The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) sponsor the National Student Steel Bridge Competition (NSSBC) annually. The competition requires students to design, fabricate, and construct a scaled steel bridge to meet certain specifications. The AISC competition rules for the 2014 competition stated that the maximum span of the bridge was 19 feet, the maximum height of the bridge was 5 feet from the surface of the ground, and the bridge had to sustain a vertical load of 2400 pounds and a lateral load of 50 pounds. Competing bridges must meet all dimensional constraints, cannot deflect more than 1” laterally, and cannot deflect more than 3” vertically. Each bridge is scored according to display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy and structural efficiency. The goal is to design and construct the most efficient and economical bridge. The competition also includes the Daniel W. Mead Paper and Presentation contest in which a student must write a technical paper and present on a given topic.
The 2014 TCNJ ASCE Steel Bridge Team is composed of students Aaron Chan, Alyssa Hartigan, Stephanie Rindosh, Max Schisler, and Mike Soriano, who competed in the National Student Steel Bridge Competition on April 25th and 26th at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in Newark, New Jersey.
Team member Alyssa Hartigan competed in the paper and presentation portion of the competition on Friday. The paper topic this year was “Natural Disasters: What are the Civil Engineer’s Responsibilities?” Alyssa Hartigan competed against eleven schools and took home first place and the corresponding prize of $100.
On Saturday, team members Aaron Chan, Stephanie Rindosh, Max Schisler, and Mike Soriano competed in the timed construction portion of the competition. The bridge met all necessary requirements, deflecting only .75” laterally and 1.79” vertically. These scores gained the team second place in the entire competition and also qualified the team for the national competition, which has never been done by a TCNJ team.