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Introduction

A truss bridge is a bridge that consists of a truss with a load-bearing superstructure. This truss is a

structure forming triangular units of connected elements. In response to dynamic loads, the

connected elements (typically straight) can be stressed by tension, compression, or sometimes

both. One of the oldest types of modern bridges is Truss bridges. The basic types of truss bridges

have simple designs that engineers from the 19th and early 20th century could easily analyze.

Because of its efficient use of materials, a truss bridge is economical to build. Structural engineers

need to understand the processes involved in designing and building different structures. Bridge

design is one of the basic skills in structural engineering. In addition, translating the design into

reality is extremely important [1].

For this project, the task is to efficiently design and build a bridge to hold a number of cars

weighing 2000lb. Also, the number of members should be at least 15. Also, the sample of the

bridge should be made. There are also some bonus objectives to strive towards achieving. These

include having, the lightest successful bridge, the most attractive bridge and the best overall design

[2].
Theory

In trusses, triangular-member systems produce load-bearing, efficient, lightweight members. A

modified version of a Pratt truss was chosen for the design with this fact. In order to strengthen

the truss, it was decided to have one large triangle at the center. The moment diagram is concave

down in shape for a simple supported beam with a distributed load. Building the truss to resemble

this shape creates an effective, light weight design. We're going to consider internal forces now

[3].

In the force analysis of structures, the structure must be dismantled and the separate FBD of

individual members analyzed in order to determine the internal forces of the structure. This

analysis calls for very careful observance of Newton's 3rd law, which states that each is

accompanied by an equal and opposite reaction [4].

3 Engineering structures categories:

1). Trusses- support loads, stationary, 2 force members

2). Frames- support loads, stationary, at least one multi-force members

3). Machines- transmit and modify forces, at least one multi-force member

A truss is a framework composed of members connected at their ends to form a rigid structure.

Examples: Bridges, roof supports, derricks

Structural members used: I-beams, channels, angles, bars

Fastened together at ends by: Welding , rivets, bolts

It is assumed that the weights of truss members are applied to the joints, half the weight at each

end. Compared to the forces that the members support, weight is often small so it is neglected

[5].

In the analysis, the members are assumed to be pinned together.

What's that doing? The forces are reduced to a single force at each end of a member and no

couple. Members become a member of the 2-force. Equal, contrary, collinear (the 3rd law of

Newton)

tension Compression

Total # of members, m

m=2n-3

n=total # of joints

Notice Newton's 3rd law between the equal and opposite pin and member. Since the whole truss

is in balance, each pin is in balance.

Truss contains n Pins => 2n equations (x, y) but:

m=2n-3=> 2n=m + 3

Thus, 2n or m=+3 unknowns may be determined

 m => all the forces in the members

3 => R Ax , R Ay , and RB

The entire truss is a rigid body in equilibrium thus we can write the following equation for the

entire truss.

 Fx  0
F y  0
M  0

These do not contain any new information and are therefore not independent. But we can use these

to determine the support reactions. The arrangement of pins and members in a simple truss is such

that a joint involving only 2 unknown forces can always be found. After determining these forces,

their values are transferred to adjacent joints and this joint is analyzed. This is repeated until all

the forces that are unknown are determined [6].

Once the truss shape has been determined, the next step is to select the members ' material and

size. It was decided to use bass wood for each of the members to make the truss light weight. The

design incorporates member sizes of 0.2 in2 and 0.5 in2 based on the requirement that the

maximum deflection of the truss should not exceed 0.2 inches.

Design Calculations

Determine the force in each member of the truss and state whether the force is tension or

compression. The truss is symmetric.

Since the structure span must be 1200 feet

Assuming each car weighs 3000 lb

The bridge can support upto 4 cars.

Free body diagram

 Equilibrium equations for entire truss

𝛴𝐹𝑥 = 0: 𝐴𝑥 = 0

𝛴𝐹𝑦 = 0:

𝐴𝑦 + 𝐿𝑦 − 3 𝑘𝑖𝑝 − 3 𝑘𝑖𝑝 − 3 𝑘𝑖𝑝 − 3 𝑘𝑖𝑝 = 0

𝛴𝑀𝐴 = 0:

−3𝑘𝑖𝑝(200𝑓𝑡) − 3 𝑘𝑖𝑝(400𝑓𝑡) − 3𝑘𝑖𝑝(800𝑓𝑡) − 3𝑘𝑖𝑝(1000𝑓𝑡) + 𝐷𝑦 (1200𝑓𝑡) = 0

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠

𝐴𝑥 = 0

𝑨𝒚 = 𝟔𝒌𝒊𝒑

𝑳𝒚 = 𝟔𝒌𝒊𝒑

𝑈𝑠𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 − 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐴 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑢𝑠𝑒

𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒

𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡.

𝐹𝑟𝑒𝑒 − 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑎𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚 𝑜𝑓 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐴.

 𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐴

𝛴𝐹𝑥 = 0:

𝐹𝐴𝐵 cos 30 + 𝐹𝐴𝐶 = 0

𝛴𝐹𝑦 = 0:

𝐹𝐴𝐵 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° + 𝐴𝑦 = 0

𝐹𝐴𝐵 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° + 6 𝑘𝑖𝑝𝑠 = 0

𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑠𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑒𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑙𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑠

𝑭𝑨𝑩 = −𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 = 𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑨𝑪 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 (𝑻)

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑢𝑛𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑡 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐵,

𝑃𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑎 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝐵𝐷, 𝐵𝐸, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐶𝐸 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑎𝑘𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑒𝑓𝑡 −

ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦.

𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑐 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑡𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒𝑠.

𝛴𝑀𝐵 = 0:
 𝐹𝐴𝐶 (200 tan 30) + 𝐴𝑦 (200) = 0

𝐹𝐴𝐶 (200 tan 30) + 6(200) = 0

𝑭𝑨𝑪 = −𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑪𝑬 = −𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 (𝑪)

𝑈𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑐ℎ𝑛𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑎𝑡 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐸

𝛴𝑀𝐸 = 0:

−𝐴𝑦 (400) + 3(200) − 𝐹𝐵𝐷 (cos 30)(400 tan 30) = 0

−6(400) + 3(200) − 𝐹𝐵𝐷 (cos 30)(400 tan 30) = 0

𝑭𝑩𝑫 = −𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟗 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑩𝑪 = 𝟎 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓)

𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐵

 𝛴𝐹𝑦 = 0:

−3 − 𝐹𝐴𝐵 𝑐𝑜𝑠 60° − 𝐹𝐸𝐵 cos 60 + 𝐹𝐵𝐷 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° = 0

−3 − (−12) 𝑐𝑜𝑠 60° − 𝐹𝐸𝐵 cos 60 + (−9) 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° = 0

𝑭𝑬𝑩 = 𝟑 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑻)

𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐸

𝛴𝐹𝑥 = 0:

−𝐹𝐶𝐸 − 𝐹𝐸𝐵 cos 30 + 𝐹𝐸𝐺 = 0

−(−10.39) − (3) cos 30 + 𝐹𝐸𝐺 = 0

𝑭𝑬𝑮 = −𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑪)

𝛴𝐹𝑦 = 0:

𝐹𝐸𝐷 + 𝐹𝐸𝐵 sin 30 = 0

𝐹𝐸𝐷 + 3 sin 30 = 0

𝑭𝑬𝑫 = −𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔(𝑪)

𝑭𝑬𝑮 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝑮𝑰 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓,

𝑭𝑮𝑰 = −𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑪)

𝐸𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑢𝑚 𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑗𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑡 𝐺

 𝛴𝐹𝑥 = 0:

𝐹𝐺𝐻 + 𝐹𝐺𝐷 = 𝐹𝐺𝐸 cos 40.9

𝑭𝑮𝑯 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑭𝑮𝑫 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒄𝒐𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒂𝒓,

−𝐹𝐺𝐸 cos 40.9

𝐹𝐺𝐻 + 𝐹𝐺𝐷 =
2

𝐹𝐺𝐻 + 𝐹𝐺𝐷 = 2.944 𝑘𝑖𝑝𝑠

𝑭𝑮𝑯 = 𝟏. 𝟒𝟕 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔(𝑻)

𝑭𝑮𝑫 = 𝟏. 𝟒𝟕 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑻)

−(−7.79) − 𝐹𝐺𝐷 cos 40.9 − 7.79 = 0

𝑭𝑬𝑮 = −𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔

𝛴𝐹𝑦 = 0:

𝐹𝐺𝐻 sin 40.9 + 𝐹𝐺𝐷 sin 40.9 + 𝐹𝐺𝑂 = 0

1.47 sin 40.9 + 1.47 sin 40.9 + 𝐹𝐺𝑂 = 0

𝑭𝑮𝑶 = −𝟐. 𝟏𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟐. 𝟏𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑪)

𝑆𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑚 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑟𝑖𝑐

𝑭𝑮𝑰 = −𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟕. 𝟕𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑮𝑯 = 𝟏. 𝟒𝟕 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔(𝑻)

𝑭𝑰𝑯 = −𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟏. 𝟓 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔(𝑪)

𝑭𝑰𝑱 = 𝟑 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝑻)

𝑭𝑰𝑲 = −𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑲𝑱 = 𝟎 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 (𝒛𝒆𝒓𝒐 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒄𝒆 𝒎𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒆𝒓)

𝑭𝑱𝑳 = −𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 = 𝟏𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 (𝑪)

𝑭𝑲𝑳 = 𝟏𝟎. 𝟑𝟗𝟐 𝒌𝒊𝒑 (𝑻)

𝑭𝑱𝑯 = −𝟗 𝒌𝒊𝒑𝒔 = 𝟗 (𝑪)

Member deflections
Conclusions

Using the results, because of its robust design, the design should not have an extreme deflection.

A safety factor can be taken into consideration. There are several options to reduce the

deflection, including selecting thicker sizes of members and changing the truss design.

The design was enough; the safer and more cost-effective option would have been to increase

each member's sizes slightly, or perhaps to use more than two sizes aluminium pieces. The

design was not a failure in its entirety. Under the loading of 3 kips, it can not break and is

extremely lightweight.

This can be applied in a number of ways to the real world. The structure of our design may be

highly deflective, which illustrates the importance of a safety factor when designing structures.

Building is not 100% accurate. As a team, this aspect should have been considered by the design.
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