3-Million-Pound Lesson in Mechanics

6/26/2012 By Kathryn L. Heine

Students on the winning team included (from left to right) Chun Y. (Peter) Ho, Samantha G. Knoll, Gwang T. Kim and Stuart Hanmer.This November, a dozen student teams put their knowledge of engineering mechanics to the test by putting the projects they'd worked so hard on during the semester into the jaws of a 3-million-pound Southward Emery testing machine.

Written by By Kathryn L. Heine

Students on the winning team included (from left to right) Chun Y. (Peter) Ho, Samantha G. Knoll, Gwang T. Kim and Stuart Hanmer.

This November, a dozen student teams put their knowledge of engineering mechanics to the test by putting the projects they'd worked so hard on during the semester into the jaws of a 3-million-pound Southward Emery testing machine.

It was nothing short of a crushing experience for the students in the TAM 195 Mechanics in the Modern World course to see the wood structures they'd created fail one after another, but it was a great lesson in engineering research and design. Students in this year's design project worked in groups of four to create the strongest wood frame for its weight using only 2 x 4 lumber and screws. Restrictions were placed on the size and loading points of the truss, and prizes were awarded to the team that achieved the highest load/weight ratio. The winning team built a frame that carried nearly 600 times its weight!

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This story was published June 26, 2012.