___________2.4.

1 Structural Design__________


David Helbling, Principles of Engineering
Stony Point High School, 1/28/2014


________________Design Brief_______________
Client: Stony Point High School
Designer: David Helbling
Problem Statement: A two-lane highway is being built, but a riverbed
intersects the planned construction zone.
Design Statement: Utilizing West Point Bridge Designer software,
design and create a truss bridge carrying a two-
lane highway that spans a river bed.
Constraints: -The cost must be minimized
-Bridge may cross the valley at any elevation from high water
level to 24 meters above high water level
-Highest point on bridge may not exceed elevation of 32.5
meters above high water level
-Substructure may consist of either standard abutments or arch
abutments.
-May use one intermediate pier, located near center of valley, if
necessary.
-May use cable anchorages located 8 meters behind one or
both abutments, if necessary.
-No more than 50 joints
-No more than 120 members
-Bridge deck made of either Medium-strength concrete 23cm
thick, or High-strength concrete 15cm thick.
-Deck must be supported by transverse floor beams spaced at
4 meter intervals.
-Deck must be 10 meters in width.
-Truss members will be made of either carbon steel, high-
strength low-alloy steel, or quenched and tempered steel.
-Truss members can either be solid bars or hollow tubes, and
cross sections must be squares
-Bridge must carry its own weight, and a 12.0 kN load applied
at each deck-level joint.
-Standard H25 truck loading
-Complies with structural safety provisions of 1994 LRFD
AASHTO Bridge Design Specifications
Deliverables: -Title Page
-Design Brief
-Research Summary
-Modification Sketches
-Final Bridge Design
-Final Design Justification
-Conclusion Questions
-References


_____________Research Summary_____________

From various tests and experimentations, I have found out much about material selection and
truss design. Firstly, high-strength low-alloy steel is slightly stronger than carbon steel, while
only slightly more expensive, making it more cost-effective to change the material rather than
alter the thickness of a member, to an extent. Also, quenched and tempered steel is better
suited to large structural supports rather than smaller members. Hollow tubes decrease the cost
dramatically, making them a better option when refining the bridge than decreasing the size of a
member, to an extent.

The actual design of the bridge is obviously quite important as well. The shorter and wider the
truss is, the stronger the compression and tension forces acting on the members are. However,
if the truss is too tall and narrow, it adds lots of extra weight and expense to the production of
the bridge. Slightly lowering some joints rather than others reduces the length of the members,
reducing cost and improving the strength of the members. However, this usually places more
stress on the floor beams.





_____________Modification Sketches__________

First functional iteration of the final bridge design. This bridge is very basic, but contains the
same general truss configuration that will survive throughout the project. All members are the
same material and thickness, and the bridge is much taller than its final form.


After some experimentation, I lowered the joints of the trusses considerably. This cut down on
the cost considerably, and, as a bonus, was more aesthetically pleasing. Still, the members
were all composed of carbon steel, and were a uniform 100mmx100mm in thickness.

Further experimentation with member thicknesses and hollow tubes refined the bridge, but
some members were just slightly too weak. Altering the thickness proved to be a larger expense
than simply improving the material, and thus, the final product was completed. More attempts at
refinement ended in the bridges collapse, so this iteration is truly the most refined form of the
bridge.


_____________Final Bridge Design____________













___________Final Design Jusification__________
The asymmetrical placing of the pier meant that one truss would be very small, with little room
for change. The other would be slightly larger, meaning I had a little more room to innovate.
Needing to minimize the cost, I decide to use the least amount of joints possible, thus, I placed
three joints as opposed to four. The design unfolded from there, and I arranged the members in
triangular patterns, making them rigid and stable. I gradually moved the joints to make the
members as short as possible without compromising structural stability. Still, the cost was too
high, so by reducing the thickness of members I reduced the cost. The uppermost trusses,
which bore the load, needed to be thicker and stronger, meaning that hollow tubes, slightly
thicker, would be a better alternative than simply thinning the members slightly, as the extra
material removed from inside the tubes would decrease the cost more than the 10mm of
material removed from the solid bar. The tubes, I found, were a bit too strong, but the next size
down was too weak, so to remedy that, I picked the next size down, while improving the material
from the standard carbon-steel to the stronger, while still relatively lightweight and cheap, high-
strength low-alloy steel.
The tension load from the weight of the truck is supported well by the thinner members,
because they are not at risk of buckling. They make up the transverse beams, and the inner
members of the truss. Thicker members are needed for compression forces, as the force is
distributed across a larger area. As a result, I made the load-bearing members along the top
thicker and stronger. An arch design was given to the right-hand span of the bridge, letting it
support its own weight more effectively and taking the load off of inner members.


____________Conclusion Questions____________
1. Compression force is better handled by thicker, more solid members. Brittle materials can be
better in this application, because they are not being forced to bend and stretch. Tension,
however, is exactly the opposite. While thicker members handle tension better than thinner
ones, thinner members are much better suited to tension rather than compression. Slightly more
ductile materials are more favorable for this kind of force, because a brittle member would
simply snap.
2. Compression forces should be directed towards the anchor points along the upper members,
leaving the transverse beams and inner members of the truss to handle tension. This makes the
larger upper members handle most of the load, rather than the smaller inner members. This
allows the bridge to be sturdy, cheap, and effective.


________________References________________






(Did not use any external references)