Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Here Comes Santa Claus...

Well, Chromalypto is about to set in...YES!!!

It's now officially fab season, and you know what that means, steel splinters in the finger tips, ooo, yes!!!

What was that Marv?












"YES!"
You got it buddy.

Okay, the steel will be here shortly, mostly from Pennsylvania hopefully, CTV and Co. permitting, if not, we'll take in what we can to get started from Southern Illinois.

We need to mainly cut and precision mill all lengths first. Remember on the flanges to look for the bow and put that bow in the "deflection direction" i.e. the one that goes up and down on the bridge. If you we cut and clamp a flange that is warped in the lateral direction, it will warp the deck and make connections a bother. Better to prestress/weld the flange in the up and down direction. Milled slots will need to be in the up and down direction as well. Check with Matt before you mill a deck slot on any flange.

Phil will hopefully set up the dovetail mill program tomorrow. Matt will be there for about an hour or so before he has to jet for work. Need to get that order in before Friday the 22nd from PA. UPS baby! Let's get the maturl here.

Feliz Navidad Amigos! Relax while you can, it's relentless 'til April in San Jo!










Why did Santiago Calatrava design a bridge in Redding?

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Sunday, December 03, 2006

D Week 12/3+

Howdy Y'all,

Saturday was a great day for us! We got solid, reliable numbers for all 12 design variations, now Jessica and Matt will look at the models, double check the weights, deflections, load placements etc. etc. and Tuesday night we'll have a vigorous discussion on what we think the best choice will be. Depth vs. Chordage? Speed vs. a bit lighter and/or stiffer? Cold decisions come from the scoring, so we'll need some good thought this week to make decision we all feel comfortable with. The good thing is, every design choice we have is a good bridge. Veterans will use their past season's experience during the fabrication rounds to help steer the way to our best choice.

Until then, finish strong in Bridge, finish strong in the classroom.