UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

FACULTY OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING, SHAH

ALAM
MEC 411: MECHANICS OF MATERIALS
COMMON ASSIGNMENT (Due date: 18 December 2015)

Group Name: EM220

Lecturer:
No.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Group Members

Student ID

After you complete this task, you should be able to:

CO1
CO2
CO3

Apply the basic concepts and fundamental principles in solid mechanics. [PO1, LO1] {C3}.
Analyze and solve simple elastic mechanical members under various loading conditions. [PO3,
LO3, SS1]{C4, P4}.
Function as a productive member of a team to solve problems and effectively communicate the
results. [PO7, LO4, SS2; PO8, LO5, SS3]{A2, A4, P4, P6}

Report Assessment

Scale

Weightage

Introduction and objectives

2.0

Complexity of structure

1.0

Assumptions

1.0

Photos of structure and free body diagrams

2.0

Results and calculations

4.0

Discussions

4.0

Conclusions

1.6

References

0.4
TOTAL

Total

/ 80

Scale

Level

Poor

3
Acceptable

5
Excellent

INTRODUCTION
The goal of this project is to build a bridge that can withstand an amount of weight placing on its
center, which the weigh is considered as an external force. Spaghetti is strong in compression. This
bridge is constructed using only one packet of spaghetti (net weight: 400gm) and an epoxy glue.
The design of this bridge is selected after doing some researches on few famous bridges such as
Golden Gate Bridge (San Francisco, USA), Sydney Harbour Bridge (Sydney, Australia), Ponte
Vecchio (Florence, Italy), Tower Bridge (London, England), etc. After the bridge was constructed,
weights are to be hung from the centre of the bridge to determine how much load the structure
would hold before failing.The epoxy glue
The goal of this project was to build a bridge between two tables placed 3 feet
apart. This bridge was to be constructed using only one box of spaghetti and
one roll of tape. After the bridge was constructed, weights were to be hung
from the bridge to determine how much load the structure would hold before
failing. The challenges posed by this project stem from the materials.
Spaghetti is strong in compression, but it flexes, and it breaks easily.
Therefore, it must be reinforced in order to be useful in construction. Tape
can provide reinforcement for spaghetti in some circumstances, but it cannot
prevent bending. Tape was found, however, to have tensile strength that was a
useful complement to the compression strength of the spaghetti. Both of the
bridges described in this report were designed to exploit tapes strengths to
compensate for the weaknesses of spaghetti. For the first bridge, the design
focused on the use of tapereinforced spaghetti structures, while the second
bridge was designed to fully exploit the strengths of tape.

OBJECTIVES

COMPLEXITY OF STRUCTURE

ASSUMPTIONS

PHOTOS OF STRUCTURES
FREE BODY DIAGRAM

RESULTS
CALCULATIONS

DISCUSSIONS

CONCLUSIONS

REFERENCES