Vertical- Lift Bridge

The Space Ducks

Elizabeth Stacheit, Jacob Schmitz, and Lauren Livernois
Macomb Mathematics, Science, and Technology Center
Mrs. Gravel

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I. Title Page...................................................................................................................1
II. Table of Contents.......................................................................................................2
III. Summary....................................................................................................................4
IV. Introduction of group..............................................................................................4-5
V. Body
i. Science behind design.......................................................................6
ii. Challenges encountered with design.................................................6
iii. Data Tables of Breaks....................................................................7-8
iv. Supporting Calculations....................................................................8
v. 5 Pictures of Bridge......................................................................9-11
vi. Explain how testing was carried out...............................................12
vii. Challenges with building.................................................................12
viii. Safety precautions taken..................................................................13
VI. Conclusions and Recommendations
a. How successful the project was...................................................................14
b. What was learned.........................................................................................14
VII.

Acknowledgements
a. Adults who helped........................................................................................15
b. What they did................................................................................................15

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VIII.

Bibliography.................................................................................................16

IX. Appendices
a. Scheduling (Time Line) ..........................................................................17
b. Daily Journal .....................................................................................17-23
i. Date
ii. Progress
iii. Performance of Each member
iv. Comments from each member

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Summary
A vertical lift bridge was built using balsa wood, glue, and kite string. In order to build
the bridge, research had to be done about the best way to design the bridge and work the cables.
There were many challenges encountered while both building and designing the bridge. It was
recognized, however, that building the bridge, if precautions were not taken, could result in
injury, so there were safety precautions taken. Over the course of the project, the bridge design
was changed multiple times due to difficulties building, testing, or if things did not quite look
right. Designing and building the vertical lift was a difficult challenge, mostly because up until
that point, no one knew what a vertical lift bridge was, much less, how one worked. The bridge,
however, turned out to be a success, if not completely in the building aspect, in the design, and
lessons learned.
Introduction
Vertical lift team The Space Ducks is made up of high school students Lauren
Livernois, Jacob Schmitz, and Elizabeth Stacheit. Despite their differences, the three combined
their unique talents to create a successful finished product. Team member Lauren Livernois is a
freshman at both Lake Shore High School and Macomb Mathematics Science Technology Center
(MMSTC). Along with maintain her 4.5 GPA, Lauren spends all of her free time at sports
practices, as she is on the varsity dance team, and the freshman basketball team. Lauren
motivated the team to keep going, as well as making sure that everything got done in a timely
manner. Jacob Schmitz is a self-proclaimed computer expert who also attends Lake Shore and
MMSTC. Jacob is the first chair French horn player in the Lake Shore High School Wind
Ensemble. Jacobs ability to work with technology and build things made him a great asset for
the team. Elizabeth Stacheit is a hard working perfectionist who is also a freshman at both Lake

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Shore High School and MMSTC. Elizabeth plays both the flute and the piccolo in Lake Shore's
band, is a member of Lake Shore's ski club, and she also enjoys running. Her motivation and
guidance made her an important part of the group.

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Science Behind the Design
Vertical lift bridges are made with a series of counterweights and trusses. The lift is
operated when strong counterweights balance the weight of the lift. The counterweights are
connected to the lift span by cables, and when the cables are pulled, the tension causes the lift to
move up and down. There are pylons located on the sides of the bridge that provide structure,
and the lift moves up and down horizontally, touching these pylons, like an elevator in an
elevator shaft. The trusses allow the weight of the load to be evenly distributed across the entire
bridge, instead of just in the center. This allows the bridge to hold more weight without it
breaking.
Challenges Encountered with Design
There were some challenges met while designing the vertical lift bridge. Some of these
challenges include not knowing how big to make the pylons, not knowing the best way to use the
cables, figuring out how tall to make the vertical lift. When the pylons were first being designed,
the base of them was five inches by six inches. It was not until the building was started that it
was realized that smaller pylons were needed. The pylon size was not proportional to the rest of
the bridge, and the pylons would not fit on the post to break it. Jacob figured out that the best
way to use the cables was to put a hole in the beam and thread the string through it. He figured
out that the string should them be tied to all four corners of the lift. As for the height, while
designing the bridge, Jacob estimated that four inches was a good height, and it worked well for
the bridge.

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Table 1
Data Table of Breaks
Design (from Figures
1-3)
Design 1
Design 2
Design 3

Bridge Weight
(grams)
12.486
10.557
11.739

Maximum Load
(grams)
2415.3794
2505.6443
2507.005

Ratio
193.447
237.344
213.562

Table 1, above, shows the ratios and loads from the different designs of bridges designed,
and tested, in the program.

Figure 1. First Design

Figure 1 shows the design of the first design of the bridge.

