Steel bridge takes first
A group of NDSU students in civil engineering recently claimed first place at their regional conference, for the fourth consecutive year.
The students will now move on to the national competition in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 26-27.
Seniors Nathan Hoffmann and Brian Lintgen served as co-captains of the team that had to construct a steel bridge it had designed and fabricated prior to the competition.
During the actual contest March 3-4, entries were judged on stiffness, lightness and structural efficiency.
NDSU’s team placed first in those individual categories to capture the overall first place.
This was the fourth year in a row NDSU took home first-place honors. Hoffmann said in most regions, the top two teams advance to the national competition. Around 40 schools compete at the national level and NDSU is the only university to win more than once in the contest’s 14-year existence.
NDSU claimed the title in 1995, 2002 and 2004.
Each year, the dimension requirements for the bridge change to eliminate any possibility of reusing designs from previous years.
Lintgen said most of the fall semester is spent working on designing and assembling the bridge. All the work is done outside civil engineering classes.
This year, the bridge had to have a span of 22 feet and a width of 3.5 feet. It also had to carry a 2,500-pound load.
A team of five builders carries the bridge to the construction site and puts it together. Hoffmann said it took the team 9 1/2 minutes to completely assemble the bridge.
Time penalties are given for mistakes, which NDSU received for dropping a bolt in the simulated river in the construction site.
Both Hoffmann and Lintgen are members of the American Society of the Civil Engineers chapter at NDSU. About 20 ASCE members attended the conference portion Friday. Hoffmann said 10 people were active in designing the bridge and seven actually helped out during the competition.
Civil engineering professor Magdy Abdelrahman serves as the group’s adviser.