Week 5 Knex Process

This week in lab we shared our designs with our team members and we decided upon the best bridge design and we constructed our design. This coming week we plan to test our design and to make improvements with the pieces that we have. Each of us have also agreed to look into other designs and think of ways that we make improvements to our design for the class competition. Major accomplishments this week include designing a bridge to test and fully assembling our design.  The biggest issue we face is quite minor and that is agreeing on who will be responsible for the bridge.

My views on the similarities between West Point Bridge Designer and Knex have not really changed after working with Knex for a second week. I still feel that they are similar in that they can both be used to replicate a bridge. The difference between the two is that you are limited in the options that each has to offer, I also believe that they differ in the forces that they take into account, West Point Bridge Designer is solely based on tension and compression whereas Knex allows us to view forces that act horizontally on the bridge.

The differences between working with Knex and a real bridge are immense. The shear number of options for materials on a full size bridge is overwhelming such choices that have to be made are the strength of the concrete used for the footings, what material will be used in the webbing, how the materials will be fastened together whether it be welding, riveting, or bolting, then you have a decision with what material will be used to cover the driving deck of the bridge. I think that Knex are able to give us a good idea at how to go about designing a large scale bridge but I feel as if there are factors that are still out of our league to discuss. The possibilities are endless when making a bridge out of steel because the steel can be bent, cut or shaped however is desired, with Knex we are limited in what we can do because of beam length and the angles that the gusset plates allow us to use.