EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

As a requirement of final project for the subject BFC21403 Structural

Analysis, each group consists up to 6 persons are given the project task of
Truss Bridge: Analysis and Model. There are three parts of the project which
are:
I.
II.
III.

Part A Layout
Part B Analysis
Part C Model

The characteristic of the designed truss bridge are it has 1000mm

clear span and overall length of 1200mm and weigh of 533.6g. The deck slab
of the bridge is horizontal and it is part of the bridge structure. The deck
width is 110mm and can be accommodate dual carriageway of at least
30mm wide each way. The height of the truss bridge is designed to be
150mm and the base area is 100mm x 100mm. Besides that, the truss
bridge model is designed to be tested for 5kg loading which equal to 50N at
point A and point B respectively, an example of points in such designed
model are illustrated in figure (Figure 1) below:

Figure 1: Example of illustrated model

As the calculation has been done, by manually calculation the

determinacy of the designed bridge are statically determinate with 0 degree
of redundancy. Based on the designed data, it has been calculated that it
should have -0.000001meter deflections. The model is made from satay stick
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and the connections are using 502 glue and thread. The model has been
tested to pass the 50N load and continue the adding of load until it failed and
the result was the truss failed at the loading of 125N.
PART A: LAYOUT AND DESIGNED

Figure shown above are the designed bridge layout and it is completely
fulfill the requirement of the bridge description. The truss bridge has been
designed to able to support at least 100N load. The design bridge has the
following design details:

Clear span between support = 1000mm

The bridge is simply supported
Deck width = 110mm
Height of bridge = 150mm
Base area at both ends = 100mm x 100mm

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PART B: ANALYSIS OF THE DESIGNED TRUSS BRIDGE

The compression and tension forces act in different ways in different
types of bridges. The internal forces of the truss have been calculated
manually and the results are as follows:
Member
XA
AB
BC
CD
DE
EF
FG
GH
HI
IJ
JK
KL
MN
NO
OP
PQ
QR
RS
ST
TU
UV
VW
XW
WA
AV

Internal Forces, N
33.3
66.6
99.9
133.2
133.2
133.2
133.2
133.2
133.2
99.9
99.9
33.3
33.3
66.6
99.9
133.3
133.2
133.2
133.2
99.9
66.6
33.3
60.1
50
60.1

Besides
calculating
reaction

the
at

support and the

internal forces of
each

member

manually,

the

calculation

also

done
LimPro

by

using

software

to get the exact

and

accurate

VB
BU
UC
CT
TD
DS
SE
ER
RF
RG
GQ
QH
HP
PI
IO
OJ
JN
NK
KM
ML

50
60.1
50
60.1
50
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
50
60.1
50
60.1
50
60.1
50
60.1

value of deflection, moment diagram,

shear force diagram and axial force
diagram. Based on the required amount

of load that the truss bridge must able to support which is 100N, the result of
the value of deflection after the deformation is o.ooooo1m.
During the test, the designed model has been tested and it has been
fulfilled the required amount of load that it should able to support which
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100N and the test was continued by adding the load carefully to determine
the highest load the model can support before it failed. The result was 125N
which is equal to 12.5kg.
The design truss bridge, being determinate system and have no
redundancy, can progressively collapse over the entire span, if a single
primary member or the connection at the trusses failed. So did this designed
model, it collapsed at 125N load applied and it failed at the connection. The
failure was noticeably at the connection as it broke. This might be caused by
the lack of strength in the binding material which is 502 Glue. So the model
did not failed by any member during the test neither the compression
member and tension member. The following pages are the calculation that
has been done manually and the result from the LimPro software.
As the result obtained, a ratio has been calculated to compare the
lightness of the bridge and the strength. The relationship that can be made is
the bigger the ratio the stronger the bridge. The weight of the model bridge
is 533.6g = 5.336N and the load it can support is 125N, thus the ratio is:
125 N
=23.426
5.336 N

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PART C: MODEL

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Figures shown below are the truss bridge model (Figure 2) and the
result of the condition of the bridge after the test has been done (Figure 3
and Figure 4 ).

Figure 2: Truss bridge model

Figure 3: Failed at connection

Figure 4: Full overall length

after test

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