Week 9 Post

At the beginning of class next week, the group began to look into designs of what may work for the 3' span. Shortly thereafter,we began to build a 3' long bridge based off of the 2' bridge design. What we came up with was a working but somewhat disappointing bridge to our standards. We tested the design twice during the class period and ended up with a load of roughly 32-36 lbs. after a few minor tweaks.  At the conclusion of both attempts, the bridge failed in the middle. If we were to include a cross section there, we would not have been able to place the weight bearing mechanism directly in the middle of the bridge span.  I, as well as Gary and Izzie are expecting great achievements during Week 9's testing. I have learned a great deal of aspects of bridge designing, not only in 2-d but 3-d as well. The force distribution was a very cool process to go through since I am a very math intensive student.  Having some slight background with bridge and cantilever designs back in high school really helped me prepare for what has already and is to come in the ENGR 103 course.