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I am doing a project for my 9th grade Geometry class. It is about making a structure out of 10 file folders with 4 other team members. This structure has to hold as much weight as possible for us to design. In the past when this was done with 15 folders it had to stop because it held to much weight and became dangerous, it held around 1500 lbs. To start I have been assigned questions to answer. To help me start out my research. Natural Disasters are the leading cause of collapsed building in the U.S. Earthquakes' seismic waves shake a building so that the foundation is destroyed and collapses. While the terrible winds of a Hurricane or Tornado can blow out windows, doors, and rip apart roofs with ease. To reinforce or prevent these disasters a house should be very flexible in a area prone to earthquakes while ones with Tornadoes or Hurricanes should be more rigid to resist the winds. Some common building materials are Wood, Concrete, Steel, Bricks and Glass. Something I would like to find out on this project is why there are so few Engineers when the demand is so high. In general Steel is the best material to reinforce or make building resistant to natural disasters because of it's unique properties. This will hopefully help me better understand how to build a successful structure.
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 I interviewed a Structural Engineer to find out some things about buildings and structures, to help me further my studies. most of my questions had to do with building structure and natural disasters. I learned things like shapes that hold better than others are Triangles and Cylinders. Those 2 shapes are often used in buildings. The best material to reinforce a building is steel because of its light weight, flexibility, and strength. The best kind of foundation is one that is small and short. Beams can be very numerous or very few depending on the structure. It really just depends on the spacing on the beams. If you have extra weight on top of the building you need more support like pillars, beams, or better materials.
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Our project met the criteria that was given to us very well. Our Structure was 1 2 taller than needed and it held 7x the weight for a total of 315 lbs. I think the part we did best was the corrugation. It fit very well with it and I think It helped it hold a lot of what it did. There were also inside triangles to help support it. A unfortunate weak point was that one side of the triangle was uneven and so that part collapsed. If I could go back and change it I would make sure all of the parts were completely even. |
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