Design a Bridge: Win a scholarship to Westpoint

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-01-21 01:24am

Bridge? Why the fuck would we want a bridge. Dam the river; divert that water and strip mine the countryside! Progress can't be stopped or slowed!

As for those of you who would actually build a puny bridge, rather then laying the road across a 25 million cubic meter dam, GBU-24 wants to say hi.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-21 01:26am

Buahaha! My first design hit the river immediately and my second and very expensive design sagged

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-21 01:34am

Yes got it to work at $211,000. NOw to lower the price some more.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-01-21 01:46am

You've got a long ways to go...

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-01-21 01:56am

A very long ways indeed...

Considering my low is $132,295.70

Hyperion · Post by **Hyperion** » 2003-01-21 02:59am

Lowest operational design I have so far is 164k

The Dark · Post by **The Dark** » 2003-01-21 01:41pm

ArmorPierce wrote:Yes got it to work at $211,000. NOw to lower the price some more.

If a piece is under only tensile stress, not compressive stress, make it a tube. Tubes are cheaper than bars.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 01:48pm

Exonerate wrote:
RedImperator wrote:My best design so far cost three times that much, is horrible overengineered, and still sags two meters in the middle when the truck passes over it. I should get a job at Starfleet engineering.

3x? Thats VERY expensive... Hell, it sounds like something that our government would do...

I doubt even the government would let me build a bridge. I had to use all 120 alotted members just to get the fucking thing to not fall in the river on its own.

I've gotten better. I've had workable bridges for about $220,000 or so.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 02:47pm

W00t! $138k. Getting better...

Soulman · Post by **Soulman** » 2003-01-21 03:07pm

My first bridge (a nice single span one) cost $150,000, it did kind of bend though when the truck went over it though...

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-01-21 03:16pm

Well this looks interesting. Just remember, there are no scholarships to West Point. You have to be appointed, usually by one of your congressmen, to get in.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-01-21 03:25pm

Remember... the bridge only has to be strong enough to support the weight of the truck, not neccessarily anything more. It's quite ok if the bridge bends rather alarmingly when the truck goes through...

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 03:33pm

Beowulf wrote:$133,767.16

$133,156.01.

EDIT: $128,658.04. There's two pairs of solid members in the whole thing and it's all carbon steel. I don't think I can possibly make it any cheaper using this site and this basic design.

EDIT: Final design, $126,945.49. It wobbles if you so much as look at it funny, but it works.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-21 04:37pm

Down to 204,000. Now let me try a completely new design.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-21 04:42pm

Completely new design worked

. Down to $164,000.

Edit: tweaked it a bit and now it's down to $151,000

Edit 2: Down to $150,000

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-01-21 05:27pm

RedImperator wrote:
Beowulf wrote:$133,767.16
$133,156.01.

EDIT: $128,658.04. There's two pairs of solid members in the whole thing and it's all carbon steel. I don't think I can possibly make it any cheaper using this site and this basic design.

EDIT: Final design, $126,945.49. It wobbles if you so much as look at it funny, but it works.

Gah...

How'd you get it down so low?

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2003-01-21 05:31pm

Yeah [Ted]Post Pics![/Ted]

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 06:29pm

http://www.geocities.com/redimperator/b ... enshot.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/redimperator/b ... eprint.jpg

Here are links to two screenshots. I doubt sincerely the mod of this forum would have appreciated me inlining a pair of 1024 by 768 images.

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 06:34pm

All members are carbon steel. All but two are hollow. The widest beams are 190mm square, the smallest 10mm square. I've gone through it beam by beam, reducing them 10mm and then testing it, and it fails each time. I'm pretty sure this is the lightest possible weight for this design. It might be possible to reduce the cross sections of some of those members by adding joints in the middle of the long beams, but every attempt I've made to lighten the bridge that way ends up either costing me more because I need to add too many other joints and short members to make it work, or it falls into the river.

Red Knight · Post by **Red Knight** » 2003-01-21 06:48pm

My lowest one so far is 184,654.09....

Red Knight · Post by **Red Knight** » 2003-01-21 07:14pm

Your links give me a 404 error, Imperiator.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-01-21 07:20pm

<$124k

similar to RedImp's design...

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2003-01-21 07:57pm

Red Knight wrote:Your links give me a 404 error, Imperiator.

Must have hit the transfer limit. Thank Geoshitties.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2003-01-21 08:07pm

I think I might be able to improve upon yours... Maybe some other time; I have a huge project due tomorrow...

Red Knight · Post by **Red Knight** » 2003-01-21 08:30pm

Ive got mine down to 151,827.13. Its using all carbon tubes, and I dont think I can get it much cheaper.