Start Up

Hello again,

It's Mid-August now, and the Rules have been out there for a month more or less.

As the first meetings, emails, and design sessions start to go down, just remember two things.

1. Do not suppress any ideas, no matter how unconvincing, whatsoever. Get the data first, talk about it in a reasonable sense, and make a decision. Case in point, the 2003 UC Davis Steel Bridge Team: Only beams won, and the Team jumped to the conclusion that a truss would be needed over the longer river. It was a bad decision, because the beam was considered, BUT NEVER ANALYZED. Now you look at the profile this year and may think a light, 7' truss will do the trick, but maybe a beam will work, or maybe it won't...either way GET THE DATA FIRST.

2. At some point you (Captains &/OR Design Heads) are going to have to stop the "paralysis by overanalysis" and make a decision to keep the project on schedule. If you go too deep into the numbers, and aren't sure what you want to build, then make a few key areas in the design, ie constructability or weight, and then just stick to your guns throughout the fabrication process. Committing early and completing the bridge to make mods and to practice will do way better than choosing the absolutely analytical best choice, because remember, you still have to build the thing, and the bridge + your construction crew have to perform to make it win.

That's it, design on :)