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American Society of Civil Engineers Steel Bridge – Truss-worthy

The objective was to create a pedestrian bridge for a disc golf course for the annual American Society for Civil Engineers Steel Bridge Competition. Certain requirements had to be met including a 20.5-foot span and the ability to hold 2500lbs as part of a set of six random loading scenarios. This bridge needs to have minimal deflection and must be assembled using members no longer than 3’6”. The competition is scored on time to build, bridge efficiency, deflection, and aesthetics. The most time-intensive part of the project was the bridge's design and finding what design allowed for members to have minimal deflection while withstanding internal forces of over 16 kips. The main software used for design calculations was SAP2000, used extensively to model loading scenarios and deflections. Once the design was finalized, it was sent to Novel Ironworks, our sponsor and fabricator, to fabricate the individual members. Once these were fabricated, joints were designed to withstand the axial loads while keeping the speed of assembly in mind. The chosen design uses a double finger joint with a bolt through the center to prevent tear out and cross bracing was added between stringers to withstand lateral loading.

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