Engineering students put theory into practice
Engineering students at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) Springfield campus were on edge today as they watched the bridges they built tested to destruction.
As part of their Introduction to engineering design course they were given the assignment to design and construct a scaled down balsa wood bridge to carry the mythical ‘Knights of the Phoenix' over a pretend Grand Canyon.
USQ Engineering Lecturer Dr Jayantha Epaarachchi said the assignment was a practical opportunity for the students to put the knowledge they had learned over the semester to use.
'The students formed teams and constructed their bridges using nothing but the two sheets of balsa wood and cement we provided,' Dr Epaarachchi said.
'We then set the bridges over a ‘bottomless gorge' in the classroom and continuously added weight to a bucket suspended from the middle of the constructions until they finally buckled and broke.
'The teams were aiming to build a bridge with a strong strength factor calculated from the ratio of the load carried to the weight of the bridge.
'Testing the bridges to destruction in this manner gave the students a new perspective on the theoretical knowledge they had gained over the semester.'
The bridge designed by USQ Springfield student Simon Jennings and his team mate Todd Parrish faired better than they expected when tested.
Simon said he was surprised at how much weight his bridge had taken before finally breaking under the strain of 10.3 kilos.
'I thought it would take about 7 to 8 kilos at most, so it held up really well,' Simon said.
'The whole assignment was very interesting, Todd and I both made bridges and then tested them out to come up with the best design we could create.'
The two Springfield teams will find out at the end of the semester if their bridges were good enough to outlast the bridges made by fellow engineering students at USQ's Toowoomba campus at the end of the semester.
Media Contact: Jo-Ann Sparrow, USQ Media, +61 7 3470 4119 or 0428 102 979