During last week we were expected to build a bridge with the Knex. Each group member built an individual bridge they had similarities but in general they were different in design. We tried various ways of making each design the most cost efficient and at the same time the most effective supporting weight. We were also able to test two of our designs using the apparatus that will be used in the final evaluation of the bridge design. The test went differently for both designs, both failed with relative low weight. My bridge failed because the structure that it was sitting on wasn't completely fixed and it slid because of the sideways forces the bridge put on.
The Knex pieces are a good representation to construct a bridge but when extreme conditions occur the Knex fail. When considering an actual steel bridge the connections aren't simply clipped on together, they are welded and create more supportive force for the load that they have to carry. One of the main differences is that with Knex you can easily experiment because its inexpensive to build and test new designs.
No comments:
Post a Comment