Model Bridge Design » elevated bridge

SO Elevated Bridges

Garrett Boon — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:45:54 +0000

This is a fun video showing the failure of a lot of Science Olympiad Elevated Bridges at the Crystal Lake Invitational 2009. Does anyone know what state this is held in? This video shows a lot of different bridge styles for Science Olympiad, so it might help give you a starting place for a design. Keep in mind that this is just at the invitational competition level.

My first bridge for the science olympiad

Hyun Seok Yoon — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 23:15:51 +0000

Hi this is Hyun Seok Yoon. As the title says, I just made my first bridge for the science olympiad!

Although it took me 12 hours (whew..!) I could see the good result! It held 15kg!

I saw some other members’ bridge and recognized that the height and span things were different from our rule which is held in New York.

But there is one little problem. My bridge weighs 111g. I don’t understand why. I used balsa wood and bass wood both and only used 1/4×1/4 size. I think using only 1/4×1/4 is the main problem. I can’t upload the picture somehow, so I uploaded them separately. Please help me reducing the mass. Also, when I was
testing the bridge, there was a cracking sound. Can you tell me what that sound means?

It would be great to get advised from all of you.

Q&A: Towers on an Elevated Bridge

Garrett Boon — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 16:08:05 +0000

This is the first in reviving my question and answer posts. When I receive a well asked question, I will answer it and post some of the dialogue here.

These two questions are dealing with making an elevated bridge, very similar to the Science Olympiad challenge.

1: I’m currently building an elevated bridge (for my physics class, not for scioly) and I have finished the two trusses and connected them and now only need to add the towers. Would it be a good or bad idea to make the towers slant outwards or should I just have them go straight up and down?

The only benefit to slanting the towers is that the main trusses can be a little shorter. This will reduce the weight of the bridge. The forces will increase on the towers if they are slanting, and then the towers will have to increase in weight. There is a balance to find. Since you have already built the main trusses, slanting the towers will not really help you. Also, it is significantly easier to build the towers so they are straight up and down.

2: For the bracing on the towers, I want to make X’s but I’m not sure how to do it exactly. Would I put one diagonal piece on one side of the corner and the other piece on the other side or put them on the same side and have one overlap the other?

Good question. I would recommend that you overlap the X’s. The X’s themselves do not need to be large pieces and thus won’t add a lot of weight. Rectangle shaped pieces work best. 1/4″ wide and 1/16″ thick should be more than sufficient. In one tower I built, the X’s were 1/32″ deep and 3/32″ wide. I never had a problem with the X’s breaking, it was always something else that failed.

Here is my Science Olympiad Tower.

Elevated Bridge

Garrett Boon — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 17:53:30 +0000

Science Olympiad is bringing back the Bridge Building event in 2009, except in a modified form. The event for ’09 is Elevated Bridge, which will provide an interesting and refreshing challenge. The draft rules that soinc.org are very interesting and make for a good read. Check them out as the new bridge event looks to be a refreshing change.

Elevated Bridge Resources:

Diary of a Bridge Builder

SciOly Elevated Bridge Thread