Daniel Deng

John Cauvin, Justin Alpern, Andrew Dyar

2.1.9 Truss Design

POE Block 3
Submitted: December 9, 2015

Problem Statement:
In this project, we were tasked to research and design a roof truss to withstand
as many pounds of force as possible with high efficiency. Using balsa wood, glue and
paper, our truss must fit inside the apparatus. The length must be greater than 6 and
inches and the height must be less than 4 and inches. The amount of balsa would
provided is 36 inches long.
Test Truss:
Johns test truss supported 47 pounds of force with an efficiency of 573,170%.
The truss broke at the member AC because it was not centered properly when put into
the structural stress analyzer. Its placement was slightly to the right which put the force
into AC. On MD solids, AC had the highest force acting on it.
This test truss gave him the idea of building a symmetrical truss. Also a shorter
truss is ideal because there is more weight distribution on the vertical pieces rather than
the diagonals. Because the vertical pieces can withstand more weight, a shorter design
is advantageous. (We do not have a SSA graph or picture of the truss)

Research Results:
After I researched various websites, I found a large variety of possible truss
designs I can use. Keeping in mind of time and complexity constraints, I decided to use
the modified queen post truss design to build my own truss. This design is already
statically determinate so I do not have to modify too much.
Sources: www.home-building-answers.com/roof ; www.biytoday.com/roofprep
Design Idea:
The total length of materials required is 40 inch.

Decision Process:
John Cauvins Design: The length of the design was preferable, but the number
of members were too much, which might result in our group running out of time.
Justin Alperns Design: The complexity of the design was simple, which is good,
and also the number of members is very few. The compression and tension on his
design was not as low as other designs.
Andrew Dyars Design: The length of the design was short and the compression
and tension values were fairly low. However, this design used many members, which
could be hard to build.
Daniel Dengs Design: My design used many members, which is not preferred
within our constrained time limit. Also, the efficiency and length were not preferred
because it was longer than the other designs.
The criteria we used in our decision matrix included efficiency, length,
construction complexity, compression & tension, and member usage. We chose these
criteria in order to not only have a strong design, but also to be able to build it within the
limited time constraint. We ended up choosing Justins design because although
Andrews design could potentially hold up more weight, Justins would be much easier
to build.

Official Test:
During the official test of our truss, the truss slipped at member AB because we
decided to not put a gusset plate there. The efficiency of our truss is 316159.25%. The
efficiency of our test truss was 573,170%, so our official truss actually did worse than
our test truss.

Teamwork:
John Cauvin was tasked with gluing our truss. He acted as a major part of our
decision making process prior to and during the building of our truss. This included
deciding to use Justins design and deciding to not use the gussets for the corners.
Although this turned out to be a mistake, John was good in keeping the team together.
He followed the group norms and completed his share of tasks.
Justin was tasked with cutting the members for our truss. Since we used Justins
idea, he had to be explaining his design. He did a good job of cutting the members and
completed his allotted share of work. He also followed the group norms.
Andrew was tasked with assembling the members for our truss. Not only did he
do a good job of assembly, he also took pictures of our truss and uploaded them to a
shared folder along with the SSA graph. He worked well with the team and completed
his share of work.

I was tasked with cutting gussets for our truss. I did not give my opinion on too
many decisions in our team, but I completed my assigned tasks. I also worked well with
the team and followed the group norms.
Reflection:
1. The failure occurred at truss member AB because the glue slipped and we
didn't add a gusset there. The reason for this was to increase the efficiency, but
we were wrong because that gusset could have saved that member from
slipping.
2. If we had a chance to redesign our truss, we would have sacrificed some
weight by including more gusset plates, but the amount of force our truss would
have sustained could have been much higher if the member didnt slip.

Bibliography:
"How To Select Roof Trusses For Your House | BIYToday.com | Build It Yourself
Today." How To Select Roof Trusses For Your House | BIYToday.com | Build It
Yourself Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015.
<http://biytoday.com/roofprep.htm>.

"Roof Styles." Roof Styles. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Dec. 2015. <http://www.home-buildinganswers.com/roof.html>.