Taylor Days
Sonja Skalka
1. I thought that my bridge would be able to hold about 35 pounds. I thought this because I knew our cables could support the weight but I did not know if the road deck could hold it up due to the fact that it was not plywood and the grain of the wood all went in one direction.
2. I thought my bridge would break at the road deck, because it only had support by one tower. The cables were attached to it but I also had thoughts that it would break at the cables. They were tensioned with little pieces of balsa wood and I thought they would fly out and it would cause everything to no longer be in tension.
3. My bridge broke at 36.28kg right where the weight was put on the road deck because the way it was built it was not evenly strong as the cables. If we would have made the road deck plywood it would have been a lot stronger and probably could have held a lot more.
4. I liked the overall design plan of the bridge with the one tower and the way that the tower came out although it did not have the arch.
5. I did not like the way the cables had to be attached and how they had to be tensioned at the last minute. I believe that this made our bridge a bit weaker and it could not live up to its full potential.
6. I thought that it would be hard to build the mini truss on the bottom of the road deck. I had to cut very tiny sticks of balsa wood to make sure they fit in between the two sticks that ran horizontally.
7. Attaching the cables was the hardest part about our bridge. It was hard getting them to be tensioned and tied into the main cable.
8. If i could have gone back I would have made the road deck plywood to strengthen the road deck itself. I also would have made sure to tension the cables differently.
9. I feel like eventually the tension on the cables and the weight on the road deck it would have still snapped the road deck. Although I think it could have allowed the road deck to flex and hold up more weight.
2. I thought my bridge would break at the road deck, because it only had support by one tower. The cables were attached to it but I also had thoughts that it would break at the cables. They were tensioned with little pieces of balsa wood and I thought they would fly out and it would cause everything to no longer be in tension.
3. My bridge broke at 36.28kg right where the weight was put on the road deck because the way it was built it was not evenly strong as the cables. If we would have made the road deck plywood it would have been a lot stronger and probably could have held a lot more.
4. I liked the overall design plan of the bridge with the one tower and the way that the tower came out although it did not have the arch.
5. I did not like the way the cables had to be attached and how they had to be tensioned at the last minute. I believe that this made our bridge a bit weaker and it could not live up to its full potential.
6. I thought that it would be hard to build the mini truss on the bottom of the road deck. I had to cut very tiny sticks of balsa wood to make sure they fit in between the two sticks that ran horizontally.
7. Attaching the cables was the hardest part about our bridge. It was hard getting them to be tensioned and tied into the main cable.
8. If i could have gone back I would have made the road deck plywood to strengthen the road deck itself. I also would have made sure to tension the cables differently.
9. I feel like eventually the tension on the cables and the weight on the road deck it would have still snapped the road deck. Although I think it could have allowed the road deck to flex and hold up more weight.
Alex Nunez-Palacios
1) While designing this bridge I came up with an initial estimate of 30 lbs. I also thought that the bridge would break in the middle of the longer section of the bridge because there would be less tension to hold the weight the farther it is from the tower.
2) The bridge held 80lbs and it was the cables that broke first then the road deck was split. I think that it was mostly because our cables were not tensioned enough or connected to the road deck in a way that could keep them in place.
3) I liked the way the architectural design of the bridge turned out, even though cutting all of the individual pieces was challenging and a bit tedious. I thought that the most difficult part of the bridge building was going to be the tower. However, in the end, tensioning the cables was the most difficult part of the bridge building. Mostly I would change the way that we attached the main cables to the tower and then how we added the suspenders. If we had changed the way the cables were attached to the bridge I think that the cables would have held the road deck better and transferred the weight to the tower in a more efficient manner. I also noticed that the cables were ripping into the places where we attached the main cables to the tower. I think that if we had tensioned the cables further it would have been the tower that would have given way first.
2) The bridge held 80lbs and it was the cables that broke first then the road deck was split. I think that it was mostly because our cables were not tensioned enough or connected to the road deck in a way that could keep them in place.
3) I liked the way the architectural design of the bridge turned out, even though cutting all of the individual pieces was challenging and a bit tedious. I thought that the most difficult part of the bridge building was going to be the tower. However, in the end, tensioning the cables was the most difficult part of the bridge building. Mostly I would change the way that we attached the main cables to the tower and then how we added the suspenders. If we had changed the way the cables were attached to the bridge I think that the cables would have held the road deck better and transferred the weight to the tower in a more efficient manner. I also noticed that the cables were ripping into the places where we attached the main cables to the tower. I think that if we had tensioned the cables further it would have been the tower that would have given way first.