A1-BELL

For my bridge design, I felt that it would be appropriate to create an arch that stretched from one end to the other facing up. The advantage to this design is that a semi-circle is a very strong shape. When the asphalt  part of the bridge bows in, the arch in my bridge design compresses each piece equally. If it were any other shape, some pieces would have not compression or tension, while other take all of the compression and tension. As for everything else inside the arch, i felt the best way to create strength to the bridge was to simply create multiple triangular trusses along the length of the bridge. Finally, I have vertical members to support the weight of the arch. In terms of change in design, I never actually changed the physical layout of the design. I only changed the thickness and materials of certain members. Members that had high compression (arch of bridge) were changed from carbon steel to quenched and tempered steel, which is a better material for compression. Members with high compression also had thickness added to them. The cost of my bridge after all the corrections have been made came to a total of $364,160. Through research and analysis of my bridge design, I am confident that I could knock off at least $50,000, using different dimensions and materials. Throughout my bridge design, I learned that the top of the bridge needs the most focus because it has more compression than any other part of the bridge. The three following figures show the 2D model of the bridge, the table of the test results, and a 3D model of the bridge with the truck in the middle of the bridge.

 Figure 1: 2D Model

 Figure 2: Table of Test Results

Figure 3: 3D Model