Woody: The Bridge
Solid Mechanics | Structural Analysis Design | Sept - Nov 2022This project was done in fulfillment of the requirements of ENGS 33: Solid Mechanics. This project was done under the supervision of Professor Yan Li. Woody the Bridge was created by myself and five other Dartmouth Engineering students: Catherine Chow, Sena Eskalen, Lindsay Harley, Cooper Harrison, and Christopher Sherman.
In this term-long project, we were tasked with creating a bridge out of plywood that would withstand a load of 1 kN and predict its deflection during an Instron Force test to failure.
In the group, we collaboratively explored various design parameters and performed hand calculations to analyze areas of high stress in each design. The bridge was constructed in SOLIDWORKS, laser cut using Corel Draw, and a universal VLS 3.75 Laser Cutter. I was the sole member to perform all the laser cutting and nesting accounting for the grain orientation of the plywood. Through this project, I gained a lot of comfort with safely and efficiently using laser cutters.
The data from the Instron test was used to examine the percent error between the SOLIDWORKS calculations and real-world testing.
The gif to the left shows the areas of highest stress in the Instron test and points of failure. Our group concluded that our bridge failure was due to the deck pegs snapping. The failure mode was a result of the glue separating as the strength of the glue was not taken into consideration in the designs. The extra supportive thickness that was added to the bridge to increase rigidity was not used due to the glue failure.
For more information, the final presentation can be found below.
