A group of six civil engineering undergraduate student from the Universidad de los Andes participated in the 2017 edition of the International Bridge Competition, which is organized by the Kyushu Sangyo University from Japan and sponsored by Yahagi Construction Co. Ltd. This year, thirteen teams from USA, Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Turkey, and Japan participated in the competition.
The rules of the 2017 edition of the competition were:
- The bridge shall be constructed with any type of vegetable-derived material and any type glue. Wood or bamboo itself is also allowed.
- Each school will compete with only one bridge.
- The bridge shall span between two smooth tables with same heights set apart 1 m from each other. The bridge supports shall be in contact only with the top of the tables. Any device to prevent slipping of the supports is prohibited. At midspan, any part of the bridge shall be higher than 50 cm during loading.
- The weight of the bridge shall not exceed 200 g.
- The load shall be placed at the bridge midspan via a series of discrete weights hanging from a loading mechanism. The loading mechanism consists of a plastic string and a hook or similar.
- The load shall be applied in a series of discrete increments. The load increment shall not be less than 0.5 kgf. Before moving to the next increment, the bridge shall resist the applied load for 10 seconds without collapsing.
The UAndes team was composed by students Isabelle Fett, Sofia Murgadas, Juan Castiglione, Felipe Elgueta, Matias Gutierrez, Jose Toledo, and Andres Alessandri. Professors Jose Abell, Rodrigo Astroza and Alvaro Paul, members of the Civil Infrastructure Systems (CIS) research group, guided the UAndes team. The UAndes bridge withstood 10.6 kg and took the 6th place. The winner was the Yokohama National University with a maximum load of 24.0 kg.
