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````````````````````````` 2017 California Bridge Challenge

Team Name: Dem Cowboys
School: Rio Americano
Team Members: Peyton Dunn-Finch
Robert Doud
Kaj Olson

Advisor: Mr.Cole

Table of Contents
Summary

...3

Introduction

.4-5

Body

..6-7

Drawings and Pictures and Equations

Conclusion and Recommendations
Acknowledgements

.....8-9
..10

..11

Bibliography ..12
Appendix

12-13

Summary
We began work on the bridge design early, though there was a long interval between
finding the design and starting to build the project. Because of this, we lost our original bridge
plans and redesigned our working sketch to make it how it is now. The main constraint we
decided to work with was the number of parts that the bridge was made of. We thought that
would be the cheapest and simpler route. Some other requirements that we worked with were the
length of the bridge, length of the separate parts of the bridge, and the ability of the bridge to
resist torque. Over time, our bridge designs evolved from being complicated and heavy to more
basic and presumably more structurally sound. Once our current bridge design was printed, we
began to sketch it out on a piece of graph paper. Since the program we used had preset bridge
lengths, we created a ratio to make sure the bridge scaled down properly to eighteen inches. Our
arch needed to be soaked in water in order to allow it to be bent into shape, and our supports
were put in place after the arch was put in place. At this point, we realized that writing would
need to come before we finished the bridge completely. During the writing of this proposal, we
had only a Bridge Designer sketch of the bridge to work with, though we will be adding a
Bentley design soon.
We hope to have a unique design among those in the class, though we do not yet know if
this will set us apart with its performance. Designing a stable bridge was a challenging process,
but as we progressed, we refined our designs and streamlined our processes. As the competition
nears, we will need to begin to work on the physical bridge more efficiently, and in the end, I

think we will find out exactly what features of a bridge are most important to support the most
weight.

Introduction
Team Name:
Our team name is Dem Cowboys because who doesnt like dem Cowboys. The writer
would like to express his thoughts on the team name here, but doesnt feel this section of the text
should include negative opinion. As a team, we believe that Cowboys were useful for driving
cattle to loading stations where they were promptly shipped off by train to slaughterhouses
around the country. Cowboys, however, are not much in need these days with relatively recent
advancements in the 1880s to the cattle driving industry such as barbed wire, which helped
ranchers control the grazing land of their cattle. This does not, however, mean that the spirit of
the cowboy is dead and gone in the hearts of Americans. We have decided to embrace the
cowboy spirit of much stress, long hours, and hard work and determination as the primary
principles of how our group operates. Of course, if you are yet not convinced, there is always the
alternative: We are named after an American Football team with a colloquial term for Them in
front.

Meet the Members:

Peyton Dunn-Finch: A senior at Rio Americano

Kaj Olson: My team name was ousted by a two to one majority vote for Dem Cowboys. I am
seventeen years old and am a Junior at Rio Americano High School. This is my third year taking

a shop class, and I have enjoyed every year Ive taken. I believe my experience in design and in
construction can help my team quickly and efficiently make whatever we come up with. I have
always enjoyed building things, and I do not like to to use clich in my writing. So, ever since I
got my first LEGO set and competed in my first LEGO Mindstorms competition, I listed on
Engineering as a possible future profession. Of course, at only seven years of age, I did not have
a clue as to what Engineering would require, and as I finished up my middle school years, I
realized that engineering would require me to learn the one subject in school I struggle with:
math. In sum, I believe designing and building things would be an enjoyable profession, though I
am faced with consternation when I really get down to think about how I would go about
achieving this.

Robert Doud: Im seventeen gone to Rio for all four years and was on the Track and field team
for all four years. Also Im going to graduate in June and will hopefully be attending American
River College next year.

Working Together Toward Success:

Peyton worked on the bridge design software for the preliminary steps of the project
process, Robert wrote out the outline for this report and helped build the first half of the bridge.
Kaj wrote the majority of the report, including the summary, introduction, body, and conclusion.
Kaj also built the rest of the bridge, but hey, it was fun.

Body
Scientific Principles:
Our principles hinged on the simplicity and weight of the design. Our primary goal was
to be able to design a bridge that weighed less than anyone elses in the class to make absolutely
certain we would have a minimum of a 1:1 ratio of grams to pounds.
Our first step in determining the weight of the bridge was limiting the number of pieces
we could use. On the bridge design software, we managed to construct a simple design that had
under 40 pieces, and therefore, would presumably weigh less.
Our second factor was limiting the maximum length of the support struts. We decided our
bridge should be compact and therefore could conserve even more weight.
Finally, the most difficult aspect was figuring out what kind of cross support would be
necessary to make the bridge stable yet light. This was solved with two trusses in an X through
the center of the bridge.

