STATICS & DYNAMICS

TRUSS BRIDGE

HESHAM ALI MOHAMED ALI

TP019379
UC3F1501ME
SHAMINI A/P ARUMUGAM
5 JUNE 2015

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Abstract

The main concept of this experiment is to design and calculate a truss bridge using spaghetti to resist a
load being placed at the center bottom of the bridge. It was a group work to do this task. Since each
member has their own design and the best design is been selected for a prototype design.

Acknowledgment
I would like to thank APU for granting me such an wonderful opportunity to work on this
project.

And I would like to thank my lecturer shamini for keep advising and helping all the student to
improve their skills during the semester and in this assignment, and I would like to apologize
from ms Shamini for missing the last two weeks classes since I was busy with year 3 finals and
some presentations. Thank you very much ms Shamini for your kindness and the nice way to
deliver an information.

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Contents
Abstract ......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Acknowledgment .......................................................................................................................................... 2
List of figures .................................................................................................. Error! Bookmark not defined.
List of tables ................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.
Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 3
Objective ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
Hand sketches and explanation +Calculations.............................................................................................. 6
Hand sketches: .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Explanation: .............................................................................................................................................. 7
Calculations: .............................................................................................................................................. 8
The results of the testing ............................................................................................................................ 10
Discussion.................................................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................... 14
References .................................................................................................................................................. 15

Introduction

Truss is one of the major types of engineering structures. It provides both a practical and
economical solution to many engineering situation, especially in the design of bridges, towers
and buildings. (Beer 2013)

Its widely adapted to structural design, and its a structural solution for many projects like the
bridges and roofs and aircrafts and also robots and spaceships.

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Figure (1 and 2) below shows two examples of trusses:

Figure 1, Eiffel tower Figure 2,

As far back as we can see in history, human beings have used new technology to solve problems
and ease their physical burdens. The distinctiveness of humans as a species is defined by their
use of tools, and bridges are one of these technological tools that human used to solve the
problem of crossing an obstacle in such a way as to cut down the effort and time needed to do so.
Therefore, bridges are man-made structures built for people and vehicles, for the purpose of
crossing an obstacle such as body of water, road or a valley. There are generally six main types
of bridges: girder, arch, cantilever, cable-stayed, suspension bridges and truss bridges.

Trusses are one of the most widely adopted structural designs, many times being utilized as the
structural solution of choice for bridges, roofs, cranes, aircrafts, and even robots and spaceships
shows some well-known examples of truss structures.

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Objective
Design a structure to span a given distance while supporting a maximum load (point load using
hanging method) with minimum weight of the bridge.

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Hand sketches and explanation +Calculations

Hand sketches:

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Explanation:

Three bridges were designed, design number 1 was designed by me and I think design number 2
is the chosen one because I was busy with exams during the make of the prototype. I helped
connecting the spaghetti rods together and I could not make it for the second meeting and there
also design number 3 which was designed by one of the group members.

My design:

This bridge was designed based on warren (with vertical) bridge.

Design 2 the prototype design:

The advantages of using the selected design:

1. Simplicity. The simple design of this bridge makes it simple not only to construct but also to
calculate the forces in every truss member.

2. Weight distribution. This design had the best weight distribution possible. The outer trusses
were all in almost equal compression while the supporting trusses also carried an almost equal or
less load.

3. Balancing the bridge is really important because the weight was going to be drag down on the
center of the bridge where more trusses were joined thus striking a balance in the way the load
was shared among the trusses. Furthermore, the hard part was to maintain the exact angles while
building the prototype.

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Calculations:

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The results of the testing
Prototype was built using spaghetti and glue. The weight of the bridge was 192g, its height 21cm
and the length was 50cm. Figure19 below shows a picture of the prototype of the designed
bridge:

Figure 3, prototype

After the bridge was designed and built it progress to the testing witch was by holding a load
from the center of the bridge, the starting load was 1kg and the maximum was 20kg.

The bridge was tasted starting from the minimum (1kg) and keep adding the weight until
reaching the maximum weight required during placing the weight, the bridge got a crack in the
middle of the base and then the bridge kept holding together until reached the target which is 20
kg (200N)

It was broken from the middle where the weight was placed as it is shown below:

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 Figure 4,

The reason of the failure is that the base of the bridge was not strong enough especially from the
right side of the bridge.

The whole bridge was intact except the point of the failure; there was a weakness on that point
which caused the bridge to break because it was not reinforced properly.

The of the tasting was recorded regarding to the weight of the bridge and load caused the bridge
to break as shown in the table 1 below:

Table 1Table 1, results of tasing result

Maximum Weight carried by 20kg 20, 000g

Bridge
Mass of the Bridge 0.192 192g
104.16
Strength Ratio ( )

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Discussion

The bridge was built and the testing of the bridge has been done from the center of the bridge
using the hanging method and the bridge was a bit cracked from the middle on 14kg and broken
on the maximum weight (20kg).

The design was good, and load was distributes in the entire bridge, and the glue was great.

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My group member have built the prototype again because the type of spaghetti at first attempt
was not good quality, it would have led to break the bridge at maybe half of what the bridge
could stand.

To build a bridge by spaghetti there are some recommendations should be considered like:

- Make sure that the type of spaghetti is suitable with the design.
- The glue is very good quality.
- Strengthen the weakness point to resist the load.
- Add some amount of glue in the joints to be connected strongly with the members.

Generally, doing the prototype was not that hard but is not too easy though. Many constraints
were kept in mind while building such as; members must be rigid enough and connected
properly by each and a lot of useful and practical experiences were achieved and maintaining the
angles was quite tiring.

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Conclusion

In conclusion the prototype was built successfully and the testing has been done.

The result was recorded it accomplished all the requirments, the bridge was able to hold and
resist a 20 kg load before it is broken.

I have done similar experiment before which was to build a truss tower in applied mechanic
subject. Actually it is fun and easy to make this prototype while putting in mind high expectation
to resist the applied load.

However we have learned in this assignment many things and we improved our skills and
techniques with the practical experience like how to choose the proper design for a bridge which
can be strong enough to carry more load on it and how to connect the members with the joints
and strengthen the weak points so the bridge can withstand more loads on it.

Finally it was easy to build this project and happy that it could resist 20 kg before it is broken
into two halfs.

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References

p.beer (2013). VECTOR MECHANICS. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill. 284-292

IRVING H.SHAMES. (2007). Introduction to Structural Mechanics. In: ENGINEERING

MECHANICS STATICS AND DYNAMICS. 4th ed. New Delhi: Asoke K. Ghosh, Prentice-Hall of
India. P221-224

http://rimoli.gatech.edu/documents/A%20Brief%20Introduction%20t
o%20Trusses.pdf

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