Anurag's Assignments

A3 - Mynam

 #4) In order for the Bridge design program to work properly and efficiently, the length of each load bearing member must be measured exactly to the required dimensions with the correct ratio's to the corresponding height/legnth of other members of the bridge. Not surprisingly the two analysis, the first done by hand and the second (done on the program) both match up.

#6) By using the method of joint analysis people can determine tension and compression values for each load bearing member of a bridge. It is extremely useful to know these values when creating bridges, especially for safety. Some observations i made with the tensile forces were that the more members present to hold a given, the more the pull out force. Using what we have learned from the joint analysis, as a group we want to increase stability of our bridge design by adding/removing members. 














A2 - Mynam

The Bridge is going to be suspended along a 2 foot gap so I decided to go with a simple design that can hold weight but also meet the dimension requirements. My goal was to try to distribute the force coming down on the bridge evenly throughout. I wanted to do this because I didn’t one load bearing member does not have to deal with an excess force. I made a rectangular bridge with two triangles alternating making up each square.

The Bridge I made has a simple design. The Bridge initially had long pieces at the bottom to make up the 2 foot distance. I later changed this to 5 smaller pieces with 4 connecting pieces in between to increase stability.


I learned that using longer pieces sometimes saves money rather then using smaller pieces with connectors to piece together pieces. Also 

Figure 1: Elevation

Figure 2: Plan

Figure 3: Truss Bill of Materials

A1- Mynam 

My Bridge design was based on the Dennis H. Mahan Memorial Bridge. Because I just started using West Point Bridge Design I decided it would be better if I based the design of my bridge off of a pre designed one. The Bridge I initially made was a disaster because even though the rods making the triangle figure throughout the bridge were thick and very strong solid bars, the design was not working because the single rod at the bottom had a very large amount of tension on it, thus causing the bridge to break before the Truck even attempted to go over the bridge. In my next attempt I tried replacing the solid bars with a hollow tube so the weight will decrease forming triangles above the large single solid rod to decrease the tension.

The current cost of the bridge is $452,581.58. With more knowledge about bridges and more experience using West Point Bridge Design I think the price of the bridge will be able to decrease by $10,000 to $15,000.

Figure 1: 2-D Image of Design

Figure 2: 3-D Animation Image with Truck 

Figure 3: Load Test Results

By designing this bridge I learned a lot of things. One of the most important things I learned was, although the aim often times for making bridges is to create a strong base in addition to strong additional structures, it doesn't work ninety percent of the time. We are accustomed to think that “stronger the better”. In the case of bridges, if one load bearing member is extremely heavy(extremely strong)... and a car goes over it the addition of the weight from the vehicle moving on the bridge may cause the entire structure to collapse. Creating a bridge is like creating a team that can function together, every piece needs to be able to function together, no one bar should cause a weaker bar to hold a larger amount of weight.