way to create a bridge.  Therefore, our group sat down to begin discussing how we would go about slicing the cost of our bridge design.  Originally, our pricing was somewhere around $350,000.  We considered this to be outrageous, and proceeded to test out different materials and designs.  Eventually, we came up with a successful design which brought our pricing to around $215,000.  We are not yet finished though, and over the next couple weeks we will implement what we have learned into creating the best design we can.

Throughout this module so far, we have been using West Point Bridge Designer, an engineering simulator program which uses an easy interface to let the user first build a bridge and then test it.  The test itself allows a truck to try and drive over the created bridge.  It lets you know where the most tension is in the bridge, or if the truck even feels safe enough to cross it at all.  This tool has been extremely useful for our team, in that we have been able to send our designs back and forth to each other even outside of lab for examination and critique.  It is even a great tool for presenting what I have learned so far.  For example, today in English class I was talking to another student about my bridge design and my professor asked me to stand up and talk about the project.  He was not being sarcastic, but he was truly interested.  I proceeded to show the class my design and its animation, as well as discussing what I have learned so far in the module.  WPBD has been an extremely helpful tool inside and outside of lab.

Week 4 blog post Jordan Banyas

West Point Bridge Design is a fairly accurate portrayal of what it actually takes to make a bridge. It may not be the most accurate technology out there to create a bridge, but it is a nice introduction. It teach the fundamentals of bridge building to students who do not have a deep background of designing bridges. There are however many downsides of WPBD due to being beginners technology. For example, it has a height limit that is unrealistic to a bridge design. Another flaw is the inability to make a suspension bridge and even to put joints in certain points. Joints are only able to be put in on a fixed grid system which does not allow for much creativity. There are only a few designs that optimize the the forces of the truck driving across the bridge.
    This week I was able to shave off close to ten thousand dollars on our design we made in class. Our hope as a group is to improve upon our current design as well as continue to try and come up with a new innovative way to support the truck without spending as much money as we are spending now. Currently, my design costs us $215,858.44. we hope to make improvements this week.

Week 3 and Questions

This week our team worked on our first designs using west point bridge designer.  Although they were similar in theory, the way we created them and the prices were all much different.  In the next week and in lab, we will need to make the final touches on these designs and create a cheap and effective truss bridge.  To accomplish that, teamwork will be required and all of our ideas will need to be utilized.

In lab this week we have the engineering librarian coming, and we have created a few questions for him:

1.  Is there much research to be done on bridge engineering here at Drexel?

2.  What kind of books on bridges should we look for?

3.  Who are some famous bridge builders and what bridges did they create?

A1-Banyas

 

Sketch of Bridge Design

  

Bridge in Action

  

Data Table of Forces

 Initially I had a standard cross section in block formation that seemed to work very well but was very costly. The new design I came up with uses triangles as apposed to cross sections. By varying the angles I was able to balance the bridge is safe for the truck to drive over. This design only costs $343,413 and meets all of the requirements of building a safe bridge. I believe my bridge design could use work as there is still one beam that has a stress level over .95. From tinkering around with the bridge design technology I learned that it is very important to look at how much weight is put on the joints by hanging beam supports from them.

A1-Carr

The design for the present bridge had to support a moving object, the truck.  The difference that I had to account for was that the force being applied was different over time.  Therefore there had to be a constant patter throughout the bridge and it had to be symmetrical.  The use of triangles is evident in the design and they distribute the force appropriately.  As the truck moved across the bridge the top beams recieved the most stress but held strong.  One thing that could be improved is the strength of the top supports and to lower the weight of the material altogether.  The estimated cost for this bridge is about 350,000 dollars.  I do not forsee our group following this design because in the competition, the weight will remain stationary.  Therefore, I predict that the new design, using kinects, will distribute the force from the center.  I learned that to design a brige for a moving object is much more difficult than designing one for a stationary one.







 

A1- Greenwood

For this first design, I decided to keep a simple truss layout that would be cheap and effective.  The top of the bridge would slowly elevate until a central height was established, and underneath would be several trusses that jut out triangularly.  Considering this first week's assignment was to establish a design the team could build on and improve, I believed the simplest would also be the best.  Here are the images from my design as well as the stress tables and price.

