Building a Popsicle-Stick Bridge

The goal: to build the strongest possible bridge to take a matchbox car, using wooden popsicle sticks. Constraints: The bridge must span a 55cm gap No more than 100 popsicle sticks may be used The sticks may not be cut Only white glue may be used Construction paper may be used for the deck only The test load is applied to a 4cm-wide section at the top of the arch. The test jig looks like this:

(Well-built bridges can support over 200kg - the weight of two adults) Structural Analysis A bit of thought, or modelling with a computer-aided design program, shows that the bridge can be reduced to a simple triangle. The force required to break a wellconstructed bridge is orders of magnitude greater than any other forces acting on it, such as its own weight, the weight of the toy car, "wind load" etc.

This is not the case for a real bridge, of course, which must be designed for a variety of vehicle loads, wind loading, snow or ice buildup, earthquakes and so on. Also, because of the power law (mass increases as the cube of the size, while strength increases as the square of the size), small structures are much much stronger than their full-size counterparts.

A bit of simple physics (or CAD software) will put numbers to the forces. Simple analysis treats the sides as rigid bars, and the corners as free pivot points. One lower corner is fixed to the support, while the other is allowed to slide. The base of the triangle is in tension, while the sides are in compression. The higher the triangle, the less tension in the base. The limiting case for an infinitely high triangle is zero tension in the base, and half the test weight in compression in each side. If the triangle is made lower, the forces increase. In the limit of a zero-height triangle, they become infinite.

Forces in Simple Triangle: 200kg weight on apex

Stresses in trianglular element, from "Felt" software. Red is under tension, blue is in compression. So the optimal shape to minimize the forces on the bridge is an infinitely high triangle. Two problems - we have only 100 sticks, and the test jig is less than 40cm high.

The bridge is contructed of two compression elements and one tension element. A bit of experiment reveals that failure of a tension element is typically due to shearing of an overlap joint, while failure of a compression element is typically due to buckling.

Design of a tension element for the base is relatively simple - a series of sticks overlapped a suitable amount performs well. Design of a compressive element is more difficult. The element must resist buckling, and must be designed so that the stress is distributed evenly across the individual sticks. This may be acheived in part by careful assembly - the element should be perfectly straight, and all the sticks should align exactly at the ends so that they all touch the supports. In real life, elements are often created with a complex cross-section in order to resist buckling. Three of the most common shapes are the I-beam, box section, and tube. Most real-world structures are made of these shapes.

For the stick bridge, the requirement to not cut sticks makes it difficult to create these common sections, though it is possible (though not the tube, of course). Instead, stiff elements may be made by laminating together pairs of sticks. This also guards against weakness in individual sticks - depending on the supplier, some sticks may have grain diagonally across the stick. Since wood will split along the grain, this makes them much weaker. In this case, pairs of sticks should be laminated so that the grains cross each other.

When these designs are tested, providing the joints are well made and sufficiently overlapped, the element will typically fail by buckling. Once the element starts to buckle, failure is progressively more rapid. As the sticks depart from perfect alignment, the inside of the curve becomes more stressed than the outside, taking the inside sticks beyond their breaking strength. The joint may become delaminated, a stick may split along the grain, or a stick break across the grain. To prevent buckling, it is necessary to make the element stiffer. This can be done by making it thicker, but the finite number of sticks puts a limit on this. Another technique that may be used is the stayed mast, borrowed from sailboat design. In a sailboat, there are one or more masts (shown below on its side) which are under compression and subject to sideways force from the sail (this force can be many tons in strong winds). To stiffen the mast, steel cables are used together with "spreaders" to convert bending in the mast into tension in the cables which is more easily resisted.

