Paper Bridge Building Contest “Paper Bridge”
1. Purpose
1.1. Promote engineering as a career.
1.2. Give students an opportunity to integrate academic knowledge with realistic and practical experiences. Thereby providing them with additional value to studies.
2. Time and place
2.1. April 20, 2017 from 10:00am to 3:15pm
2.2. Assembly hall , Tallinn University of Technology, Ehitajate tee 5, Tallinn
3. Organizer
3.1. Event organizer: Student Council of School of Engineering of Tallinn University of Technology
3.2. Judges: Andrus Räämet, Tanel Tuisk
3.3. The chief judge of the competition day: Alo Oll
4. Participants
4.1. Paper Bridge is a team competition. There are maximum of three people in one team.
4.2. Taking part in the competition is free of charge.
4.3. There is no age limit for participants.
4.4. Basic knowledge on bridge engineering is recommended.
4.5. Everyone participates under their own responsibility. Organizer will not be held responsible for any accidents and their consequences.
5. Competition task and the essence of competition
5.1. Each team must build a model of a bridge with the span of 50 cm. Minimum width of the bridge is 5 cm.
5.2. Teams have 3,5 hours to finish the bridge.
5.3. Load can only be applied on horizontal level of support brackets. It is not allowed to use the sides of support brackets for extra support.
5.4. Maximum deflection allowed is 10 cm. The bridge load capacity is deemed fulfilled when the deflection limit is exceeded and thus the test is finished.
5.4.1. The deflection is measured strictly from the support level despite the structure of the bridge.
5.4.2. Construction parts which are positioned below the support level are designed to reduce the amount of deflection the bridge can handle. (5.4.1).
5.5. Tools and materials
5.5.1. 50 sheets of copy paper (A4, 80g/m2)
5.5.2. 3 glue sticks (3 x 20g)
5.5.3. Loading plate
5.5.4. Scissors, paper knife, pencil, ruler
5.5.5. No other materials may be used
5.6. Stages of loading
5.6.1. The bridge is prepared and placed on the support brackets by the team members (max. 2 persons)
5.6.2. Loading plate is set perpendicularly to the bridge, the load is applied to the bridge directly in the middle of the span.
5.6.3. The bridge is loaded by one of the team member.
5.6.4. If two bridges can handle the same amount of load then the bridge with a lighter weight will win.
6. Ranking
6.1. Bridge with the greatest weight bearing capacity will win.
7. Awards
7.1. Top three teams will be honored with following prizes:
7.1.1. 1st place – 90 euros
7.1.2. 2nd place – 75 euros
7.1.3. 3rd place – 60 euros
7.2. The ceremony will take place right after loading and testing in the TTÜ assembly hall.
8. Registration
8.1. Registration for the competition will take place electronically via http://2017.buildit-tallinn.eu.
8.2. If there are any free spots left, it is possible to register to the competition before the event starts.
8.3. Any photograph, interview, and video taken on behalf of the organizers during the contest may be displayed on the contest website or in press releases related to this or upcoming competitions without compensation.
*The organizers reserve the right to make changes to the event program.