Truss Design
Description
Truss design often occurs in large structures like building roof supports and bridges. Trusses can be designed in any number of ways, based upon constraints and expectations. One important consideration is how much a truss design weighs versus the load that it is capable of supporting. It is crucial that designers weigh all such factors to create a design. It is important to create accurate and detailed documentation of designs and test results. Recording shapes, dimensions, failure loads and locations, and efficiency calculations are important. Record these figures so that one design can be compared to other designs, results can be replicated, and solutions can be communicated to other individuals.
Conclusion Questions
1. Our truss started to fail in the bottom right corner. This happened because some of the glued angles were offset and differed from the rest of the bridge, causing it to collapse first.
2. The only change I would make to our design is the corner in which it was the weakest. I would have glued the balsa wood at the corrected points, giving it a stronger base and standing point.
2. The only change I would make to our design is the corner in which it was the weakest. I would have glued the balsa wood at the corrected points, giving it a stronger base and standing point.