Week 8: Amanda Ngov

In the previous week, calculating the forces of bridges was the main priority to improve upon the bridge. My group accomplished two main tasks. First we extended the two foot bridge to a span of three feet. We decided to keep the overall design of the original bridge because it was extremely efficient. Changes are still needed to improve the bridge after  calculations are computed. The calculations to improve the bridge was also a major task that was required and accomplished in lab. Since the calculations were figured out, the next week will become easier in terms of knowing which aspects of the bridge need readjustments. Changes in angles, beam sizes, and gussets may be changed to increase the efficiency of the overall bridge. A major challenge that my group and I experienced was difficulties in the calculations. Uncertainty in how to calculate the forces of each piece in the bridge was different and uncommon because my group and I were never exposed to a task such as this. The video on the resource site did help in understanding the concept more.

The overall idea of the calculations has a decent approach to figuring the force load of the bridge, but there are other outside forces such as wind, earthquakes, and traffic. Considering the bridge to be suspended without any other type of loads the calculations are sufficient, but the purpose of bridge is to allow transportation of objects from one side to another though. With that in mind, the analysis is not sufficient for a real bridge. If granted, I would suggest that further knowledge of the geography of the location where the bridge would be placed is required to reinforce the bridge at the weak spots. An earthquake for example would exert great forces on the connection joints. Wind, on the other hand, would create more forces on the side of the bridge. More knowledge of the population around the area is also required because a large number of commuters would result in a large load of cars and trucks. The geographical analysis and population density of the area, in my opinion, are vital in creating the most efficient bridge.