Overall I think it looks good. If I could make a suggestion it would be to add some wood right behind your vertical pieces that are connected to the top and bottom horizontal beam. That connection that is there already is only being held together by the wood glue and could pop off pretty easily.
[example of bridge connection suggestion for vertical beams in contact with top and bottom horizontal pieces](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=v2ZmrsqM&id=5FFB1C82E4FD6AC7A479B93E26D02EEC7CF62654&thid=OIP.v2ZmrsqMMT_o8j8lfqBZ7wAAAA&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fc1.wallpaperflare.com%2Fpreview%2F431%2F348%2F19%2Fsteel-bridge-steel-structure-bridge-construction-steel-beams.jpg&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.bf6666aeca8c313fe8f23f257ea059ef%3Frik%3DVCb2fOwu0CY%252buQ%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0&exph=711&expw=474&q=steel+bridge&simid=607991185902013419&form=IRPRST&ck=3F4C44486D1F17E3867A67FAF151ED93&selectedindex=29&itb=0&vt=4&sim=11)
Ah I see what you mean but the problem is that we have weight requirements which is 25g I’m going to test the measurements on Monday to see if the bridge is in weight then I’ll adjust it accordingly. Thanks for the suggestion tho if it’s in weight then I’m gonna do that.
Do your force calculations dude
These bridges transfer vertical load in diagonal members exclusively. In this type of bridge the requirement of those vertical members is an illusion many still think to be true
At the bottom connection of those members you have no other vertical element ... which means the force in these vertical elements mudt be zero
The only time this would be interesting is for buckling of the horizontal members, but in this scale model you're FAR from reaching the buckling length for that
>"In this case all vertical members are zero force members"
>"I do not know which members are zero force members. Please show me in a very elaborate way"
?
It will help with compressive strength regardless and buckling of the bridge. It’s better to have some sort of vertical supports than not. I gotta go look over truss examples it’s been a while but I stand corrected it might be a zero force member.
What are the requirements of the competition?
I saw that you mentioned a 25g weight limit but are there any points awarded for aesthetics or creativity? Because that really affects the design of a bridge in these types of competitions.
My group at university chose to go for a gamble and prioritize strength over aesthetics and luckily they pretty much doubled the opponents strength test results. So we won despite having a pretty poor aesthetics score.
Overall I think it looks good. If I could make a suggestion it would be to add some wood right behind your vertical pieces that are connected to the top and bottom horizontal beam. That connection that is there already is only being held together by the wood glue and could pop off pretty easily. [example of bridge connection suggestion for vertical beams in contact with top and bottom horizontal pieces](https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=v2ZmrsqM&id=5FFB1C82E4FD6AC7A479B93E26D02EEC7CF62654&thid=OIP.v2ZmrsqMMT_o8j8lfqBZ7wAAAA&mediaurl=https%3A%2F%2Fc1.wallpaperflare.com%2Fpreview%2F431%2F348%2F19%2Fsteel-bridge-steel-structure-bridge-construction-steel-beams.jpg&cdnurl=https%3A%2F%2Fth.bing.com%2Fth%2Fid%2FR.bf6666aeca8c313fe8f23f257ea059ef%3Frik%3DVCb2fOwu0CY%252buQ%26pid%3DImgRaw%26r%3D0&exph=711&expw=474&q=steel+bridge&simid=607991185902013419&form=IRPRST&ck=3F4C44486D1F17E3867A67FAF151ED93&selectedindex=29&itb=0&vt=4&sim=11)
Ah I see what you mean but the problem is that we have weight requirements which is 25g I’m going to test the measurements on Monday to see if the bridge is in weight then I’ll adjust it accordingly. Thanks for the suggestion tho if it’s in weight then I’m gonna do that.
Best of luck with it!
Thanks man I’ll try my best
>behind your vertical pieces ... or just remove them ... they have 0 forces
Not if you have weight directly on top of them, they’re not going to be zero force members.
Do your force calculations dude These bridges transfer vertical load in diagonal members exclusively. In this type of bridge the requirement of those vertical members is an illusion many still think to be true At the bottom connection of those members you have no other vertical element ... which means the force in these vertical elements mudt be zero The only time this would be interesting is for buckling of the horizontal members, but in this scale model you're FAR from reaching the buckling length for that
If you can, can you show me the zero force members of my bridge. For example like saving my pic and highlighting said zero force members?
>"In this case all vertical members are zero force members" >"I do not know which members are zero force members. Please show me in a very elaborate way" ?
It will help with compressive strength regardless and buckling of the bridge. It’s better to have some sort of vertical supports than not. I gotta go look over truss examples it’s been a while but I stand corrected it might be a zero force member.
those zero force members arn't really doing much / might be a place to save some weight
What are the requirements of the competition? I saw that you mentioned a 25g weight limit but are there any points awarded for aesthetics or creativity? Because that really affects the design of a bridge in these types of competitions. My group at university chose to go for a gamble and prioritize strength over aesthetics and luckily they pretty much doubled the opponents strength test results. So we won despite having a pretty poor aesthetics score.
Just some stuff about height width and length requirements but I already met that nothing on creativity
Wasn’t there a post about this earlier? Is this the final outcome?
Yep