ZFA STRUCTURAL ENGINEERS

ANNOUNCEMENTS : SPAGHETTI BRIDGE CONTEST : 2001 BRIDGE CONTEST
Building a Bridge Between Our Youth and Engineering

On Saturday, February 10th, 2001, ZFA's Managing Principal David Cooper participated in the 2nd Annual Spaghetti Bridge Competition, an event created to celebrate National Engineers Week (February 20-26).  The event was held at the Santa Rosa Junior College student cafeteria. Local teams from Santa Rosa , Elsie Allen, Montgomery and Piner High School, and not so local Anderson Valley High School, competed for cash.

The contest was sponsored by CELSOC (Consulting Engineers and Land Surveyors of California), North Coast chapter.  Dave Sandine of Sandine Associates organized the event and his wife, Sandy, filled in at the last moment when he came down with the flu.  Bruce Bauer of Bauer Associates ran the testing of the structures and Eve Nighswonger of Santa Rosa Junior College set up the location.  Pasta King provided lasagna, salad and garlic bread.

There were two competitions.

Build the Most Efficient Bridge Competition Teams bring in an already-constructed bridge for testing.

Criteria: (1) Bridge must span 1 meter and (2) hold 2kg for 5 minutes.
Instructions: Once the bridges passed this qualification, they were then judged on their weight, the lightest being the winner.  The qualifying bridges were also judged for aesthetics.
Construct the Strongest Tower Competition Provide a 1" diameter hole full height at the middle of the tower for the testing device. Towers will be tested to failure after the time is up. Failure is defined as allowing a 1 inch drop of the testing apparatus. The testing apparatus will not provide any horizontal bracing at the top, so failure may be by crushing or toppling.
Criteria: Minimum height: 24" -- Maximum height: 28"
Base: 6x6 maximum  -- Top: 6"x6" maximum
Materials:  2 pounds maximum of spaghetti and melted glue (supplied on site). Note: Glue sticks may not be used as structural members.
Time: 2 hours