Pasta Bridge Report
Materials and Structure Principles
Zach Xie
Tutor：Chris
Contents
Procedure................................................................................................................... 3
Requirements ............................................................................................................. 3
Designs ...................................................................................................................... 3
Name of the bridge ..................................................................................................... 5
Process ...................................................................................................................... 5
Tools and materials ................................................................................................. 5
Teamwork ............................................................................................................... 6
Design evaluation ....................................................................................................... 6
Conclusion ................................................................................................................. 7
reasons ................................................................................................................... 7
Suggestions ............................................................................................................ 7
Procedure
According to course plan, to design and make a pasta bridge is a good way for us to
have a better understanding of the relationship between materials and load and
forces. On September 12th, 19th and 26th mornings, under the guidance of tutor
Chris, students in CM, QS and CT finished the bridge design, built and test work. We
were divided into small groups. This report is based on the work of Sophie Wang,
Lily and Zach Xie.
Requirements
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Each team member needs to come up with a drawing and the best one will be
adopted.
Span of the bridge needs to be over 25cm.
Total weight of the bridge is less than 600g.
Load withstands no less than 5Kg.
Designs
Lily Han, Sophie Wang and Zach Xie each of whom provided a drawing of a bridge.
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Zach Xie has a triangle-shape bridge design. The basic concept is that
triangle is the most stable structure. So, there are many joints to install
bracing. The span of the bridge is 26cm. The span is not big enough.
Sophie Wang has a semi-circle fan-shape design. There are seven main
columns
Joining at the middle point of the bottom chord. It is difficult to make though
looks pretty.
Lily Han has a design between Zach and Sophie. Her design is semi-fan
shape. There are only 5 main columns in the middle. It is much easier to
make.
Due to the properties of pasta that pasta withstands tension better than compression
and brittle, based on time, practical condition, Lily’s design was adopted. This is a
fan-shape truss bridge. our group agreed to make this truss bridge. This bridge is
aesthetical and practical to make.
Figure 1 Lily Han's drawing was adopted
Figure 2 Zach Xie's drawing
Figure 3 Sophie Wang's drawing
Name of the bridge
we agreed to give this truss bridge a Māori name: Pūtahi. This word means "to join
together" or "to unite," emphasizing the bridge's role in connecting two sides.
Process
Tools and materials
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One knife
One bag of pasta (500g)
One hot glue gun
Unlimited glue
Rubber band
Teamwork
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Zach figured out this team had got 500 grams which is 361 strands,
and we need 321 strands to build the bridge excluding the wastage.
Zach is mainly a helper for Lily and Sophie.
Lily mainly did glue joint work
Sophie mainly separated the strands, measured them according to the
drawing and kept each component together with rubber band
Each member in this group tried all work in turns to know how it felt like.
Figure 4 material calculation
Figure 5 component glue welding
Figure 6 left elevation finished
Figure 7 pasta bridge finished
Design evaluation
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Among all bridges in this class, this is one of the lightest bridges. It is only 330
grams. But it withstands 22.5KG load. It behaves well.
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This bridge is aesthetical. It looks simple, thin with heavy withstanding.
Figure 8 bridge weight
Figure 9 load withstanding
Conclusion
This assignment looks easy and simple but with a lot of professional knowledge we
have learnt in it such as load and forces. Under curtain requirements, with same
materials how to design this bridge aesthetically with high load withstanding and
easy to make is the first thing our team considered.
We confirmed with our tutor how load would be measured. Since we knew the bridge
would be wrapped from the top chord to bottom chord, we enhanced the top chord
and bottom chord. We also enhanced the column which bears the load in the middle.
This bridge broke at the load 22.5KG. by the photo it can be seen obviously that the
top chord broke first. Except the top chord, the other parts very well remained.
reasons
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The strap is not located evenly. When load is added, the inner side pressure
is higher than the outer side pressure.
The glue work can be done better. When making the bridge, the heat softer
the pasta. So, the pasta cannot withstand properly.
Suggestions
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Measure the length more accurately instead of filling the gap with glue
Make the most use of the material and strengthen the top chord with the left
pasta
Strengthen the bracing columns on both sides.
Figure 10 bridge fail
Figure 1 Lily Han's drawing was adopted ................................................................... 4
Figure 2 Zach Xie's drawing ....................................................................................... 4
Figure 3 Sophie Wang's drawing ................................................................................ 5
Figure 4 material calculation
Figure 5
component glue welding............................................................................................. 6
Figure 6 left elevation finished
Figure 7
pasta bridge finished .................................................................................................. 6
Figure 8 bridge weight
Figure 9 load
withstanding ............................................................................................................... 7
Figure 10 bridge fail.................................................................................................... 8