This concept may be used in the stick bridge, to resist bending of the compressive members by staying them against the bottom tension member. This idea is shown in the third design. Construction Typically, bridge elements are built first, then glued together to make two or more trusses, The trusses are then joined with cross members, and finally the paper deck is glued on. Since at each step the glue must dry, it is important to allow enough time for all the steps. At least 3 days is required, and typically much more. When glueing elements, better results will be obtained if the sticks are clamped while the glue dries. Since you want to glue many elements at the same time, you

need a lot of clamps. Fortunately, good spring clamps can be obtained at a "dollar store". For single joins, clothes pegs may be used. For laminating, pieces of thick metal or wood and steel G-clamps allow many pairs of sticks to be laminated at once. Pairs of sticks may be arranged in two layers between the metal plates to give e.g. 24 pairs in 2 layers. It is important to make sure the sticks are exactly aligned and do not slip when pressure is applied. It is important that the final elements should be exactly straight, or they will buckle. This means they must be glued together against a straight edge such as a long piece of wood. Elements must be measured carefully and overlaps glued to bring them to the designed length. For final assembly, a setsquare should be used to make sure that the bridge is exactly vertical and that the top load-bearing elements are exactly flat and horizontal. Any deviation - one stick protruding slightly, for instance - will concentrate stress under load and be a point of failure. Since sticks cannot be cut, any small errors in alignment may be corrected by adding glue. The load-bearing points at the bottom corners and apex can be set up on flat metal plates (which the glue won't stick to) and glue added to build up the round end of the sticks to give a flat bearing surface. The bridge should be constructed to spread the load equally to all elements. Just thinking about it helps - imagine what happens when the weight is applied, and each stick starts pushing on the next to transfer the load to the base. Are there any sticks that aren't doing anything ? Any sticks that are doing more than their fair share of work ? Testing Testing your design is a good idea - it helps eliminate poor designs early before you have spent too much time on them. Also, it's fun. The Richmond APEG test jig uses a car jack, cable and springs to pull evenly on the load plate, with an electronic load cell to measure the force. My test jig uses a set of bathroom scales and two threaded rods. Pieces of 2x4 are used for the cross-pieces. The upper crosspiece had to be reinforced with a metal plate as sticks would be driven into the soft wood when testing joints in pairs of sticks. Force is applied by turning the nuts on the screwed rods with a pair of wrenches. Caution - wear safety glasses and keep fingers clear. Though the stored energy in the jig is much less than in the springs of the APEG tester, forces will still exceed 100kg and elements may break suddenly. Photos Laminating pairs of sticks - G-clamps and metal plates Laminating pairs of sticks clamping while glue dries - spring clamps with swivel pads for even pressure test jig - also used for final assembly

"testing" the bridge first design second design third design (concept) third design (photo) 676lbs, 1st place 2008 APEG open category, Prince George BC Testing the first design (Video) Richmond/Delta APEG.BC Model Bridge Design by Garrett Boon FElt (open source system for finite element analysis; Linux)

Andrew Daviel advax@triumf.ca March 2004 edited 2011

The popsicle stick bridge is a classic science demonstration and competition. Every year many students world-wide build bridges made soley from popsicle sticks and glue, to see which designs can hold the most weight. We built one, using maybe 140 sticks, give or take a few. Not expecting it to hold much weight, we were surprised by how strong it ended up being! (results in last step)

Step 1Design your bridge

There are many ways to build bridges, both real bridges and popsicle stick bridges. Do some research, be creative, and remember - triangles are strong. A triangle spreads out weight and is much more stable than a simple rectangle or square support. Be sure to incorporate lots of triangles into your bridge design. More popsicle sticks doesn't necessarily mean a stronger bridge. In fact, according to the internet, "If there is a single most important shape in engineering, it is the triangle. Unlike a rectangle, a triangle cannot be deformed without changing the length of one of its sides or breaking one of its joints. In fact, one of the simplest ways to strengthen a rectangle is to add supports that form triangles at the rectangle's corners or across its diagonal length. A single support between two diagonal corners greatly strengthens a rectangle by turning it into two triangles."[link] My design consists of two main bottom supports, and two across the top, and then a lot of triangles across the sides, the top and bottom, and going from the bottom of one side to the top of the other. Very similar to the one in the diagram. Draw your design on paper, and estimate the number of sticks you will need. Be creative with your design!

How to Build a Popsicle Stick Bridge

By Garrett Boon posted/modified on December 30, 2010

Building popsicle stick bridges is one of my favorite activities to do in my spare time. I have built many popsicle bridges over the years, and love coming up with new designs. A huge focus of my bridges is designing blueprints that are easy to build and structurally sound at the same time. You can purchase many of my plans and blueprints in my store.

