Derek+Turner

Welcome to Derek Turner's Home Page

He is the State Champion Bridge Builder and his team holds the record for most weight held ever in the competititon 252 Pounds!!!

The bridge

THE STATE CHAMPION BRIDGE 252 Pounds Team after testing our bridge

As a team  we started by going to the TRAC website to learn the rules and specification on our bridge. The TRAC program then sent us a packet giving us supplies such as Popsicle sticks and string, and a link to the Power Draft drawing program. We then started by researching on how a suspension bridge was built. After a week of learning how bridges worked, we started to sketch some of our ideas out on paper. We came up with a basic suspension bridge design and tested it out on Model Smart. We started to use Model Smart to make designs and we came up with many different ideas. We decided to go with a design similar to the Mackinac Bridge. We would have large towers connected above and below the roadway in order to transfer the load to the strongest part of the bridge the base of the towers. While we were building the bridge we found it extremely difficult keeping our balsa wood arced for our roadway. We knew that it was the strongest way to build a bridge and that it would transfer the load well, but couldn’t find a secure way to hold it in place. Once we got the dimensions of the Pitsco Tester we had to make a few changes to the design of the bridge. In order to see exactly how our bridge did we as a school built a tester out of wood to the exact dimensions of the one we will be using in the competition. While we were building the bridge we were also doing drawings it on the computer in Power Draft. We are supplying 2D and a 3D drawing of the bridge.  **Introduction **  The past couple of months have been spent on the T.R.A.C. Bridge Building Competition. The task is to construct a suspension bridge within the rules, out of balsa wood, Popsicle sticks, and string. In order to complete goals, we have to put our heads together and construct a winning bridge. The Team is made up of Advanced CAD students here at Negaunee High School. This team is comprised of Joe Vizena, Steve Ellingsen, and Derek Turner. Our team name is team 87. · **__Reasons behind the Design. __** o As we researched bridges around the world we realized that suspension bridges were among the strongest bridges used in today’s world. We also realized that the towers were among the most critical part of the bridge, which is why we decided to make our towers extremely strong. Other critical areas include the roadway and understructure, because of this we decided to go with a classic triangle truss structure in which our roadway would sit on top of, and for extra support we have added supports going from our towers to the underneath of the roadway. After we finalized our design we started building and making a prototype. Quickly we realized that if we anchored our support cable to the top of the roadway it would provide no support and the bridge would just fold inward. To counter act this problem we decided to anchor the cable to the bottom of our road ways and to also attach them to the lower part of the towers, thus providing enough support to ensure that the bridge would not fold inward and dispersing the weight to the towers and not just the road way. · **__Why our Design was Chosen. __** o Our group looked up designs that correspond to real world bridges and made changes to what we think would make the bridge stronger and more reliable. At first we chose to use only two big towers at both ends of the bridge but after testing that out we decided that 4 smaller towers would make our bridge more weight efficient. We knew that the towers would be some of the most important components to our bridge, so we decided to beef them up as much as possible. Once we figured out the design of our towers we were faced with the question of how our decking would be constructed. We knew that the repeating triangle design was the strongest from testing balsa bridges on modelsmart v1.72, so we used that design. After we had our decking constructed we had to figure out how we were to combine the towers to the decking. We knew that this would be where all our weight is transferred; we couldn’t skimp on this part. Instead of using balsa wood sticks which are brittle when they are bent we decided to use Popsicle sticks stood up vertically so they can support the most weight. Once we had the woodworking part of the bridge completed we were faced with the challenge of how we would incorporate the string into holding our bridge together. We chose to weave the main support cables through the towers so they won’t slip through adding slack to the support cables. On our test bridge we made the mistake of putting the support cables underneath the decking, doing this we realized that the decking crunched under the pressure of the weight. On the next bridge we build we will be weaving the string through the top layer of the deck so it holds the weight only by the cables. o Our bridge will live and die with our support cable system. When we anchor our cables to the lower part of the towers our hope is that the weight of the load will be directly on the towers. Because of this extra load we are making our towers extremely strong and durable. Our towers are made of popsicle sticks made into a rectangular prism that is 3/4"x3/4"by12". On the inside of the towers we are infusing popsicle sticks that are glued end over end to make them 12" this <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore; msobidifontfamily: Symbol;">· **__<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Drawings. __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">o <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">See attached pages. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore; msobidifontfamily: Symbol;">· **__<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Testing and Improvements __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">o <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We learned a lot about balsa wood bridges after we tested our mock up design. First and foremost we learned that weaving the string underneath the top layer of decking would make our bridge much stronger as compared to putting it underneath the bottom layer. After we make these changes to our bridge it will be much more efficient because then the cables will actually support the load as compared to the load squishing down on the decking. Another change were going to be making is going to put balsa wood support beams from the towers to the middle of the decking. This will help hold the deck from deflecting downward from the force of the weight. Although this will add more weight to the bridge we think it will be worth it to make it more efficient. Another improvement we are going to make is to make the towers a little bit longer. This will enable us to make the support cables longer and let us add more support to the decking. The last main change were going to make to our bridge is going to be using only 5 popsicles sticks for the main support towers. This will take away from the strength but the towers will still be strong enough to hold all the weight it will be put up against. Taking one of the Popsicle sticks out will also take away a lot of our weight which is what we really need to focus on doing to make our bridge more efficient. <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: Symbol; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore; msobidifontfamily: Symbol;">· **__<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Problem Solving Techniques. __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Courier New'; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; msofareastfontfamily: 'Courier New'; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msolist: Ignore;">o <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">After we tested our bridge we found areas of interest that we found to be extremely week and or under a lot of stress. As a result of these key areas of stress we decided that it would be best for the overall efficiency to add two or three extra supports because it would add the total load carried by the bridge thus increasing efficiency. Another problem we found was that our support cables lacked tension, meaning that the cables weren’t supporting as much weight as they could. To counter act this problem we are researching knots that will allow us to increase tension but not allow the cables to decrease tension as the string stretches over time. <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; msofareastfontfamily: 'Times New Roman';"> <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">We learned a lot about building bridges throughout this competition. We used a lot of trial and error in order to find the strongest way possible to build our bridge structure or design. We found that using a simpler design worked best, and that a more complex design did not work as well. After breaking our mock bridges we learned and focused on making our bridge lighter and stronger for a better efficiency rating. In the end our team worked together to create the best bridge possible and hopefully it will be the best bridge out there at the competition.
 * __<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Summary __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">__ Body __ **<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * **__<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Scientific Principles of our design. __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">
 * __<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">Conclusion __**<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 200%; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman';">