Columbia AISC Student Steel Bridge Team Wins Lightest Bridge Prize in Regional Competition
4/09/2009
On Saturday, April 4, 2009 the Columbia University chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers Steel Bridge team competed at the 2009 NY Regional ASCE/AISC Student Steel Bridge Competition. The competition requires students to design, fabricate and build a small-scale steel bridge at competition which minimizes deflection and weight. This was the first year since 2004 that a Columbia team made it to competition and this year’s team took home the award for the lightest bridge among a field of ten teams. The team’s design was a pair of 18.5’ long parallel space trusses supported by columns and knee braces. The bridge measured roughly 4 feet wide and 2.5 feet high. Tension ties ran along the lower portion of the bridge to “tie” the bridge together and prevent outward motion of the support columns.
This design was a refinement of a student team’s bridge design for CIEN E3127: Structural Design Projects and was completely fabricated by the team in the Robert A. W. Carleton Strength of Materials Laboratory. The team was composed of Andrew Pramberger (Sr.), Brett Benowitz (Sr.), Randi Nagata (Sr.), Deira Inouye (Sr.), Andrew Mason (Sr.), Harrison Yamamoto (Jr.), Allison Magnano (Sr.), Ben Lai (Sr.), Andrew Knowlton (Soph.), Michael Seamen (Jr.), Grace Lee (Jr.), and Claire Wang (Soph.). The team was advised by Professors Andrew Smyth and Rene Testa and Preceptor/Carleton Laboratory Manager Adrian Brügger. Additional support was provided by Senior Lab Technician Johny Manchery and Centrifuge Manager Liming Li. Financial support for the team was provided by Civil Engineering School Alumni Association, Weidlinger Associates Inc., the Steel Institute of New York, Moretrench, and Desktop Engineering. Professor Nicola Chiara served as the ASCE Student Chapter advisor.
Figure 1: Andrew Pramberger (left)
and Allison Magnano in the process
of the loading the bridge with steel
angles. The bridge carried a total
load of 2500 lbs.
Figure 2: 2009 Steel Bridge Team
pictured on the bridge after
competition. Front Row: (left-
right) Professor Andrew Smyth,
Andrew
Mason, Allison Magnano,
Randi
Nagata, and Ben Lai. Back
Row:
Brett Benowitz, Harrison
Yamamoto,
and Andrew
Pramberger.
Figure 3: 2009 Steel Bridge Team
pictured on the bridge after
competition. Front Row: Grace Lee.
Middle Row: (left-right) Brett Benowitz,
Andrew Mason, Allison Magnano,
Randi Nagata, and Ben Lai. Back
Row: Harrison Yamamoto, Deira
Inouye, and Andrew Pramberger.
Figure 4: Professor Testa inspects
the bridge parts staged before
timed competition as the team looks on.
Figure 5: “Barges” Brett Benowitz,
Randi Nagata, and Harrison Yamamoto
construct the bridge during timed
competition.
Figure 6: Andrew Pramberger in
the process of welding tabs to
the bridge for the cross bracing.