PmWiki | THS / WPBDHints

Please add your name in alphabetical order!

Mr. Rhine

Don't procrastinate.

Senzi (needs to feed the chode)

Be smart in your planning.

Bowles

Slide your test result report out from the left side of the screen to see which members failed and to alter them easier.

Derek

There is an underground mushroom with a diameter of 3.5 miles in Oregon.

I will now share my mastery of making bridges cheap. First while choosing a bridge to work off of i try to find one with as many members of equal length as possible. being uniform saves lots of money while making a bridge in the program. Following the theme of being uniform i will choose the same type of material to make each member out of. Though if given enough time you can find ways to mix and match materials to make a cheap bridge. which i believe Josh did when he came in second in the first competition(to two people with the same price, sound fishy you be the judge), but i digress. I will also use all of the type of members in my bridge. Even though not practical it works in keeping your price down. Now before i go i wanted to leave you with this question to think about, why is there braille on drive through ATM's.

J.Pugh

Is this the real Caesar's palace?... didn't think so

M. Cook

Keep-a-breast.org is a legit foundation, c'mon Mr. Rhine!

J.Pugh

On WPBD there are numerous amounts of “tricks” that one can do in order to keep the cost of their bridge at an all time low. When building the bridge a thing to keep in mind is the the width of the tubes and (or) bars. The smaller the width is the cheaper it is, however it helps to be consistent with the different widths. Being consistent with the widths allows for a cost reduction on the more tubes and (or) bars you buy with that given width. This happens because when a consumer (in this case the bridge designer) buys a large amount of the “same object” the producer can mass produce the object, thus resulting in a cheaper price. When the designer chooses multiple widths, the price skyrockets because the producer will have to custom order each desired width. Another way to keep the cost down is to choose the same type of material, either carbon steel, High-Strength Low-Alloy Steel, and (or) Quenched and Tempered Steel. A good material to use is the carbon steel because it is the cheapest out of the three. By using the same type of material, it cuts back on the cost because the producer can make the material much more easily and cheaper than having to make different types of material. Also, in relation to the materials, choosing to use mostly bars or tubes can cut down on cost. Tubes cost less then bars and are better under compression, however the bars are better under tension.

Mike Cook

One very effective cost cutting option is to not make the bridge out of solid bars, but hollow tubes instead. Obviously you can’t do this on all bridges, but it works on most of them and especially on deck trusses. For example, a solid bar of Carbon Steel costs $3.15 per kg while a hollow tube of Carbon Steel costs $5.04 per kg. Yes, the tubes cost more per kg than the bars, but the bars weigh more so they’re going to cost way more than the tubes. For example, on my bridge, I have 2793.6 kg of Carbon Steel hollow tubes, which would translate to 15268.0 kg of Carbon Steel solid bars. So, by using hollow tubes in stead of solid bars, I save myself $34014.46.

J.DiIorio

A way to save money is to take all the members and with the help of your engineering report max them out so that it is really close to breaking but not quite there. This allows you to hold the truck and bridge up while keeping your costs low because you are making everything the minimum possible. This is shown when during the bridge demonstration the members glow a highly dark red/blue. The darker the member the closer it is to breaking. A second way to save money that i found is if you have multiple bars of the same type and size you can change all of them to a higher costing material and if you are able to reduce the size at least 15 or more mm you will normally end up saving from a few hundred to a few thousand.

C. Senzi (needs to feed the chode)

For cost effective bridges you want to do these three steps: 1. Stress all members to the max, 2. Use the smallest size members, and 3. Use the least amount of joints. Stressing all of your members to the max makes your bridge cost effective because it allows you to use the least materials. Using the smallest members helps because they cost less. Using the least amount of joints helps because with less joints you use less costly members.

A. Tang

During some experimenting, I have come across a few ways to save money and use the bridges full potential. One way is to change most of the solid bars into tubes because the tubes cost less than a bar. Plus, you can check the members data to determine the size every member should be in order to bring out the full potential of each piece of the bridge. Then you should try to make a bridge design that uses the least amount of tubes or bars and can still sustain itself when loaded with something. If you want, you can also set up the tubes or bars u have to a similar size in order to get discounts on the materials.

Rita Bulman- One way to reduce the cost of one’s bridge is by looking at the load test results. The columns of force and strength allow one to compare the amount of force acting on a member with the member’s capacity. If there is a large gap between these two values, one can optimize the material used by decrementing the member size. By closing the gap between the force and the strength, one creates maximum cost efficiency.

  Also, you can reduce cost by trying to make members under compression shorter. As members get longer, they lose compressive strength. So keeping members under compression short will help make your bridge more efficient.

!~!J. Newt- The best way of reducing cost is to look at the test results and look at the member strength vs. the member force and then reduce as much as possible. This may take some guess and checks but it works pretty well.

C. Morrill- To reduce the cost of a bridge, one can substitute solid bars with hollow tubes. Using hollow tubes decreases the price of the bridge significantly. Another way to reduce the cost is to compare the members' strengths and forces, then reduce the size of the member as much as possible. Using the least amount of members and joints also contribute to making a cheaper bridge.