Week 4 When we were asked to ocme up with a structural member, our group got our inspiration from the I-shaped steel beams usually used in construction for its efficient weight and relatively high strength to weight ratio.
Figure. 1 ) I shaped steel beam This thicker wood is both strong in tension and compression.
The thin layer of MDF board provide most strength when laid vertically. It deforms easily under stress when laid horizontally.
Figure. 2 ) Our group’s structural member
After identifying the strongest point of each material provided, we used screwes to join them in a desired form. Although ideally, other joining methods would be used for structural members (welding for metal, bolts, etc) , we used screws because of the amount of time and resources avaliable to us.
Min Gee Suh 607048
Figure. 3 ) Other Group’s structural member In contrast to our design, some group used the thin layer of mdf board horizontally as an arch. Although this was aesthetically pleasing, it was not highly efficient in distributing loads as there were no structure to support the arch.
Figure. 4 ) Deconstruction (Left - No load , Middle - 100kg load, Right - 250kg load) During the deconstruction process to measure the load bearing capacity, our structure got an initial crack at around 100-150 kg load. This was mainly due to the poor joints and lack of screws in crucial areas. At around 250kg, our structure reached its yield point where deformation stopped and snapped into half.