Homework - K'Nex Bridge (Week 4)

The red arrows in the image show where connections were added. The k’nex bridge project in visual analysis is presented unstable. To stabilize the bridge we have to connect joints in a way that the compressive forces are equal to the tension forces. First, we changed the structure type from space frame to plane truss. This tells visual analysis that the bridge is flexible and that it is in a 2D plane. We added connections in certain joints that were in the original bridge. We kept running the model to see which connections made the bridge more stable and where these connections were needed. The best result we got was that the bridge will shift downwards 0.004in when the load is applied. Below is the report view from Visual Analysis.