Design the Bridge

To start building a popsicle bridge, first you need to come up with a design. Sometimes aspects of the design are set for you if you are building a bridge for a school project or a competition. Often the length of the bridge, as well as how many popsicle sticks you can use are defined by the rules you have been given. Other things, however, are up to you. If you are just starting out building model bridges, I would recommend you use one of the three most common truss designs. These are the Howe Truss, the Pratt Truss, and Warren Truss. Each of these are very strong designs. Once you have picked out a design, then you can draw out your design to life size on paper, you even draw it out on the computer. The blueprints I have for sale have done all this work for you, and allow you to focus on building the bridge without worrying about how to design a bridge.

Build the Bridge

Now you are ready to build your popsicle stick bridge. Choose your popsicle sticks carefully, because when you buy them from a store some of the sticks in the package will be no good. Choosing a glue to use is also important. Often what I do is build each side of the bridge individually and then join them together. When you are joining the sides, be sure to make the bridge perfectly vertical. If the bridge is leaning at all, then it will be much weaker. I always include lateral bracing to make my bridges stronger. After you finish your bridge completely, wait enough time to allow the glue to dry completely before you test the bridge. Sometimes you will want to test the bridge

immediately, but your bridge will not hold as much weight if you test it before the glue has cured. Be sure to take pictures of your popsicle bridge and send them to me! I would absolutely love to see photos of the bridges you have made. In fact, I have a photo contest going on for the month of January, so be sure to check that out.

How to Make a Sturdy Popsicle Stick Bridge

By Julia Salgado, eHow Contributor updated August 05, 2011

Print this article

For young engineers, building a Popsicle stick bridge is an ideal way to test the theories of physics and engineering in a safe and methodical environment. Building these lightweight models will allow you to work through different ideas and different theories as to what structures are most efficient at bearing weight. The shape of the triangle resists compressive force to such an extent that a relatively small and lightweight triangle will be able to bear far more weight than other shapes of equal size. Consequently a successful Popsicle stick bridge will incorporate triangles into the design, utilizing the tensile strength of the basic shape. Related Searches:

Bridge Fell Out Building Arch

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions
Things You'll Need
Wood glue 40 Popsicle sticks 1.

Lay a Popsicle stick flat on the work surface. Spread wood glue on half of one side of another stick and lay that stick glue side down on the first stick, so that half of the new stick overhangs the end. Spread more wood glue on half of one side of a third stick and slide that under the overhanging end of the second stick. The ends of your third and first stick should just be touching. Continue laying and gluing sticks in this way until you have a chain of six sticks in a row.

2 Repeat this process to make another chain of six sticks, then make two more chains of four sticks each. Lay a chain of six next to a chain of four to create the two parallel sides of a trapezium. Connect the two chains by placing a diagonal Popsicle stick at each end and gluing it into place. Create a triangle by placing another diagonal Popsicle stick beside where the first stick joins the four-stick chain and gluing it into place so that it connects to the six-stick chain. Do the same at the other end of the chain.

3 Where the second diagonal joins the six-stick chain, place another diagonal Popsicle stick to rejoin the four-stick chain at roughly the middle of the bridge. Complete this triangle with a final diagonal Popsicle stick. Repeat this whole process on the other pair of chains to create two sides of the bridge.

4 Stand the two sides of the bridge up and ask assistants to support them in a vertical position. Glue a Popsicle into place connecting the two six-stick chains, keeping them apart by just under the length of a Popsicle stick. Add another Popsicle stick at the other end to keep the two sides parallel. Support the two sides with vertical aides. A piles of books will suffice.

5 Glue more horizontal Popsicle sticks across the top of the structure, beginning at both ends and adding one in the middle. Two triangles should then be made with horizontal Popsicle sticks joining the two four-stick chains; then a single diagonal Popsicle stick should be glued into place connecting two of the corners at each end of the structure.

