Dr Goh Yang Miang 22-Jul-19

PF2501/PF2102 Tutorial 1: Ice-cream stick challenge

Overview

You are to work in a group of 5-6 persons to design and construct a structure. At the end of the tutorial, students should
have an appreciation of how structural design impacts on structural safety, and project performance.

Design Brief

The challenge is to build a bridge using ice-cream sticks that meets the criteria stated in Table 1.

Table 1 Criteria for assessing final structure

Criteria Remarks
1. Maximum length (cm) At least 2 ice-cream sticks long
2. Time to delivery (rank) No score if submission is past time allocated
3. Maximum load on middle point (kg)
4. Load to weight of structure ratio

Procedure

The challenge will be conducted as below:

1. Briefing by tutor (15 min)

2. Design and construction (max 45 min)
a. Design: Each group will have to come up with a simple sketch before construction and brief points on how
the design satisfies the competition criteria. The group has to ensure that the structure can be loaded
with the test loads that the lab has.
b. Construction of the structure: The design can be updated as the structure is being constructed, but the
changes will have to be documented.
3. Measurement and testing of the structure together with lab technicians (15 min)
4. Debrief and discussion (15 min). Each team will send one student to share on the following points:
a. How did the structure fail during testing? Why did it fail?
b. Describe the design and construction process as the project evolves?
c. What are the features of a successful structural design?

Material for each group

1. A4 paper for sketching the design

2. 100 ice-cream sticks per group
3. Blu-tack – 1 pack per group
4. Glue – 1 tube/bottle per group
5. Double sided tape – 1 roll per group
6. 30cm rulers – 4 per group
7. Measuring tape – 1 per group
8. Fine tip markers – 4 per group
9. Mahjong paper to prevent damage to the table
10. Stop watch (smartphone provided by students)
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Dr Goh Yang Miang 22-Jul-19
11. Flip chart for design and debrief and discussion – 2 per group
12. Markers for writing on flip chart – 2 markers per group

Winning Criteria

A score of 1-5 will be given to each team per criterion (see Table 1) based on their ranking among the competing teams.
The team with the highest overall score will win.