Truss Bust
Tulane’s statics class has an end-of-semester project to build a truss of our own design. On the last day of class, we test them all to find breaking points!
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Original Design
We created our design of a Pratt truss inspired by a bridge in Baton Rogue, LA.
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Calculations
Our calculations allowed us to determine what height would hold the most weight and what weight our truss might hold. Of course, theoretical calculations did not take into account the load bearing ropes not being perfectly set in the center of the gusset plates.
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Building the Truss
I designed the laser cutting file for this portion of the project. We were encouraged to maximize efficiency in laser cutting, and we were able to use about half of the allotted wood. Our entire team spent time between classes building portions of the truss.
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Results
We were very excited to present our truss on competition day! Although it did not hold as much weight as our theoretical calculations, it did fail at the points we predicted. Our truss held 79.5lbs before any breaking.