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Cantilever Bridge
Winter 2017
Cantilever Bridge: Welcome
This project was the culmination of a semester of work. After a semester of learning about the structural design elements of bridges and how to analyze tension and compression in beams our group designed a cantilevered bridge optimized to support a high load with a low weight (maximized efficiency). In this project we also had to account for the effects of buckling.
Cantilever Bridge: Text
Projects
Portfolio of Work
For this project we used the program Dr. Frame to analyze the potential tension and compression forces that the beams of the bridge would feel. This made it easier for us to test how the axial forces could be decreased. Shown to the left is the first iteration of our bridge design.
In second iteration of our design we eliminated three beams from the initial design and played around with the cross section of the beams. These changes made the bridge lighter but also greatly increased the compressive forces. There were clearly still further improvements to be made.
The final iteration of our design included more bars, however with the additions of some beams we were able to create numerous zero force members. The zero force members allowed us to shorten bars that previously experienced high forces. The zero force members also allowed for us to decrease the cross sections of the beams which decreased the weight. All three of our iterations were safe in crushing, buckling, and tension.
Cantilever Bridge: Projects
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