A1 -STAQUET

The goal of this bridge design is to build a safe bridge that is as cost effective as possible.  I choose to design my bridge with all of the steel members being above the roadway deck in a relatively arch shaped pattern.  I then integrated interior cross members in the form of triangles to give the bridge added strength.  I decided to use this shape bridge because I personally believe that an arch is the strongest shape possible for this type of construction, and the addition of triangular internal truss members only makes the design stronger.  I did not have too many design changes during my time I spent creating the bridge up to this point, only slight arch angle changes.  In the future I plan on experimenting with the different available materials and changing between hollow and solid materials to get my bridge to cost as little as possible.  My bridge currently costs $298,000, and with future work and experimentation I plan to get the bridge to cost under $250,000.  During this design process I learned that bridges are extremely expensive, and involve a lot of time and effort outside of the actual construction process.  Below, Figure 1 shows a 2-D view of the bridge in the drawing board view, Figure 2 shows the simulated truck in the middle of the bridge, and Figure 3 shows the load test results of the bridge.  

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3