CSU, Chico News

For the fifth consecutive year, California State University, Chico engineering students have won the Mid-Pacific Region Steel Bridge Competition, held at UC Davis April 27-29. They will be traveling to Clemson University, South Carolina, over Memorial Day weekend to defend the national title they won last year.

The American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction sponsor the annual event. Approximately two hundred universities from across the nation participate.

The competition requires that student teams from each university fabricate a dimensionally scaled bridge from structural steel and then construct their bridge over an imaginary 13-foot-wide river during timed assembly.

The completed bridge is inspected by judges for conformance to stringent specifications, and then tested for weight bearing with 2,500 pounds of dead weight. During application of the load, selected points are measured for motion. A winning bridge must be light in weight, be quick to assemble, have little motion at specified locations during loading, and, most importantly, not collapse.

The specifications for the contest are changed each year, so that competitors must rethink the characteristics for an optimally designed bridge. The rules for this year’s competition are similar to last year’s, and the Chico team elected to modify last year’s national winning bridge rather than start with an entirely new design.

One significant rule change required the team members to improve the performance over last year’s bridge in most categories of evaluation. This year, the “depth” of the bridge, the difference between the highest and lowest vertical dimensions, is a scoring parameter. As a “truss” bridge, Chico’s entry is not optimal for depth, measuring about 20 inches.

In comparison, CSU, Sacramento’s second-place entry “girder” bridge has a depth of only 6 inches, an advantage in scoring. Because of its larger depth, however, the Chico bridge can be lighter and stiffer.

Chico placed first in the overall performance category, and also placed first in subcategories of evaluation for lowest weight, fastest construction speed, greatest stiffness, and best efficiency, which combines weight, stiffness, and the depth of the bridge.

The students participating in the competition are Brian Boswell (captain), Kari Rowberg, Troy Kamisky, Don Doiron, Tim Kaber, Edan Engstrom, John Calvert, Mike Guzzi and Mike Loegering. Civil engineering professors Joel Arthur and Russell Mills are the faculty advisers. Technicians Jim Luallen and Mike Renswick and administrative support coordinator Dagmar Hampton provide invaluable assistance.

The Chico team is now busy preparing for the national competition, making small adjustments to the bridge to improve performance without risking collapse. The students hope to be the first university to ever win back-to-back national championships.

Click here to see the Steel Bridge website.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 8th, 2001 at 11:49 am and is filed under 2001 Spring.