BUILD A BRIDGE

Like for every other project design a list of steps is followed, steps like the Engineering Design Process. This process for a design contains 8 steps; we have followed the first six. The first step in the engineering design process is to identify the need or the problem. Is the problem a costumer need or business opportunity, in the case of our bridge project it is a bit of both. We have constraints like a client from our professor and it is as well as a business opportunity as it will help us grown in the bridge design and 3d printing process. The project for build a bridge was to create a bridge design that was going to be 3d printed and could hold a certain amount weight all for our final grade in our Engineering University class. 

The second step in the engineering design process is the problem definition, specifications and constraints. For the bridge we were instructed to draw on Tinker Cad so we could then 3d print a bride that should to fit in a volume of 9cm long by 4cm wide by 4cm high. The final 3d printed bridge needs to hold a weight bar of 5lbs; this bridge crosses over a river 6cm wide no support structure can go into the river. The bridge must contain a structure for power lines of at least 1cm in height, it needs two structures for water drainage, and the bridge also had to be visually appealing. The third step was data and information collection. We conducted research for bridges and 3d printing. From this research we found an arch bridge would work the best, we also found information about the drainage systems and the wiring, also how and where to place them.

The fourth step in the engineering design process is the development of alternative design. During the fourth step we decided that the best type of bridge design in this situation was an arch bridge. We modified the drainage system under the bridge could also be used as support, and also added two pylons in the top middle part of the bridge to allow wiring to pass across the bridge. The fifth step was the evaluation of the design and selection of the optimal design. Everyone in the group agreed to the alternative designs as well as knew the constraints; we each drew a sketch of how the bridge could look. This step was the hardest as we took the six different bridges and incorporated them all into one, our final design. In the engineering design process the sixth step is the implementation of the optimal design. Once we had one last design we drew it on the Tinker Cad program so we could see it in 3d. This bridge was finally 3d printed by our professor.