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Short Pratt Truss Bridge Updated

By Garrett Boon posted/modified on November 6, 2011

This is the updated design of my Short Pratt Truss Bridge made from popsicle sticks. The only difference from the original was the addition of 4 more popsicle sticks in key areas. I doubled up the angled sticks on each end, and made the lateral bracing into an X shape rather than a zig-zag pattern. This bridge used 50 popsicle sticks, weighed 75 grams, and held 200 pounds. Its efficiency score was 1212, which is the highest out of any popsicle stick bridge I have ever built.

Pratt Truss Popsicle Stick Bridge

Side Close Up

Angle View

Angle View

Portal View for the Popsicle Bridge

Design Analysis

The Pratt Truss was designed by Thomas and Caleb Pratt in 1844. It became popular for railway bridges because it made good use of iron. The Pratt has many variations, most with their own unique name. For instance, the Baltimore, Pennsylvania, and the Parker are all based off the Pratt.

Pratt Truss

How the forces are spread out

Here are two diagrams showing how the forces are spread out when the Pratt Truss is under a load. The first shows the load being applied across the entire top of the bridge. The second shows a localized load in the center of the bridge. In both cases the total load = 100. Therefore, you can take the numbers as a percentage of the total load.

Pratt Truss With Centered Load

Pratt Truss with Spread Load

These diagrams bring up several interesting things. Notice that the two end diagonal members do not change. Also, there is little change on the bottom chord between the two pictures. However, there is drastic changes on the internal truss

members. The centered load dramatically increases the amount of force that is applied to the internal members of the bridge. Also, the forces are increased on the top chord of the centered loaded bridge. This seemingly insignificant change in how the bridge is loaded makes a big difference in how your model bridge will perform. If you have the ability to change and set how your bridge is loaded, Id shoot for spreading the load across the entire span. This pretty much goes for any model bridge design, not just the Pratt Truss.

Pratt Truss for model bridges

The Pratt Truss is one of my favorites. I have used it often for my model bridges, including balsa, basswood, and popsicle sticks. It is easy to construct, and is a solid choice for a model bridge design.

Additional Resources
Pictures of real Pratt Bridges History of Truss Design

Menghitung Momen Gaya dalam Statika Bangunan

01:37 GONDELLS 6 comments

HMM nyari2 ARTIKEL BUAT NGISI Tentang Mekanika Rekayasa1 Mata Kuliah yang paling aku sukai yang Membicarakan tentang gaya2.. yang berpengaruh pada suatu bidang.. Berhasil menemukan Modul Pembelajarannya tapi yang ku temuin dibuat oleh temen2 dari TIM FAKULTAS TEKNIK UNIVERSITAS NEGERI YOGYAKARTA Judul modul ini adalah Menghitung Momen Gaya dalam Statika Bangunan merupakan bahan ajar yang digunakan sebagai panduan praktikum peserta diklat Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan (SMK) untuk membentuk salah satu bagian dari kompetensi Menghitung Statika Bangunan

Sebagian isinya..:

Pembebanan (loading) pada Konstruksi Bangunan telah diatur pada Peraturan Pembebanan Indonesia untuk gedung (PPIUG) tahun 1983. Oleh karena itu supaya lebih mendalam diharapkan peserta diklat membaca peraturan tersebut, karena dalam uraian berikut hanya diambil sebagian saja. Ada 5 macam pembebanan yaitu : a. Beban mati (berat sendiri konstruksi dan bagian lain yang melekat) b. Beban hidup (beban dari pemakaian gedung seperti rumah tinggal, kantor, tempat pertunjukkkan) c. Beban angin (beban yang disebabkan oleh tekanan angin) d. Beban gempa (beban karena adanya gempa) e. Beban khusus (beban akibat selisih suhu, penurunan, susut dan sebagainya) Berdasarkan wujudnya beban tersebut dapat diidealisasikan sebagai (1) beban terpusat, (2) beban terbagi merata, (3) beban tak merata (beban bentuk segitiga, trapesium dsb). Bebanbeban ini membebani konstruksi (balok, kolom, rangka, batang dsb) yang juga diidealisasikan sebagai garis sejajar dengan sumbunya. Beban terpusat adalah beban yang titik singgungnya sangat kecil yang dalam batas tertentu luas bidang singgung tersebut dapat diabaikan. Sebagai contoh beban akibat tekanan roda mobil atau motor, pasangan tembok setengah batu di atas balok, beton ataupun baja dsb. Satuan beban ini dinyatakan dalam Newton atau turunannya kilonewton (kN). Lihat gambar 1.