                                         Above is the 2d design of my simple truss bridge.

Above is the 3d design of my bridge with a truck on it.

This is a picture of the stress table feature in WPBD.

During the design process of this bridge, the actual design changed many times.  For example, from my first design I added more joints and more trusses, considering the stress points in the joints were much greater when there were less.  Also, I made the max height of the bridge lower to make the flow of force through it more uniform.  Although adding more joints and trusses increased the price, it also gave me a working design.

Estimated Price : $347,715

This price is high as of right now, but I am confident it can be lowered.  There seem to be too many large trusses that need to be redesigned so that they are stronger and more capable of handling stress.

From this initial assignment, I have learned that simple designs can actually be successful and work.  I also believe that my knowledge can only increase so that I may be able to successfully build cheaper, stronger designs.  

This blog will be used to keep track of our group's efforts in completeing the objective.  It is extremely important to see how the group advances over a period in time and to keep a reference of this progress.  This week , we will begin work on the project assigned and brainstorm ways to most successfully complete it.  A collaborative effort will yield an effective plan of action or the labs to come.

Teamwork - John Greenwood

At the end of week one, it becomes obvious that the emphasis on this module will be working as a team.  Not only  will we be competing against the other teams in the section, but we will also be submitting our bridge designs to a local contest.  Due to this, I believe I will need to take initiative and do my part.  If one of us starts to fall behind, it is the other two of our jobs' to not only help the weak link but also to motivate him to step up.  We all need the grades and I believe if we accomplish the tasks laid before us in the coming weeks we will see great improvement in our academic abilities.
The website "Teamwork" by Professor Mitchell recommends using each team members ideas thoroughly and often.  It also encourages using the team's differences among each other to create a more unique approach to the engineering design process.  Since the design process is the most important aspect of this course, this seems like a logical thing to pay attention to.  Over the next couple weeks, our teams goal should be to start our research and try and come up with a fresh and innovative bridge design.  We need to bring something new to the table while also showing our ability to work together as a team.  Nothing can be accomplished through selfishness.  Since realizing this is the largest obstacle we will need to overcome, this is the first of many steps our group will need to take in order to complete this module.

-John Greenwood

Jordan Banyas Blog Post 1

In this class our assignment is to build a bridge that is both the strongest as well as the least costly. In order to obtain this goal, Kevin, Jake and I must work together as a team.  The teamwork aspect of the creation of this bridge is one of the most integral pieces of the project. We all have the same motivations to do well in this project. Besides just getting a good grade in the class, Kevin and I are currently Civil Engineering major’s and are eagerly awaiting the knowledge that comes along with designing a support structure such as a bridge. Although the bridge is only made out of K’NEX, the supports structures we learn about in this class can be translated into a real life scenario’s and give us real world skills to set us apart from other hopeful Civil Engineering applicants. I feel teamwork is important because if one learns the ability to work as a team, he then learns broadens his horizon on his own knowledge. Not only are one person’s ideas going into the project, but now all three teammates are working together to pull out the best possible ideas to make the project as successful as possible.

-Jordan Banyas  

Week One - Teamwork (Group)

During week one's lab, the basics of bridge building and the dynamics of civil engineering were discussed.  On top of this, the course expectations were laid out.  We observed many modern bridge designs before creating our teams.  The most obvious challenge to be overcome in the next few weeks will be working as a single unit to establish the most successful design.  This requires something which in theory is simple: teamwork.
According to Professor Mitchell's website, teamwork is an "organized process that requires concentration on people as well as product".  Therefore, during this module our group must not only focus on our task, but also on strengthening our effectiveness as a team.  This is just as important as our assignments because in the real world, almost anything can be achieved when more than one mind is put to a single task.  Here in engineering 103, our team must compliment each other's skills, as well as welcoming any differences that may arise.  By the end of these ten long weeks, this bridge building group needs to work like a well oiled machine with many different gears.
Next week we need to begin our research and start creating initial designs.  Nothing will be set in stone, but the research will not do itself, and we can not afford to fall behind.

-Three Pikes on a Bridge
(John Greenwood, Jordan Banyas, Kevin Carr)