Design Challenges:
Our most prominent challenge was finding a way to set our group apart from any others
we thought we would see in competition. The addition of a raise in the arch achieved this, as no
other groups had this feature. This one addition has been the challenge of our project, as we
made decisions on how to cut the balsa wood based on how the joint of this end looks. The
addition could be seen as a detriment, but we believe that trying something different can lead to

great discoveries which would have otherwise never been realized, or complete failures and
lessons on what not to do next time.
Bridge Data:
Mass of Bridge: 22 Grams
Maximum Weight Supported: 34.6 Pounds
Ratio: ~1.57 pounds per gram.

Supporting Calculations
Equation for
Density of Balsa Wood:
D=M/V

D = Density
M = Mass
V = Volume

Mass: 160 kg
Volume: 1m3
Density: 160kg/m3
As a general rule, this is what to look for concerning wood density.
CAD Drawing:

Pictures:

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Testing and Resulting Improvements:

We tested the bridge on December 16th, with resounding success. This design held 34.6 lbs and
weighed only 22 grams, making the ratio of pounds per gram 1.57 the best in the class by more
than half a pound. There were, however, improvements that could be made, such as cutting
angles to allow for more surface area for the glue to adhere to or adding more glue to bolster the
tensile strength of the support beams to the bridge platform. The eight minutes of adding weight
proved to be exciting yet filled with suspense and nervousness, but seeing the final weight gave
our group newfound confidence in what we had made.

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Solving Challenges:
One challenge to overcome was that of the raised arch design. This join was not made in the best
possible way, and could have proven detrimental to our overall success. To solve this, we
exaggerated the amount of glue used on this joint. It was only a temporary fix, but, we believe, a
necessary one.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Recommendations:
If there were a second chance, we would allocate our duties much more efficiently. Because of
our separate mindsets, we were unable to cooperate to finish the bridge in a timely fashion,
which resulted in the report having to be written the day it was to be turned in. Quite stressful
indeed, though now that we know why it was so difficult, we can work on making it less so later
on.

Success:
Though our design could still use improvements, we would consider this first test a success in
that we now know this bridge designs innermost secrets. The second time around, it will not
defeat what we hang on it as easily, and we shall prevail in our conquest to make balsa wood
seem mighty! Once more into the breach, cattle herders!

What We Learned:

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Admittedly, this project was given to us as a task; something that we must complete. As we came
to see, however, this bridge could give insight into how the physics of a bridge work, for obvious
reasons (were making one), which would be really entertaining and fun to apply to actual
bridges that we see every few days. Now, instead of taking a roadway across water for granted,
we can look and say, That there beam must be important, it looks as if its under some pretty
crazy compressive strength. I wonder what would happen if some few thousand ton weight was
to land on top of it...

Acknowledgements
Adults who advised us:
-Mr.Cole
Adults and how they assisted us:
Mr.Cole helped us by providing the prompt and materials for the project. He allowed the bridge
to be finished on a tight schedule and submitted our report.

Acknowledgements
Mr.Cole helped us with

Team Members:

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_________________________________
Kaj Olson
_________________________________
Peyton Dunn-Finch
_________________________________
Robert Doud
Advisors:
_________________________________
Matt Cole

Bibliography:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ochroma
Bridge Designer 2016

Appendices I
Scheduling and Accomplishments
Timeline:
November- Signed up and began brainstorming our bridge design.
December- Begin bridge building and writing report.
December- Finish bridge and test

Schedule Management:
Our meeting days consisted only of class periods with one exception which included staying
after school to finish the project on time. Each class period started with an unfilled report paper,
an unbuilt bridge, and much deliberation.

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Appendices II
Daily Journal:
November- Mr. Cole assigned us the task of designing an arch bridge made of balsa wood.

December 7- We made our arch bridge design on the Bridge Designer program. Also started
working on this report.

December 9- Continued to work on this report.

December 12- finished as much of the general report as possible.

December 13- Began to sketch out bridge design size.

December 15- Finished bridge after a few hours of work. Wrote report on bridge.

December 16- Tested bridge and finished report completely.