CSU, Chico Engineering: Steel Bridge 2000 National Champions
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 24, 2000
Kathleen McPartland
530-898-4260
Professor Joel Arthur, Civil Engineering
530-898-4292
CSU, Chico Engineering: Steel Bridge 2000 National Champions
California State University, Chico civil engineering students dominated the National Steel Bridge competition held at Texas A&M over the weekend of May 20 and 21.
Competing against the best 43 schools from 20 different regional competitions across the nation, CSU, Chico emerged as number one in the nation by an impressive margin. Oregon State University placed second, and Southern Polytechnic State University placed third.
The winning team will construct the winning bridge on Friday, May 26, at 10 a.m. behind Landgon Engineering Center, located on the corner of 1st and Warner Streets. The student engineers will discuss the design and engineering challenges of the yearlong project that produced the victory.
To qualify for the national competition CSU, Chico won the regional competition held in Chico on April 29. This was the fourth straight year that Chico has advanced to the nationals by winning the regional bridge building contest.
Using advanced computer modeling and design techniques, civil engineering students analyzed and designed a steel bridge to meet rigid construction specifications provided by the sponsoring groups, The American Institute of Steel Construction and The American Society for Civil Engineers. The students then fabricated the components necessary to build the 22-foot long bridge that was able to support a total load of 2,500 pounds.
The bridge was designed and built for lightning fast construction, super low deflection, and ultra light weight. The students applied skills and concepts that they learn in their civil engineering courses related to the analysis, design and performance optimization of structures, construction planning and construction management.
Team captain Kari Rowberg, along with Troy Kamisky and John Bailey, all junior level civil engineering students, and faculty adviser Joel Arthur spent many nights and weekends perfecting this year’s entry. Technicians Jim Luallen and Mike Renwick from the Department of Civil Engineering were instrumental in helping the team fabricate the winning bridge.
CSU, Chico placed first in economy, first in efficiency, second in aggregate deflection, third in weight, and ninth in construction speed. The aggregate result was a decisive national championship for CSU, Chico.
During the competition, the bridges are assembled in timed construction by a team of students working on both sides of a fictitious 14′ river. Components of the bridge can be no greater than 4′ in length and 6″ across. A competitor is allowed to carry only one component at a time from the staging areas, a specific distance from each side of the river, to the riverbanks to complete the assembly of the 40-50-piece bridge. The total construction time is obtained by multiplying the number of competitors times the assembly time plus any time penalties for such things as dropping fasteners or touching the river.
Following assembly, the bridge is carefully inspected for conformance to the rules in terms of materials used in construction and dimensional tolerances. Weight penalties are assessed for not conforming to the rules.
The bridge is then moved to a loading station where deflections are measured for two loading cases. First, deflection (movements up or down of the bridge deck) is measured at the center of the middle span (about 14′ long) and also at one end of the 4′ cantilever portion of the bridge while 2,000 pounds are placed uniformly over the center 6′ of the bridge. Next, one of the cantilever overhangs of the bridge is loaded with the final 500 pounds and the change in deflection is measured at the end. The aggregate deflection is then calculated from the two measurements.
After surviving the loading tests, the bridge is weighed, completing the competition. Awards are given in five categories based on the three numbers from construction speed, aggregate deflection and weight. The lower the score, the higher the ranking. An additional award is given for aesthetics. CSU, Chico earned a score of 13, and second place Oregon State had a sum of 24.
CSU, Chico placed second in the nation last year, edged out by regional competitor University of Nevada, Reno.
George Scott of Chico Scrap Iron, donated 2,500 pounds of rail steel used to test the bridge. Alumni Dennis Murphy of Hayden Homes in Oregon and Dan Gonzalves of Aztlan Designs in Chico provided substantial financial support to help send the bridge and 13 students to the national championship in College Place, Texas.
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