Timber bridge design

Abstract

At the beginning this course, I learned timber design codes and basic design calculations. Our final project tasked two different teams to design and build a bridge that followed the National Timber Bridge Design Competition specifications. The design criteria included the following: Design Span: 4.0 meters Maximum length of individual piSchool of Electrical and School of Electrical and Computer Engineering: 3.2 meters Horizontal Clearance: 1.3 meters inside curb to inside curb Vertical Clearance: 2.5 meters from deck surface Test Load: 20 kN for 1 hour (4 equal increments of 5 kN each, will the full load of 20 kN being achieved in not less than 5 minutes or more than 20 minutes) Maximum Vertical Bridge Deflection: Design span divided by 400 Maximum Vertical Net Deck Deflection: Deck span divided by 100 My team decided to build a timber arch bridge with steel tension ties. I held a leading role in the design process and I contributed to a majority of the build. The bridge was presented to OSU alumni visiting the Bert Cooper Engineering Laboratory in April.