Steel Bridge Contest Team Sweeps Regionals

MIT usually does pretty well as the annual steel bridge contest but this year’s team really blew away the first round competition. The MIT Steel Bridge Team walked away from the regional competition at Tufts University, April 8-11, with first place in the overall category—and also took top spot in efficiency, stiffness, aesthetics, and in the paper competitions.

What was their challenge? The contest required a 1:10 scale bridge for an oil field in the Arctic tundra to carry equipment over a river and adjacent floodway during a short construction season. The 37 pages of rules specified that the bridge must be fast and easy to erect; support very wide, tall loads; provide clearance for floods; and accommodate utility lines under the deck. Complications include the weak soils, floating ice, and restrictions for working on tundra. Models were to be erected under simulated field conditions.

The 11-person team, under the wing of the Civil and Environmental Engineering department, bested last year’s wins and is headed for the nationals. You can follow the blow by blow on the Steel Bridge blog offered by Emily Moberg ’11.

For a historic note, the 2009 team won three first-place prizes at the regional competition, for overall, structural efficiency and the paper competition, and placed 18th out of 47 at Nationals. The competition, sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction and the American Society of Civil Engineers, will conclude with the national showdown May 28-29 at Purdue University.