SAICE-WC Model Bridge Building Competition 2017

Another edition of the SAICE-WC Model Bridge Building Competition was held at Canal Walk on 20 May 2017. 31 teams of learners from 25 schools participated from across the greater Cape Town region and beyond! The competition has evolved over the years but fundamentally teams of three need to build a bridge with the materials provided that can span a set distance determined by the judges. The teams have rules they need to comply with regarding the method of construction and functional internal and external parameters that need to be met. They also have a limited amount of time to build the bridge and are not allowed assistance from their teachers, parents, or smart-phones.

After some brief introductions the event commenced with a lecture by Evan Arendse of BEPSA consulting engineers titled “The tale of two bridges” whereby he illustrated the mechanisms via which bridges work in tension, compression and shear through the stories of two iconic bridges and what worked, or didn’t work. He also gave a taste of the future of bridges as grander projects are launched with advanced construction materials and political vision! There after the rules of the competition were explained and the learners enthusiastically got to work. This year the span to be achieved was 820mm while an additional limitation had been placed on the teams by the imposition of a height restriction of 160mm.

Many of the teams were new to the competition and came up with some new and novel bridge designs which had even the experienced structural engineers curious to know how they would perform. Teams were also encouraged to decorate their bridges and make them more interesting for the new “People’s Choice” award. This new award recognised the bridges, judged by the students themselves, to be the most interesting and attractive.

Bridges are judged based on their aesthetics, their weight and the load that they can carry. The points system is the sum of the aesthetics of the bridge as determined by the judges and the mass carried by the bridge divided by the mass of the bridge.

The breaking of the bridges commenced at 4pm and was overseen by our structural judging team of Sheila Ross, Andrew Rowan and Kenny Mudenda while Andrew Clothier and Andrew Rowan provided rolling commentary of the bridges performance. In the end it all came down to experience and the defending champions, Brackenfell High School, took first place with a breaking load of 295kg. In second place was Parklands High School with a breaking load of 185kg, and narrowly behind in third place was the College of Cape Town with a breaking load of 165kg. The people’s choice award was won by Glendale High School for a very neat arch bridge while Oude Molen got the award for the best spirit – and the most extensive health and safety kit on standby!
Click for table of results.

Well done to all the teams that competed and a special thanks to all the sponsors who made the event happen, especially Alcolin and Best Woods for the provision of materials, Asla Construction for sponsoring the venue, Peninsula Beverages and the assistance of a number of the engineering consulting firms namely JG Afrika, HHO Africa, Aurecon, Kantey & Templer, Mott MacDonald, SMEC, Lyners, KFD Wilkenson, Element and Triamic.