10/17 general meeting # 2 notes

Alrighty!

We talked a little about construction first thing on Tuesday. We went over the basics of the site plan, staging areas, rivers, penalties etc. etc. After getting a look at the 2005 site plan, we watched the UC Davis 2005 construction run in Orlando, all 3 min. and 38 seconds of it, point out some basic rules, tool ideas, penalty concerns, what's different fom that year to this year, and basically got a feel for how the construction run goes.

After watching the 2005 UC Davis run, we watched the 2006 University of Florida run from Gainesville. We discussed the main rule changes from 2005 to 2006, how the course was different, and asymmetry played a part in the construction sequence, the need to make things reachable, yet keep the bridge stiff as a whole, etc. etc.

When film was concluded, we went out to the front of Bainer to check out the 2007 Construction course, got a feel for the size of it, the distances needed to be travelled, the friggin' walls that will be in the way, the bigger pier boxes, the 9 foot river, the basic span length and lack of skew as in the previous (2K5 & 2K6) years. Questions were answered, and then we moved on to a design rant by Matt.

Matt explained the basics of bridge design which primarily are driven by the Scoring. We noted how Construction as well as Structural Efficiency measured the value of a bridge. Both of these issues must be addressed to have a good bridge.

Going from the bottom up, or simplest to most complex, some bridge ideas were set forth by Matt, from beams, to stacked beams, to multiple beams. to trusses, the bridge type selection will be an interesting choice.

Connections, Analysis Methods, Scoring Scenarios, Steel Sizes we typically use, and Member Layouts will all be discussed next time, Tuesday, October, 24th, at 6:10 pm starting in 1213 Bainer. There will also be a Rules quiz, with a reward for the Top 5 Scores, ties included!

Analysis will also start Saturday, October 28th, in EUIII, we'll pick some bridges on Tuesday, the 24th for analysis, and we'll go through the basic SAP2000 input procedure. Anybody wishing to stay and optimize is welcome to on Sat the 28th!!!

Okay, that's it for now, READ THOSE RULES, highlight them if it helps, if you have questions, email the captains or email the rules committee on the AISC website below (just go to Question Submittal Form), though for basic stuff I'm sure returners can answer the Q's just fine:

http://www.aisc.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Learning_Opportunities/University_Programs/Student_Competitions1/AISC_Student_Steel_Bridge_Competition/Default329.htm