Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Week 7 - Kyle Hayes


Last week we tested our two foot span design, our design was two feet long but the span was just shorted so we were forces to add a bit to the length, but over all I don’t think that changed much of the design or the strength. Our bridge’s cross sections were mot all fixed positions so when the weight was added the non-fixed parts were bowing and moving and it caused the bridge to twist sideways and fail because more the sides leaning too much.

For the K’NEX the numbers I would like to know are the amount of force on the bars as the weight is loaded from the middle, as this would help determine the strength limits of that piece and where can be improved and where can be reduced.  My idea for calculating them is to use trig to see how the forces get spread based on its angle but I know that it is more complex than just that.

This week for class we will be using our two foot span bridge and the information we gained from the test to make a three foot span design.

-          Kyle Hayes

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