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CE 202 Students Designed and Tested Their First Bridge

December 8, 2016

UNM students taking CE 202 - Engineering Statics, taught by Dr. Ali Irmak Ozdagli, designed and tested their first truss bridges made of spaghetti as part of their class requirement in the Structures Laboratory. Seven teams, formed by 3 to 4 students each, signed up for the final group project where they had the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have gained throughout the semester and bridge the theory with the practice. As a requirement of the project, they came up with original designs, calculated the capacity of their bridges, manufactured them using an unforgiving material, spaghetti, and tested in the laboratory. Teams were able to come up with effective systems that can carry up to 80 times of the structures’ own weight. In the coming day, teams will present their results, share their findings with their colleagues and discuss the lessons learned towards improved designs.

Students showing their bridge after testing. They received the third place by reaching up to 48 times the structures’ own weight.

ce 202 students design their first bridge

A student is loading his bridge carefully.  This bridge received the second place by carrying 51 times the structure's weight.

student loading bridge

The winner team is holding what is left of their structure.  They came up with a design that could sustain 78 times the weight of the structure.

winner team