Week 10: Amanda Ngov

Last week was the final testing of bridges. My group performed the load testing similarly to week 6. Sand was placed into a bucket that was suspended on an apparatus, while being hung at the middle of the bridge, until the bridge failed. No other alterations were made for the upcoming week because the course has ended. If goals were necessary for the next week, my group would have tried to improve the weakest point of the bridge at the reaction points to improve the efficiency of the design. This week was difficult because new designs were constantly being created to find the best bridge design out of Knex pieces. Discussions about our previous research was considered throughout the entire redesigning process. Different members suggested one design while other members preferred different designs and applications of the research done two weeks ago. In the end a similar design from the original was used after increasing the overall height of the bridge.

All topics that were intended for students to experience and learn from were presented in the course. Teamwork between my group, planning a sensible schedule, documenting the results of progress, and the process of designing and altering a bridge to improve the efficiency were taught. In addition, computer modeling in West Point Bridge Design, physical modeling with Knex pieces, forensic analysis of bridge failures, static analysis through calculations, and computer software were all utilized and vital in the bridge designing process of the course.

To be honest the entire class was beneficial because of the how hands-on experience. I do not believe that the class was a waste of time in any way. With this said, I believe that the class allowed students to focus on a real life situation on a scaled down version with different programs and kit. Also, I do not believe the class structure or curriculum needs to be altered.

On a side note, the website was extremely clean and easy to navigate. Use this for next year if the course will be available for students to take.