While civil engineering students at Tufts may not be producing a new bridge for the Charles River, they are hoping to bridge the gap between themselves and their competitors at the Annual National Student Steel Bridge competition this year.
Three years since the Tufts Steel Bridge Team qualified for Nationals, the team is back with a vengeance, and they have high hopes for this year's performance. The team, a faction of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), hopes to use the new freshman presence, as well as a sense of newfound determination, to qualify for this year's nationals in California.
The goal of the competition is to build a 20-foot-long steel bridge, giving "future structural engineers the opportunity to do steel design, steel fabrication and teamwork," according to the official ASCE Competition Web site. The competition is sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC).
"The goal of the competition is to build the most efficient bridge," the team's leader senior Aaron Levine said.
The Steel Bridge Team is a group of roughly 15 engineering students, ranging from freshmen to graduate students. It meets once a week to make preparations for the competition.
Held every Tuesday night in Anderson hall, civil engineering major Levine hosts the team meetings.
Although the team has only had two official meetings this semester, both were productive thanks to the presence of both returning members, as well as incoming freshman.
"We generated interest in the club through word of mouth, as well as by making announcements in the classroom," Levine said. "We currently have about five freshmen on the team."
One freshman in particular, Matt Robbins, volunteered this year to be the team's official "drafter," drawing all factions of the bridge's design.
After the team thoroughly plans the drawings in a series of discussions, it uses the graphic design program Computer-Aided Design (CAD) to draw them.
In January, the team will travel to a fabricator in Georgetown, MA, who helps with the welding, cutting, and drilling of the steel. After certain connections have been made, the team will bring the materials back to campus to do a test-run for the competition.
Although flawless execution is key, there are other components on which the team will be judged.
"Part of the competition is based on how fast the team can put the bridge together," Levine said.
With the regional competition being held at the University of Connecticut (last year's regional winning team) in March, the team has already gone straight to work with the design process.
"We hope to have all the drawings done by November," Levine said. "This year, we want to build a lightweight bridge that has very little deflection when loaded."
The team's bridge this year will be symmetrical and arch-shaped, and will require an anticipated $600 worth of steel. Although certain details of the bridge, such as beam type and beam connections, still need planning, the team already has faith in how they will perform during crunch time.
"I think we have the knowledge and ability as a team to place in the top two in the regional competition this year," first-year graduate student and team member Mary Appel said. "I believe we have a more experienced and motivated team this year [than we've had in past years]."
Last year, Tufts came in fifth place out of eight competing teams at the regional competition. The team suffered penalties for crooked beams and decks that protruded past the bridge base, causing the whole structure to weigh almost 800 pounds, when it was intended to weigh only 350 pounds.
This year, however, the team hopes to learn from past mistakes and place in the top two teams at the regional competition, which would qualify them with a spot at the national competition.
"I want to keep the team going. We definitely want to make it to Nationals, because we haven't been there in a few years, and I think it's about time," Levine said.
Even without knowing the result of either the regional or national competition, the team has already garnered success this year. The club has already furthered their scope, and the addition of multiple group members has guaranteed its continued activity.
"The freshmen will help keep the team going in future years," Appel said.
