Week-6 - Bridge Testing - Lessons Learned

Your Results - You can see the spreadsheet here

Lessons About the Rules 

• The SPAN is 24" - NOT the length of your bridge
  
  • Your bridge must be longer than 24" to allow the supports at the end
  • The next bridge will require a SPAN of 36"
• The Width of your bridge matters
•  For your last bridge the width must be at least 3.5"
• Vehicles should be able to drive across the bridge
• For your last bridge there must be a "tube" at least 3" wide x 2" high - continuous

•  You can only contact the supports at one level at each end
• For the next bridge we will span between the tables, a plywood surface.
• There will not be the "V" to take advantage of from the sawhorses

• No one will be penalized this time for not meeting the requirements, except it must span 24" - there was no grade for this testing.  There will be for week-9

Lessons about Bridge Building - Your Observations

•  Most failures occurred at gusset plates
   
• There were unexpected failure modes - e.g. twisting 
• Long pieces passing through gusset pieces helped some groups