Texas A&M University's American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Steel Bridge and Concrete Canoe student teams competed in the regional competitions held April 7-9 at Texas Tech University. The Steel Bridge team’s first place finish qualifies it for the national competition to be held at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, May 27-28, 2016.
The Steel Bridge team placed first out of 16 teams at the Texas-Mexico regional competition. In the steel bridge event, teams have 30 minutes to construct their bridge as quickly and with as few people as possible. After building is complete, the bridges are loaded with 50 pounds laterally and 2,500 pounds vertically. The team with the stiffest, lightest and fastest bridge wins the competition. There are 13 team members on the Texas A&M team, all of whom are students in the Zachry Department of Civil Engineering.
The Concrete Canoe team placed third overall at the regional competition. Teams are judged on four equal parts: the design paper, an oral presentation, the final product and the races. The races consist of a men’s sprint, women’s sprint, men’s slalom, women’s slalom and a co-ed sprint. The outcomes of these races determine the points awarded for that portion of the competition. The Concrete Canoe team works for almost a whole academic year to research, design and construct its canoe. All 18 students on the team are from the college of engineering.
Click here for more information on the teams and competitions.
Contributing author: Ryan Terry