2.1.

9TrussDesign
POEBlock3
ByRileyMcBrearty
Groupmembers:JosephChieng,ChristianSmith
DateSubmitted:12/9/2015

Problem:
Wewereaskedtodesignatrussbasedoffoftestsandresearchfromtest
trusses.Wewerelimitedtoonlyusebalsawood,glue,andpaper,andthesizemustbe
atleast6incheslong,andnomorethan4incheshigh.Inadditiontothis,wemust
usenomorethan36inchesofbalsawood,wehavetheoptiontopurchasemore,but
foreveryextrainchweuse,onepointisdeducted.

TestTruss
Mypreviousgroupconsistedofmyself,Abhi,andAriel.Webuiltasimpletruss
thatconsistedofthebasictriangle,withanaddedsupportdownthemiddlethat
connectedwiththemiddleofthebase.Intheend,itheldatotalof19lbs,andhadan
efficiencyof2,968.75%,andbrokeattheintersectionatthebottomrightcornerdueto
notenoughglue.WhatIlearnedisthatnexttimeIshouldaddmoreglueateachofthe
intersectionpoints.

ResearchResults

Ifoundtwodifferentsources,thesewebsitesare
http://design.medeek.com/resources/trusses.html
,and
http://houseinteriordesign.site74.com/thingstoconsiderinchoosingbestrooftrussdesign/tru
ssroofdesign/
andlearnedmanythingsaboutrooftrusses.Ifoundoutthateachrooftruss
needscrossbeamsupportstoholduptheroof.Alsothattherearedifferenttypesofroof
trusses,suchasflatandpitchedtyperoofs.

DesignIdea

Totallengthofbalsawoodneededwouldhavebeen25inches.

DecisionProcess
Eachofuscameupwithacompletelydifferentdesignideaforourtruss.Joseph
cameupwithatrussthatwoulduseatotallengthof24inchesofbalsawood.Josephs
designwouldhavethebasictrussthatwouldbe6inchesinlength,and3inchestall,
andwouldhave2verticalpostsmidwayonthelegsofthetruss,andwouldhave2
trianglesinthemiddle,connectingtoboththemidpointofthelegsandmidpointonthe
verticalposts.Christian'sdesignincludedan8inchlongbaseandwas4inchestall,and
hasaverticalpostinthemiddle,alongwithdiagonalpostsconnectingtothebaseand
woulduseatotalof28.97inchesofwood.
OurdecisionmatrixconsistedofNumberofsupports,howmanybeamsareused
tosupportthestructure,Stability,whichmeanthowstableitwouldbeunderpressure,
Wooduse,whichmeanthowmuchwoodwewouldneedtouse,Complexity,meaningif
itwassimpletobuildorwouldtakealongtimetobuild,andBuildtime,shorteramount
oftimetocompleteitthebetter.Ourmatrixwasbasedon1beingtheworstand4being
thebest,andtheresultswerethatChristianandItied,sowehadjosephvoteonwhos
designweshoulduse,anditendedupthatChristiansdesignwon.(DecisionMatrixon
nextpage)

Number
of
Supports

Stability

Wood
Use

Complexit
y

Build
Time

Total

Christian

16

Joseph

15

Riley

16

Christian'sdesignandmysketchofitJosephsdesign

OfficialTest
Duringourofficialtest,thebasebeambrokenearitsintersectionwithbeam6,
thenitbrokeonbeam6,abouthalfwaybetweenitsintersectionwiththebaseandits
midpoint.Thetestendedwithourtrussholdingatotalof12pounds,andbreakingin2
areas.Intheend,ourcalculatedefficiencywas3840%.

Teamwork
ChristianSmith
wasassignedasaparttimebuilderandcomputerman,
meaninghewouldhelpbuildthetrussanddoanythingthatwasneededthatincludeda
computer.Healsocameupwiththetrussdesignthatweusedinthedesign.Healso
tookpicturesanduploadedthemsothatwecouldusetheminourreports.Intheend,
Christianwasavaluablepartofourteam.
JosephChieng
wasassignedasaparttimebuilderandourmaninchargeof
calculations,sohewouldmakesureallthecalculationswerecorrectandthatthere
werenoerrors.Healsohelpedbuildthetrussandtestit.Intheend,Josephwasa
valuablepartofthisteam.
SelfevaluationRileyMcBrearty
InthisprojectIwasourmainbuilder,putting
thetrusstogetherquicklyandefficiently.Ialsotookbeforeandafterpicturesofour
trussduringitstest,anduploadedthem.Intheend,Ididmyfairshareofworkand
contributedtothesuccessofourteam.

Reflection
1. Thefirstfailureoccurredmostlikelyduetoamisplacementofthebeam,
meaningitwastoofaroutwardfromtheinsidebeam.ThoughtheMDSolids
graphshowsnostressonthatbeam,itwasmostlikelyduetoaminorerrorin
beamplacement.
2. IfIwasgiventhechancetoredesign,Iwouldaddextraverticalsupportstothe
midpointsonthehypotenusesofthetruss.

Bibliography
"Trusses."
MedeekDesignInc.
.MedeekDesignInc.,n.d.Web.09Dec.2015.

"TrussRoofDesign|HOMEDESIGNCOLLECTION."
HOMEDESIGNCOLLECTION
TrussRoofDesignComments
.N.p.,n.d.Web.09Dec.2015.