Beban merata adalah beban yang bekerja menyentuh bidang konstruksi yang cukup luas yang tidak dapat diabaikan. Beban ini dinyatakan dalam satuan Newton/meter persegi ataupun newton per meter ata u yang sejenisnya lihat gambar 2.

Beban tidak merata dapat berupa beban berbentuk segitiga baik satu sisi maupun dua sisi, berbentuk trapesium dsb. Satuan beban ini dalam newton per meter pada bagian ban yang paling besar lihat gambar 3.

Berikut ini dicuplikkan beberapa beban bahan bangunan menerut PPIUG 1983 halaman 11. 1. Baja beratnya 7850 kg/m3, 2. Batu gunung beratnya 1500 kg/m3 3. batu pecah beratnya 1450 kg/m3, 4. beton beratnya 2200 kg/m3, 5. beton bertulang beratnya 2400 kg/m3, 6. kayu kelas 1 beratnya 1000 kg/m3 dan 7. pasangan bata merah 1700 kg/m3. Contoh perhitungan beban : Hitunglah beban yang bekerja pada balok beton bertulang ukuran 30 cm x 60 cm yang ditengah-tengahnya terdapat tembok pasangan setengah batu lebar 15 cm yang dipasang melintang dengan ukuran tinggi 3 m, panjang 4 m. Jawaban : Berat sendiri balok = 0.3 m x 0.6 m x 2400 kg/m3 = 432 kg/m (kg/m gaya) Gravitasi bumi = 10 kg/ms2 maka beban menjadi 4320 N/m = 432 kN/m

Berat tembok sebagai beban terpusat sebesar :

= 0.15 m x 3 m x 4 m x 1700 kg/m3 = 3060 kg (kg gaya) = 30600 N = 30.6 kN Secara visual dapat dilihat pada gambar 4.

Pada konstruksi bangunan beban yang diperhitungkan bukan hanya beban mati seperti yang telah diuraikan di atas, tetapi dikombinasikan dengan beban hidup yang disebut dengan pembebanan tetap, bahkan ada kombinasi yang lain seperti dengan beban angin menjadi pembebanan sementara. Bila pada contoh di atas, balok digunakan untuk menyangga ruang rumah tinggal keluarga, maka menurut PPIUG halaman 17 besarnya beban hidup sebesar 200 kg/m2. Bila luas lantai yang dipikul balok sebesar 2 m tiap panjang balok (dalam contoh di atas beban lantai tidak dihitung) maka beban karena beban hidup adalah 200 kg/m2 x 2 m = 400 kg/m (kg gaya/m) = 4000 N/m = 4 kN/m. Dengan demikian beban tetap yang bekerja pada balok adalah 4,32 + 4 = 8,32 kN/m yang secara visual dapat dilihat pada gambar 5.

Dilihat dari persentuhan gaya dan yang dikenai gaya, beban dapat dibedakan sebagai beban langsung dan beban tidak langsung. Beban langsung adalah beban yang langsung

mengenai benda, sedang beban tidak langsung adalah beban yang membebani benda dengan perantaraan benda lain (lihat gambar 6 ).

a. Pengertian Gaya Gaya dapat didefisinikan sebagai sesuatu yang menyebabkan benda (titik materi) bergerak baik dari diam maupun dari gerak lambat menjadi lebih lambat maupun lebih cepat. Dalam teknik bangunan gaya berasal dari bangunan itu sendiri berat benda di atasnya atau yang menempelnya, tekanan angin, gempa, perubahan suhu dan pengaruh pengerjaan. Gaya dapat digambarkan dalam bentuk garis (atau kumpulan garis) yang memiliki dimensi besar, garis kerja, arah kerja dan titik tangkap. Satuan gaya menurut Sistem Satuan Internasional (SI) adalah Newton dan turunannya (kN). Akan tetapi ada yang memberi satuan kg gaya (kg). Bila gravitasi bumi diambil 10 m/detik2 maka hubungan satuan tersebut adalah 1 kg gaya (atau sering ditulis 1 kg) ekuivalen dengan 10 Newton. Pada gambar 8 dijelaskan pengertian gaya tersebut.

b. Kesetaraan gaya Kesetaraan gaya adalah kesamaan pengaruh antara gaya pengganti (resultan) dengan gaya yang diganti (gaya komponen) tanpa memperhatikan titik tangkap gayanya.

