City College Takes Third in Annual Steel Bridge Competition

On the unusually chilly morning of April 14, members of the City College Steel Bridge Club met in downtown Brooklyn to compete in this year’s American Society of Civil Engineers Regional Steel Bridge Competition. Hosted this year at New York City College of Technology, eight teams from area colleges and universities competed in a design presentation, a load test with over 2,500 lbs., and a race to assemble their bridges.

Not having entered the competition since 2004, this year’s greenhorn team walked away with the coveted award for Stiffness of Design, taking third place in the overall competition behind reigning champion New Jersey Institute of Technology, and a veteran team from City Tech.

When asked for his impressions, competition construction supervisor David Luke replied, “The competition was great. It was a great learning experience. I wish we had finished better, but we did great for a team that has had no experience in 4 years.”

Faculty Advisor to the Steel Bridge Club, Dr. Thomas Price said he was “pleased and proud” of the team’s performance. He added that he had expected them to do well because he knew how much time and energy they had spent preparing, “this year’s club was very involved.”

The competition was a culmination of an entire year’s worth of effort where Steel Bridge Club members designed and fabricated a nineteen foot long by four foot wide truss bridge consisting solely of structural steel members and hex-bolts. The design, while rigid, also needed be lightweight and easy to assemble during the competition. Requirements included a bridge that would provide a 32 inch wide "roadway" that could be used to transport a 2500lb load over a 9 foot wide model river. Additional constraints were placed on the amount the bridge would bend during load testing.

David Luke elaborated, “The constraints of this design were extensive, but to provide a small summary, we were designing [a model of a bridge used] to replace a bridge that would accommodate passenger vehicles and allow ships to pass under. We also would need to construct the bridge in a fairly quick time.” On the day of the competition, the bridge was assembled in just under 18 minutes.

With their good showing this year, the members of the Steel Bridge Club hope to have more success raising funds for next year (the club's activities are entirely financed by contributions) so that they can be more creative with their design and have their bridge professionally fabricated. A professionally fabricated bridge would allow them to stretch the limits of their designs and unseat NJIT, taking City College to the Nationals.

Norbert Ochman (President of the Steel Bridge Club) summed up everyone’s feelings, “We did well for a group that has never participated in an event like this. Also it showed me that we have the potential to do much better. I believe it was the team’s commitment that enabled us to succeed this year, and we will be looking for an improved repeat performance next year.”

Congratulations!

CCNY Steel Bridge team members (from left) Maurice Roberts, Sean Crotty, Norbert Ochman, Joe Provenza, Yi Qui, Tung Lap Ko, Shui Wing Tseung, Gary Chan and David Luke (keeling).

Team members during the construction portion of the competition.

Norbert Ochman installs part of the bridge, being careful not to step into the "river".

David Luke supervises loading the bridge with over 2500lbs.