Bridge Design Process

Bridge Design Process In order to begin we must start our design process with the first step. We have to identify the need. The scenario is that we need to connect two pieces of land or structure so that a car must be able to pass through it. In this project we are to design and construct a bridge for a matchbox car. The bridge must be made of balsa wood and glue only. It must support its own weight, the load of the matchbox car, and additional weights that will be added. Next we must identify what problem is given. In this scenario our problem would be that we have a car that wants to travel between the two areas that the bridge is attached. We have only certain materials that can be used in constructing our bridge. And using those certain materials it must be of a particular size. And once those criteria have been met we must have a strong bridge that will carry the weight of the car and any additional weights placed on it. This bridge must have a truss design. Step three of our design process we search for ideas. From our research we know that the triangle is the strongest shape in construction and this is why trusses are made up of triangles. Our bridge must be a truss bridge design. So we have done research as a group and individually on the different truss bridge designs. There are many different truss designs that already exist. So we have done internet research into the trials and tests put on these different designs to see what features are stronger than others. Then we look at the project constraints that are given to us. The constraints that we have are materials, roadbed size, cross section size, span opening, and overall bridge width. The materials can only be balsa wood and glue. Glue can not be on surfaces that are not bonded. The roadbed is where the matchbox car must be able to pass along the bridge. The roadbed must also be able to accommodate the loading block with footprint, which is required for adding weights.