How lightweight and economical can you build a bridge out of steel and still have it hold more than 2,500 pounds?
What does it take to clean river water so that it is suitable for drinking?
And how, exactly, do you make a canoe float, when it‘s made out of concrete?
Civil engineering students found out at this spring‘s Ohio Valley Regional Conference of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Ohio State‘s student chapter hosted this year‘s event on campus and at other Columbus locations March 29-31.
Approximately 300 students attended from up to 15 regional schools in Ohio, Kentucky and Pennsylvania. These schools spent the three-day conference competing in several events, including Steel Bridge, Concrete Canoe, Concrete Frisbee, Environmental Water Treatment, Technical Paper, AutoCAD and Surveying competitions.
Ohio State teams had a good showing against their rivals. Two surveying teams participated; one took first place and the other third. In the concrete canoe competition, the Ohio State students took first place for design paper; third place for oral presentation, overall product and co-ed sprint race; and second place overall. The Buckeyes also placed first in structural efficiency in the steel bridge competition.
“These experiences will help students in their careers, as they learn how to design something from beginning to end. Not only are students putting into reality their particular engineering design, they are also learning leadership, teamwork, writing and presentation skills,” says Carolyn Merry, chair of Ohio State‘s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Geodetic Science. “The new challenges for civil engineering are preparing our students to operate in a global engineering context. Being innovators and integrators of new ideas that have challenged them in these team projects will prepare them for the future.”
Students were required to meet strict requirements for each competition. Here are some examples:
- In the Concrete Frisbee Competition, the Frisbee was required to be between 8 and 12 inches in diameter and no more than 2.5 inches at its thickest point. Frisbees were judged on aesthetic qualities and on the accuracy and distance of throws by the students.
- For the water treatment system contest, students designed a system to improve typical river water to drinking water quality using only commonly available household items or construction materials purchased from retail stores. The system had to be constructed within 30 minutes and take no more than 45 minutes to treat the water. Points were given for the system design and construction, including aesthetics, cost and ease of use; the treated water quality; and a technical paper related to the project.
- While making safety the priority, the students in the steel bridge competition had to construct a 1:10 scale model of a bridge that, at full scale, could span a river and adjacent floodway and carry traffic serving the residences, farms and agricultural processing industries that are the economic base of the bridge‘s rural location. The team members built the bridge to meet set parameters for stiffness, lightness, construction speed, display, efficiency and economy.
- The Concrete Canoe Competition involved both building and racing the canoes, so students were judged on topics such as design, use of technology and materials and competitive spirit. The canoes had to float even when filled completely with water, and all floatation material in the canoe was required to be encased in concrete.