Dengan demikian pada suatu keadaan tertentu, walaupun gaya sudah setara atau ekuivalen, ada perbedaan pengaruh antara gaya pengganti dengan yang diganti. Pada prinsipnya gaya dikatakan setara apabila gaya pengganti dan penggantinya baik gerak translasi maupun rotasi besarnya sama. Pada gambar 9 gaya P yang bertitik tangkap di A dipindahkan di B dalam garis kerja yang sama adalah setara (dalam arti efek gerak translasi dan rotasinya) tetapi hal ini dapat berpengaruh terhadap jenis gaya yang dialami benda, pada waktu titik tangkap gaya di A mengalami gaya tekan, sedang pada waktu di B benda mengalami gaya tarik.

c. Keseimbangan Gaya Keseimbangan gaya adalah hampir sama dengan kesetaraan gaya bedanya pada arah gayanya. Pada kesetaraan gaya antara gaya pengganti dengan gaya yang diganti arah yang dituju sama, sedang pada keseimbangan gaya arah yang dituju berlawanan, gaya pengganti (reaksi) arahnya menuju titik awal dari gaya yang diganti (aksi). Pada gambar 10 divisualisasikan keseimbangan gaya.

Dengan kata lain keseimbangan gaya yang satu garis kerja dapat dikatakan bahwa gaya aksi dan reaksi besarnya sama tapi arahnya berlawanan.

Pada statika bidang (koplanar) ada dua macam keseimbangan yaitu keseimbangan translasi (keseimbangan gerak lurus) dan keseimbangan rotasi (keseimbangan gerak berputar).

Untuk mencapai keseimbangan dalam statika disyaratkan ? Gy = 0 (jumlah gaya vertikal = 0), ?Gx = 0 (jumlah gaya horisontal = 0) dan ?M=0 (jumlah momen pada sebuah titik =0) d. Pengertian Momen Momen gaya terhadap suatu titik didefisinikan sebagai hasil kali antara gaya dengan jaraknya ke titik tersebut. Jarak yang dimaksud adalah jarak tegak lurus dengan gaya tersebut. Momen dapat diberi tanda positif atau negatif bergantung dari perjanjian yang umum, tetapi dapat juga tidak memakai perjanjian umum, yang penting bila arah momen gaya itu berbeda tandanya harus berbada. Pada gambar 11 diperlihatkan momen gaya terhadap suatu titik.

Di samping momen terhadap suatu titik ada juga momen kopel yang didefinisikan sebagai momen akibat adanya dua buah gaya yang sejajar dengan besar sama tetapi arahnya berlawanan. Gambar 12 menunjukkan momen kopel tersebut.

Momen dapat digambar dalam bentuk vektor momen dengan aturan bahwa arah vektor momen merupakan arah bergeraknya sekrup yang diputar oleh momen. Lihat gambar 13.

e. Momen Statis Menurut teori Varignon momen pada suatu titik dikatakan statis bila besarnya momen gaya pengganti (resultan) sama dengan gaya yang diganti. ? Contoh : Gaya P1 dan P2 dengan jaraklmempunyai resultan R. Tentukan letak R agar momen di titik A statis.

? Jawab :

Misal jarak R dengan P1 (titik A) = a, maka untuk memenuhi momen statis di A adalah : momen resultan = jumlah momen komponen.

f. Menyusun Gaya yang Setara Istilah lain menyusun gaya adalah memadu gaya atau mencari resultan gaya. Pada prinsipnya gaya-gaya yang dipadu harus setara (ekuivalen) dengan gaya resultannya 1) Menyusun Gaya yang Kolinier 2) Menyusun Dua Gaya yang Konkuren 3) Menyusun Beberapa Gaya Konkuren

Juga dikasih tau cara mencari besar dan arah resultan. Dengan cara Analisi dan Grafis..