reliable paper writing on spaghetti bridge Lab Report
This report describes the project to construct a bridge from spaghetti, the experiments undertaken, design of the bridge and the results of the tests. It is an opportunity to show what has been learnt from this project and how it can be linked to some basic (simple) theory.
Target length 1,500 words excluding references and the title. You are allowed +/- 10%.
Your deadline is 5 pm on 27th February 2015 (at the main reception) in PDF or Word format and email to efoxfordsubmissions@gmail.com
Task Overview
Please cover the following areas:
• Real Bridge Designs
• Pasta experiments
• Describe your bridge
• Describe what happened in the testing
Provide Harvard Style references to any source information that you have used.
Task Details
Real Bridge Designs
Discuss the design of real bridges and the trusses (or supports). There are many styles of bridge so you should compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of 3 different bridge designs as follows:
• A Truss Type Bridge
• A Suspension Bridge
• An Arch Bridge
Talk about real bridges that are in use today (or have been used if they no longer exist). DO NOT CHOOSE BRIDGES THAT LIFT OR SWING IN THE MIDDLE.
• Your description must highlight some interesting facts or information about the bridge you chose.
• You must also explain how the forces in each type of bridge are balanced – what happens to tension and compression in the bridge?
Experiments Section
Discuss the pasta (size, weight, etc) and what we did at the start to show what happens to a simple short span. After the first experiment I supplied information on different trusses and what they do, you then built short trusses and tested them.
Use some simple theory to explain how bridge spans behave when loaded and what trusses do to help keep the bridge from collapsing. Talk about compression and tension correctly. Compare and contrast the differences in design and results for the unsupported spans and the short truss sections. Link this to some simple theory of structures.
Discuss any problems you encountered and how this helped you with the main bridge design.
Bridge Design
Describe your bridge design, how you planned it and how you constructed it. Show pictures of the construction process and the design specification of the bridge (span, weight, key dimensions etc). Indicate how the test fixture is attached and supported by your bridge. Explain your design ideas and why you chose them. You also had to work to a materials budget, how did you plan your bridge so that it stayed within all the limits? Pictures of the final design will be useful.
Bridge Test
Describe what happened to your bridge as the test progressed. Did it change? How? Where? Use pictures and words. What weight did it fail at? Did the bridge do what you expected? What is the load/weigh ratio? We are trying to beat a ratio of 50 – how well did your bridge do?
The bridge was tested to destruction, look at the structure and try to find out where and why it failed. Explain why it failed and what you could do to prevent that in your next design.
Remember that you are learning from what you and other groups do, so it is not necessary to just discuss your design. Compare your design with other designs.
Introduction & Conclusion
Provide an overview of the report at the start, with some background information on bridges. Conclude with some key points and observations that you learned from the project and the results of your tests.
Required Report Structure
• Title Page & Author & Date
• Introduction
• Section on different bridge designs
• Section on experiments
• Section describing your bridge
• Section on the destruction test
• Conclusion
• References
Also use of sub-sections as appropriate to your report.
Note that reference should follow Harvard Referencing style.
Resources
These are intended to get you started.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridge
http://pghbridges.com/basics.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truss_bridge
http://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/bridge.htm
http://civil.camosun.bc.ca/spaghetti_bridge/Tips.htm
http://mysite.du.edu/~jcalvert/tech/machines/bridges.htm
http://www.jhu.edu/virtlab/bridge/truss.htm
http://www.technologystudent.com/struct1/struindex.htm
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