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Figure 2. Second Design of Bridge

Figure 2, shown above, shows the second design of the bridge in the software. 0
Supporting Calculations
The ratio that was used after breaking the lift of the bridge found the strength of the lift.
The ratio of the calculation was the weight that the bridge held, plus 249 g, over the weight of
the bridge. The 249 was added to account for the weight of the wood block that was placed on
the bridge before breaking. The lift of the bridge weighted 14.3 g, and held 5,731.4 g. 249 was
added to the weight that the lift held. The strength ratio of the lift ended up being 418.21.

Livernois-Schmitz-Stacheit 9
5 Pictures of Bridge

Figure 3. Beginning Stages

The image above shows first steps of building our bridge. Notice the bottom drying on
the cardboard, and Elizabeth is working on the side.

Figure 4. Vertical Lift

This image shows the complete vertical lift.

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Figure 5. Pylon
Figure 5, above, shows the beginning of one of the pylons. (The pylons were not included
in the strength test because they were not dry yet.)

Figure 6. Second Pylon

This image shows mid-construction of the other pylon.

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Figure 7. Bridge Breaking

Figure 7, above, is a picture taken after the bridge was weighed, and right before its
strength was tested.

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Breaking the Bridge
The bridge was built, and then tested on Wednesday, February 10, 2016. The requirement
for the class was that the lift of the bridge had to be built and tested by February 10. The lift of
the bridge was weighed at 14.3 g. The bridge lift held over 400 times its own weight before a
small piece of it cracked. This led to the belief that the design used was sturdy, and that it should
be built like that if there was a need to build another bridge. The pylons would have been tested,
but they were not finished drying, so the testing had to continue without the pylons. The structure
of the pylons would not have assisted in the breaking of the bridge, as the bridge did not exactly
fit between them. The bridge did not sit on the pylons, so the weight of the load would not have
been distributed to them for the test. This made the pylons dead weight in the ratio. The testing
led to the thought that if there was more time, the design would be changed so that the pylons
actually supported the weight, not just the lift.
Challenges with Building
There were many challenges encountered with building. Most of these challenges were in
the form of things falling apart. The bottom of the lift broke because it ended up glued to the
cardboard. To make sure that the bridge did not break from this in the future, before building,
wax paper was laid under the pieces to prevent it from sticking. Another challenge encountered
was not knowing the best way to hold the bridge together. Since there was a rule about how thick
that joints could be, it was difficult to figure out how to fit pieces together. It was found that an
effective way was fitting pieces together in corners so that they were not too thick. Another
problem that was encountered was one side of the bridge breaking at the bottom while trying to
put pieces together. Lauren managed to fix this problem.

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Safety Precautions Taken
Since bridge building is such dangerous work, safety precautions had to be taken. One of
the precautions taken include keeping all of the pins pinned downward into the cardboard so that
no one stepped on them or got stabbed. Another precaution was using scissors instead of knives
to cut the wood, since it did not require a knife to break it. After the days work of bridge
building was over, the area would be checked to make sure that there were no harmful materials
lying around. While breaking the bridge, the safety precaution of wearing goggles was also
taken.

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Conclusion
The vertical lift bridge project was successful. Bridge building was out of the comfort
zone of everyone in the group. Building the bridge was challenging, but a very rewarding
experience. It was successful in the sense that the team kept persevering through all of the
troubles, and ended up with a new experience. There were multiple lessons learned from building
the vertical lift bridge. The most important lesson learned was about how important perseverance
is when working in a group. Perseverance is important in this aspect because everyone has their
own part that needs to be completed in order to make the project a success. The entire group
keeps each other focused so that the work can get done, and they push each other so that they can
get everything done efficiently.
The project could also be considered a success if one was to look at the evolution of the
bridge designs over the course of the project. It was a learning experience for the entire group to
play around with different bridge designs, and cable placements. The size of the pylons was
changed several times before finally settling on their final size. The lift of the bridge was also
different in the beginning. The original shape of the bridge was an arch with all of the pressure at
the bottom corners. The shape of the arch was then changed to put less force on the bottom
corners, so that the weight would be more evenly distributed throughout the entire bridge.
A recommendation for anyone who was interested in working on this project is to take
time to perfect the bridge, and to not give up. Perseverance was an incredibly important skill in
this project, possibly even more so than patience. Patience was needed when everything broke,
and it seemed like nothing would ever work how it should, but with perseverance, everything
began to come together, even though it took what felt like forever.

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Acknowledgements
There are many people who we would like to acknowledge for our success on this
project. We would like to thank Mrs. Gravel for keeping us on time for this project and giving us
the time in class to work on this project. Mrs. Gravel also gave us the support that we needed to
persevere through this project when it was difficult and we did not have the motivation to
continue. We would also like to thank our geometry teacher, Mr. Acre, for explaining to us how
the cables on a truss system use a system of counter weights to work, and pointing us in the right
direction for our bridge design. It is also important that we thank Mr. Estapa, our biology teacher,
who tried to explain how different types of bridges work. He even drew them on the whiteboard.

