Weekly Post (Week 5)

1. What you did in the prior week
Last week, the engineering librarian came to the class to give a speak about how to use the resources of the Drexel Library to find the information that we need.  From the last week of the class, some important constraints of building the Knex Bridge was known.

2. What you and your teammates have agreed you'll do in the coming week
My group mates and I separately built the bridge at first. We discussed the different function of different joints, and tired to help each other with the bridges. In the future of the weeks, we will explore more possibilities of the different design of the bridge and try to combine the advantages of different designs.  We will analysis different parts of the bridge and try to improve the maximum of load-bearing of the bridge.

3. Major accomplishments of the week for the team
We focused on Gary’s bridge at the last ten minutes of the class. At the end of the class, the bridge has already met most of the design constraints, such as reaching the required span.  The bridge has a stable structure. We will test the bridge at the beginning of the week 5 class.

4. Issues that the team or you as an individual faces
I will face a lot of problems. First, I still do not have a clear design of the bridge. I do not know the problem that the bridge is going to face. I do not know which part of the bridge is going to bear the maximum load and need special attention. Second, I have more and more working load from the other subjects. I do not have enough time to work on the bridge and do a detail research.

You're now transitioning from using WPBD to designing for a "real" bridge using Knex. Write about what you think are the similarities and differences between the products of these designs.


Seminaries: 
1. The WPBD and Knex are both good simulating tool for bridges.
2. Both of the WPBD and Knex offer different option of the joints and chords. We could improve the design by changing the joints.

Differences: 
1. The WPBD just consider the load on two dimensions but the Knex does on the three dimensions.  
2. It does not take too much time to build a WPBD bridge, but Knex takes much more time. It means the designer should be much more careful before building the bridge.
3. The WPBD give the analysis of compression force and tension force of the bridge. But you could not see it from the Knex. It is much more difficult to improve the design in Knex.