The past week was a lot more calculation and math than actual physical building, if not all. We learned about the method of joints calculation, which takes each individual joint on the bridge and makes it a free body diagram. At this point, we simply have to measure the tension force from each member on the joint, which is a simple sum of forces problem. There really was no problem with this part of the assignment A3. The only hard part of that was finding the angles of all the triangles of the bridge, and even that was not that difficult. In the next week we will probably use this calculation method for a couple members and joints in an attempt to make the 36-inch bridge we must design for the following week better.
We were using the method of joints to find the force on the K'Nex bridge, but this calculation method could also be used on real bridges. The only difference between the calculations we just did on the small bridge and the ones that would be performed on larger bridges is the calculations would have to account for greater forces on more points, since there is rarely a case where there is only one measurable load on a bridge at any given point. Other than that minor detail, this method would be sufficient for a real bridge, in my opinion. As for things I could further analyze, there is nothing really that I don't know right now that I would like to. For the projects we are currently involved in, all the tools and calculation methods are sufficient to get things done.
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