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Bibliography
"Vertical Lift Bridge." Multnomah County 2015. Web. 10 Feb. 2016. <https://multco.us/bridgeservices/vertical-lift-bridge>.
Mathieu Cardin-EGIS, Mathieu, Jean Muller International, and Keith R. Griesing. "Design and
Construction of the Pont Bacalan-Bastide Vertical Lift Bridge." Heavy Movable Structures,
inc. Thirteenth Biennial Symosium (2010). Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
<http://heavymovablestructures.org/assets/technical_papers/72.pdf>.
Fasick, Ron. "How Are Bridge Pylons Constructed?" EHow. Web. 10 Feb. 2016.
<http://www.ehow.com/facts_7658054_bridge-pylons-constructed.html>.

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Scheduling
January 29- Blueprint and Research Finished
February 1- Begin Build
February 4- Finish Build
February 5- Test Original Build Record Data in Proposal
February 8- Tweak Design and Begin Final Build
February 11- Turn in Proposal

Journal
January 26, 2016
Lauren
Goals: Understand vertical lift bridge terms, and how vertical lift bridges operate
Accomplishments: the above
Jacob
Goals: Understand CAD software and learn how to lock to the grid
Accomplishments for today: the above
Elizabeth
Goals: Set a timeline for the project and organize our group
Accomplishments: The Above

Livernois-Schmitz-Stacheit 18

January 27, 2016

Lauren
Goals: Start designing the top and bottom of the vertical lift bridge
Accomplishments: Figuring out where to add more support to the blueprint
Elizabeth
Goals: Design the side view of the bridge and figure out how to work with cables.
Accomplishments: Designing the side view of the bridge.
Jacob
Goals: Work on CAD software
Accomplishments: Starting to design the bridge in CAD.

January 28, 2016

Jacob
Goals: Figure out how to use the cables.
Accomplishments: Found 2 different ways to assemble cables. There is the way of two supports
and one support.
Lauren
Goals: Research more types of vertical lift bridges.
Accomplishments: Finding the best way to design vertical lift bridges.

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Elizabeth
Goals: Help Jacob refine the bridge design.
Accomplishments: Changing the triangles in the bridge.

January 29, 2016

Lauren
Goals: Make sure the whole group knows the bridge requirements.
Accomplishments: Table of contents and title page in proposal complete.
Jacob
Goals: Print out tutorial design and design bridge.
Accomplishments: Finish designing bridge in CAD.
Elizabeth
Goals: Make sure the group is on task and that we can meet our deadlines.
Accomplishments: Assisting Lauren and Jacob in their tasks.

February 1, 2016
Elizabeth
Goals: Start cutting pieces for bottom of bridge
Accomplishments: Finish bottom of lift

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Lauren
Goals: Put together the bottom of the lift
Accomplishments: Finish the bottom of lift
Jacob
Goals: Modify the blueprint of the bridge
Accomplishments: Finalize the design and run trials in CAD

February 2, 2016
Elizabeth
Goals: Work on the side of the lift
Accomplishments: Restarting the bottom of the lift since it broke
Lauren
Goals: Working on the other side of the lift
Accomplishments: Restarting the bottom of the lift
Jacob
Goals: Finish the base of the pylon
Accomplishments: Finishing the pylon base

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February 4, 2016
Elizabeth
Goals: Work on a side of the lift
Accomplishments: Finish one side of the lift
Lauren
Goals: Work on the other side of the lift
Accomplishments: Finish the other side of the lift
Jacob
Goals: Work on the pylons
Accomplishment: Restarting the pylons because they were too big

February 5, 2016
Elizabeth
Goals: Put together the bottom of the bridge and the side
Accomplishments: Accidentally breaking the bridge while trying to put pieces together
Lauren
Goals: Help Jacob with the pylons
Accomplishments: Attempting to salvage the bridge

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Jacob
Goals: Restart the pylons
Accomplishments: Trying to salvage the bridge

February 8, 2016
Elizabeth
Goals: Work on the body of proposals
Accomplishments: All of the writing of the proposals is complete
Lauren
Goals: Try to salvage the bridge
Accomplishments: Refinishing the lift of the bridge
Jacob
Goals: Finish the first pylon
Accomplishments: First pylon is complete

February 9, 2016
Lauren
Goals: Putting together the lift of the bridge
Accomplishments: The lift of the bridge is completely finished

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Jacob
Goals: Finish the second pylon
Accomplishments: Both pylons complete
Elizabeth
Goals: Help Jacob with the second pylon
Accomplishments: The second pylon is complete

February 11, 2016

Jacob
Goals: Insert the data tables and blueprints in the proposal
Accomplishments: CAD designs and tables are in document.
Lauren
Goals: Finish proposal
Accomplishments: Page numbers, images, and tables are formatted.
Elizabeth
Goals: Finish proposal
Accomplishments: Proposal is formatted

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