Steel Bridge Competition
I want to apologize for not keeping you all up to date recently on "my life." To say the least, I have been very busy. My co-op work has gotten pretty heavy and I'm spending a lot of time at work. Additionally, the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) steel bridge team here at UD is gearing up for the regional competition next week. The event, the Ohio Valley Regional Conference, will be held next week at the Ohio State University. This annual event features student competitions, the biggest ones being concrete canoe and steel bridge. The concrete canoe involves coming up with a concrete mixture to form into a canoe. This canoe should float and is rowed by students in a race. For the steel bridge, each school's team designs and fabricates a steel bridge before the competition. The bridge is approximately 20 feet long and 4 feet high. The bridge is subjected to loads as high as several thousand pounds. Points are given based upon construction time, strength, aesthetics, and construction costs.
Last year, we participated in concrete canoe and steel bridge. It was a building year, as we had not competed in a couple years. We spent several months this year working on an efficient and effective design for both the canoe and the bridge. We think we will do quite well this year. We have been helped by the generosity of local companies and alumni to help fund our registration fees and traveling to Columbus. We are also participating in the concrete frisbee, AUTOCad, surveying, and environmental competitions. It should be a long week but a fun and exciting weekend.
Mar 26, 2007 6:43 PM
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