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Bridge Extra Credit Options
- Deadline for completing the option below is Tues. January 12th
- If you complete your materials report and bridge analysis before you build your bridge, you can predict the max weight the bridge can hold and the top three failure points. Once you know these weaknesses, you may change those parts of the design to improve the strength of the bridge as long as you use parts we have tested and you can predict the results of your design changes. If you are content with the standard design, you may not change it in any other way--it must be built to specification and pass inspection before testing (see competitive grading rules). Not only will this give you a competitive advantage, you will also earn a few bonus points.
- Deadline for completing the options below is Tues. January 19th
- Look in the book (near the end) and follow the instructions to create a full scale diagram for a deck truss. diagram is worth a few points. If you fabricate this deck truss and use it for your bridge analysis report, I will give you significant bonus points for a job well done. One thing to consider: your deck truss will still compete with everyone else's bridges, so you might want to do a bit of analysis on the deck truss to make sure it will be competitive.
- Even larger bonus if you make a diagram, build, and do analysis for another style of truss (hint: look at back of book for ideas)
- A separate bonus if you look at the ideas in the back of the book and analytically determine which truss would theoretically perform the best in our competition.
