Skip Week 8 Blog Entry

The prior week, we started the analysis of the truss bridges. We used laws of physics and conservation of energy to calculate how the force of a load on a bridge is dispersed throughout a truss bridge. By doing so, we were able to calculate the tension and compression on the individual members of a truss bridge. We also made small modifications to the bridge and plan to further improve it. The coming week, my teammates and I agreed to make final modifications to the bridge to get it ready for the final weight load test. The major accomplishment this week was that we we able to learn how to analyze a truss bridge and how forces act on the bridge. Using this knowledge, we can improve our bridge and make it stronger. The major problem is that the bridge seems to be a little weak. My teammates and I have to work on the bridge to make it stronger.

This method of analysis is somewhat sufficient for a real bridge. It is somewhat sufficient because it uses actual laws of physics and you can see how the force of a weight on one point disperses throughout the bridge and you can see the tension and compression forces on the individual members of the bridge. The problem is that this only thinks about forces on one point. A bridge will have weight throughout the entire span and not just one point. The loads the bridges hold are not hanging straight from the gusset plates. It also disregards other factors such as wind which is very likely in real life. Another reason is that this disregards the weight of the bridge itself which will surely change the values. For these reasons, the analysis is sufficient to some extent.

For further analysis, I would like knowledge about the bending of the members. The analysis talks about tension and compression, but I do not know when the members would break. You could have a perfect bridge that holds a great amount of load, because it is strong against tension and compression but  I think that bending and breaking is another story. I would also like to learn about twisting. This is another factor that will affect the bridge. If I have all this information, I think I could do a legit analysis of the bridge.