CSCE: Popsicle Stick Bridge Competition and Spring 2011 Plans

The Waterloo Student Chapter of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE), which was revived in fall 2010, sent a team to the 27^th annual Troitsky Bridge Building Competition this past March in Montreal. Hosted by Concordia University, the Troitsky Competition is an inter-university competition where each team designs and builds a 1-metre open span bridge using popsicle sticks, glue, dental floss, and toothpicks. The competition, which occurs during National Engineering Month, judges bridges based on the ultimate load (resistance in kg-equivalent force), gross dead weight, ultimate load prediction accuracy, and structural efficiency. Since the Waterloo student chapter had just formed, a team was quickly organized and given only a few weeks to design and construct their bridge. The Waterloo team of Phil, Tim, Ann and Griff overcame these challenges and did surprisingly well for their first time in the competition. Their creative design, pictured alongside this article, was able to support 41 kg before deflection of the deck caused failure, placing the team 29^th out of 40 teams. Overall, the event was very social and watching all of the bridges eventually get destroyed by Concordia’s testing machine, named “Crusher”, was the highlight for most people. The CSCE student branch is looking forward to sending more teams next year, and is considering holding a competition in Waterloo to discover the most talented Popsicle bridge designers and builders.

This term the CSCE Student Chapter is organizing a variety of events and functions including a tour of a wind tunnel used to model the effect of wind on skyscrapers, a trip to a concrete plant, and of course a few social gatherings. In addition to tours and presentations, joining CSCE is a great way for students in civil, environmental and geological engineering to network with potential employers as each student chapter is associated with a professional, regional section of the CSCE. Our first meeting of the term occurs Wednesday, May 18^th in CPH 3607 at 5:30pm.