Performance Predictions

The bridge is expected to hold a minimum weight of 30kg without structural failure. The maximum
load bearing capacity of pop sticks is much higher than this however due to size and design of the
bridge, weights above this will result in a loss of load carrying capacity of the structure and will result
in the bridge collapsing. If the compressive stresses on the pop sticks are too great then it'll buckle,
which is why the bridge design must incorporate evenly distributed stress among each pop stick. This is
largely due to the fact that pop sticks are much stronger in tensile stress capacity rather than
compressive stress capacity, meaning that the bridge would more likely fail from buckling failure in
compression rather than tensile forces acting on the pop sticks. To counter this effect, our bridge has
horizontal braces on both top and bottom to prevent lateral buckling, as evident in the design shown.
Whilst pop sticks are strong in tension, our bridge does not mirror a suspension style structure (induces
tensile forces), which means that it has a low tolerance for deflection, and any more than 5% will cause
probable buckling failure. Also, because of the uniformity of the design, it does not provide a large
margin for rotational movement, and as such any more than than 2% will again cause buckling failure.
However, because of the fact the design structure is uniform for the length of the bridge, a failure due
to an applied load at any given point is negligible, providing the total load does not exceed 50kg.