Steel Bridge
Team Captains: Kelly Schaefer and Stephen Stinger
Members:
Mike Stagg, Kevin Wortmann, Andrew Williford, BriAnna Chavez, Ryan Hale, Andrew Isaac, Trey Neidert, Joe Carlson, Kyle Ervin, Chris Applebury, Paige Kissel, Justin Schuyler, Sean Collier, Andrew Wappelhorst, Jason Wood, Matt Becker, Joseph Knaus, Michael Hennekes, Justin Reynolds, Wyatt Jenkins, Matthew Wheeler, Trevor McWilliams, James Mross, Derek Petre, Justin Norfleet, Matt Perkins, Nick Harvey, Chance Baragary
Bridges are judged in several categories: construction speed and economy, aesthetics, stiffness, lightness, structural efficiency, and overall performance
Previous Results:
2008
The 2008 Steel Bridge Team was a very strong and diverse team that came together with a remarkable work ethic and dedication in designing and fabricating a competitive bridge for the ASCE Conference. With 7 returning members, we recruited 10 new members, the team ranging from a few freshmen to several juniors. In the fall, we launched our fundraising project and were able to completely fund our bridge. The fall is also when we began working with ideas for the design of the bridge, but it wasn’t until we were into the spring semester that the design began coming together. The design was finished by spring break, which gave us little time to fabricate. Our team dedicated many hours and late nights in the machine shop to accomplish our goal, and successfully completed the bridge when others thought it couldn’t be done.
Our bridge competed at the ASCE Regional Conference at the University of Arkansas in April against 10 other teams and placed 6 th overall. Considering individual categories, we had the 2 nd stiffest bridge and 4 th lightest, but our construction speed ranked 7 th. Considering this was a building year for the leadership of our team, and will learn from mistakes and know where and how we excelled. Realizing we need to improve our time, our primary goal for next year is to finish our design by the end of the fall semester to have the entire second semester for fabrication. Finishing this process earlier will result in more time to practice, allowing us to find the best way to construct the bridge and to fix any small flaws. We will again work hard to bring a design that will be one of the stiffest bridges at the competition.
Quick Numbers
6 th Overall out of 11 teams
2 nd in Stiffness
4 th in Display
4 th in Lightness
7 th in Construction Speed
Actual Construction Speed : 32 minutes 55 seconds
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Competition Time : 55.7 minutes (due to 2 drops and penalty for exceeding 30 minutes for construction)
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Actual Weight of Bridge : 428 pounds
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Competition Weight : 528 pounds (due to poster and chapter name violations)
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Aggregate Deflection : 0.163 inches
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Total Cost : $18.5 million
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2007
Regionals:
3rd Timed Construction
3rd Stiffness
3rd Overall (of 11)
Nationals:
36th Overall (of 43 at Nationals, of 183 nation-wide)
This years team was made up of seniors who had been on the team for the past couple years and then newly recruited members to learn the ropes. At the meetings the design was discussed and ideas thrown in...and out. The experienced members contributed mostly to the design and later guided the new members in the shop with the fabrication.
Our goals this year were to:
1) build a bridge that would be strong and fast to put together,
2) advanced to Nationals and
3) recruit and help new members on the team to really take interest in and learn something from the bridge.
This year the Mizzou Steel Bridge Team build a girder bridge designed for a quick construction speed and little deflection. Our design was completed toward the end of February and we began fabrication immediately. We spent about a month or so in the shop making the bridge and then practiced with the remaining time before competition. The host of the 2007 Reginoal Conference was the University of Kansas. We constructed our bridge in 12:44 minutes at Regionals. This time included three 15 second penalties for bolt drops and a 30 second river penalty. The bridge weighed in at 239.00 lbs and deflected 1.140 to the 2500 lb vertical load. Our bridge cost $5,645,000. With all things said and done, we finished 3rd of 11 teams at KU with the right to gon on to the National competition at California State University.
For the National Competition, the Superintendent, the 6 members of the construction team, and the Captain-to-be made the long haul to Northridge, California. In competition, the construction team build the bridge in their fastest time ever, 9:52 minutes. There was only one drop penalty, which added on 15 seconds to the final time, so our competition time was 10:07 minutes. Because the vertical load was placed more towards the center of the bridge, it deflected more than it did at Regionals, at 1.30 inches. Our bridge weight in at 298 lbs due to a 50 lb penalty for having "Mizzou" on the bridge and not the official name of the school. The cost of our bridge was $5,225,000. The Mizzou Steel Bridge team placed 36 out of 43.
The Mizzou Steel Bridge Team achieved all of its goals this year. This years bridge was built 13 or so minutes faster than the previous year. We earned a spot at the National Competition. It was the first time in 6 years and a great experience for the 8 team members who attended. Of the 8 members who went to California, 6 members of the construction team were first year members and are now equipped with great ideas for next years bridge and ready to make another great showing at Regionals. This was an important year for our team and we are hoping to go to Nationals again.
Thanks to all of our sponsors!
Take a look at the picture album "Steel Bridge 2007" for more pictures of the bridge, the team, timed construction at KU, the national competition at Cal State and some of the amazing sights and stops we made along the way to California!
Check out the College of Engineering's News and Information on the Steel Bridge.
Here's an article from the LA Times about the National Competition.
2006
1 st Aesthetics
Construction
1st Stiffness
5th Overall
2005
1st Timed
4th Overall
2004
2nd Timed
2nd Lightness
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