To: ENGR 100 Students

From: ENGR 100 Instruction Team

Date: Today's Date

Subject: Bridge Analysis Assignment (Group HW)

The two main purposes of this assignment are (1) to help students learn how loaded structures behave and (2) to test prototype bridge designs. This engineering analysis will aid students in their final bridge design. Software instructions and a sample bridge plot are attached.

Each team is responsible for turning in one set of the following items:

1.  A written list of patterns describing how bridges behave when they are loaded. Some examples of possible patterns* include:

• "members on the top of a truss are in compression"
• "forces are the greatest when the truck is in the center of the bridge" or
• "members with large diameters are less likely to fail"

*To identify these patterns, load at least three "Sample Designs." Try varying the location of joints, member sizes, materials, and/or cross-section.

2.  Print out some of your prototype bridge designs. With a pen, mark the weak members and identify if they failed in tension or compression (see example).

Sample Plots of a Bridge

Since the bridge analysis software isn't available on all computers on campus, it may be difficult to open a saved file of your bridge outside of class.  Instead, save the bridge file on a local computer in the classroom and then make an image of the file that can be opened on any machine to print.

To make an image of the bridge as it appears on the screen, hit the "Print Scrn" button. Then exit the program (or minimize it) and open a program like "Paint" (should be under Start/Programs/Accessories). Select Edit/Paste to view the image and use the cut tool to save only portions of the image.  Finally you can Edit/Paste the image into a Word document.  A sample bridge is shown in the figures below:

This assignment will be graded on completeness and thoughtfulness of the 3 deliverables listed above.