Resources

Resources That May be Helpful Throughout the Course

West Point Bridge Designer

Name	Type	Length	Comment
Basic Intro	Video	10:51	Video prepared by High School Coach/Teacher giving overview of WPBD
Download Page	Program	free	The Official Download Page
Amusing Bridges	Video	1:57	Bridges that show the limits of using a computer program to design a bridge
Help	Help		The WPBD help is very good, not just about the program, but also about the design process and the limitations of the program

Knex

Name	Type	Length	Comment
Results of Pull-Out tests	Data		Tests on force required to pull out a Knex rod from a connector in three configurations
Knex Home Page			See the variety of things Knex is used for - it's mostly sales info

Truss Analysis

Name	Type	Length	Comment
Introduction to FBD	Video	15:15	Gives 4 steps to Free Body Diagram (FBD) - nice example with cat on beam. It is not based on a truss, but it's very clear on basics.
Bridge Designer	Online Program	free	Allows you to sketch (not super accurately) a truss configuration and apply loads. Note that the link is to the instructions page. The actual program link is tiny at the bottom. A key understanding is that since it's all "linear" you can scale the results.
2-D Truss Example	Video	12:33	Shows the Method of Joints (MOJ) for a simple truss. It's a bit clunky, but clear.
Platt Bridge Truss - I Part II	Videos	9:14 5:07	Two part video on solving a Platt Bridge Truss. It eliminates trigonometry by keeping the overall shape very simple, but the principles are clear. In practice you'll need trig.
Method of Sections	Video	17:00	Shows how to determine the forces at any set of members in a truss without solving for every member's force as required in the MOJ.
Calculating Angles	Excel		This is a link to a blog post that in turn has the link to the spreadsheet that allows you to calculate angles and trig functions if you know the lengths of the sides of a triangle. That may help with truss analysis.

 

Blogs

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Name	Type	Length	Comment
Blogger	Website - Blog Creation		This is our suggested location for creating the blog for each team for this course.
Blogger -Getting Started	Help		Google's instructions for starting a blog, posting to it, following other blogs. Pretty clear. Note that there's more info from "Help Home" at the top of the page.
Blogger - Getting Started	Video	9:42	One of many videos about this. It seems pretty straightforward. covering most of the basics. Note that Google tinkers with the interface continually, so there will probably be some difference between what you see in the video and what you'll actually see. The functions stay pretty much the same however.
Windows Live Writer	Program		You may find you'd like to have a tool to prepare blogs other than working in the browser. Windows Live Writer is widely regarded as a very nice local tool for preparing a blog on your local machine, then posting it to blogger (or another "platform") - it's the one I use. It's part of a very nice suite of programs in "Windows Live Essentials". It's Windows-only. I'm sure there's a Mac equivalent

 

General Bridge Information

Name	Type	Length	Comment
Wikipedia Truss Bridges	Links		Good article showing a range of truss bridges.
15 Famous Bridges			Brief stories about the bridges, with a photo. Not many trusses is them
Possible Shapes			Stephen Wofram, famous mathematician, on possible bridge shapes
Truss Bridge Images			Google Images views of many different truss bridges
Bridge Tour		7 min	JEM Tour of Truss Bridges - Uses Google Earth - Will need to download
Tacoma Narrows Collapse	Video	5:57	Probably the most famous video of a bridge collapse. It's of a suspension bridge in Washington state. It was famous as an elegant new design in 1940. Then it collapsed
I-35 Minneapolis Collapse	Video	0:24	Local news report with video from security camera showing the collapse.

General Resources

Name	Type	Length	Comment
AE Resources	Links		Prof. Mitchell's collection of tools useful to students. Includes multiple Excel spreadsheets that have general as well as specific interest to Architectural Engineers.
Google Docs	Online Tools		Great tools for online collaboration including: Writing - For collaborative writing and editing Spreadsheet - for collaborative calculation - e.g. for truss analysis Drawing - useful for the diagrams in this course Presentation - for collaboratively producing an online presentation Table - for mapping data (experimental and new)
Access Science	Cyclopedia		This encyclopedia of science and technology is available only through the library (you'll have to login when reaching it). It is "drier" than many websites, but tends to have more depth than Wikipedia (which I like) in more areas. It's much closer to an academic source and is thus suitable for citation.