2.4.1 STRUCTURAL DESIGN LAB

SUMMARY:

 This was an individual activity in which I was tasked with designing a truss bridge that effectively supports the weight of a truck and has two lanes for traffic, utilizing the Bridge Designer program and aiming to maximize the bridge’s support capabilities and minimize its expenses. Using the Bridge Designer software allowed me to simulate the engineering design, material science, and statics of the truss bridge which would have taken me a great amount of time to calculate by hand. Although the project had a decent amount of constraints, there was a rather great degree of freedom I had with designing my bridge.

REFLECTION:

Learning:

Having to do a personal project after completing several group projects tested my abilities to adapt to change. Looking at more specific trends related to this project, I learned how to use the Bridge Designer software as well as utilized the PLTW engineering design process to plan out my bridge. The project asked me to practically apply my understanding of trusses and how certain shapes can make or break a truss. Adapting to new circumstances has always been a skill that has been tested throughout my high school engineering career, and this project was no exception - the most prominent thing I learned from this project is to ensure I am working even more than I feel is satisfactory to ensure that I produce something I am proud of. On top of that, I also learned that bridge design is much more difficult that it appears to be.

Improvements:

The biggest improvement I could have made in this project is better applying my understanding of trusses (while that may sound vague, continue reading my reasoning). With my pride in my sense of creativity as an engineer on the line, I simply CANNOT say that I say that I created a bridge design that I am proud of. I think that if I took even more time to research bridge design outside of class, I would be able to better harness my class time to experimenting with bridge design and asking more questions. Other than that, I feel that I accomplished the other aspects of the project decently - I think using some of the other features offered in the program would allow me to take my project beyond the bare minimum requirements.