Over the weekend of April 22-24, 2016, over 300 students from 13 universities throughout the region participated in the 2016 American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Mid-Atlantic Region Student Conference. This year’s conference was held at Drexel University, by the Drexel ASCE student chapter. This conference hosted the regional competitions of the national Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge competitions, as well as Technical Paper and Geowall competitions. The ASCE Philadelphia Young Member Forum sponsored a social for attendees. More details about these competitions can be found here.
Results from the competitions:
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Concrete Canoe: 1st Place (advances to Nationals): University of Maryland (Drexel University placed 3rd)
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Steel Bridge: 1st Place: Drexel University / 2nd Place: Lafayette College (both advance to Nationals)
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GeoWall: Lafayette College
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Technical Paper: University of Pittsburgh Johnstown
Drexel’s Steel Bridge team placed 1st overall (placing 1st in the Construction Economy category, 2nd in the Structural Efficiency category, 1st in Construction Speed, 2nd in Lightness, and 3rd in Stiffness). The team will advance to the 2016 National Steel Bridge Competition at Brigham Young University in Utah on May 27th and 28th. This National Competition is hosted by ASCE and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC). Captains of this year’s Drexel team are CAEE students Robert LaChance and Rebecca Lynch. Additional team members are April Bauer, Corey Duane, Bridget Frasca, Josh Gable, Jake Ingraham, Amanda Ngov, and Kevin Robinson. The team is advised by CAEE alumni Ange Christiani and Mike Whelan - two previous steel bridge co-captains, as well as doctoral student Ben Cohen. Faculty advisors are CAEE Professors A. Emin Aktan and Ivan Bartoli.
The team chose to modify a deck girder bridge design, initially developed by the 2012 Drexel team. LaChance, Lynch, and team spent countless hours designing conceptual models, using SAP analysis to evaluate approximate expected deflections, building and welding components of the bridge, as well as time spent practicing building the actual model. During the competition, each bridge is initially broken down into many pieces and the team is timed as they assemble the components properly. A deck girder bridge was chosen because it reduces the amount of time spent on construction compared to an arch or over truss. Each bridge is then load tested laterally to ensure adequate lateral stability, followed by a vertical load test with two uniform loads. Displacement in the vertical load test is measured in three locations to determine the aggregate deflection under the loads. The bridges are graded on construction time, stiffness (the total aggregate deflections), weight, and aesthetics; with the construction economy and structural efficiency factoring into the total “cost” of the bridge construction and performance.
Drexel’s Concrete Canoe team placed 3rd overall (3rd in the Presentation category, 1st in the Display category, and 2nd in the canoe race on the Cooper River in New Jersey). This year’s Project Manager was Alex Gagliardi (MEM). Dylan Eckles (MSE) was the Assistant Project Manager/Concrete Mix Design Manager, Freddy Wachter (MEM) was the Paddling Manager, Molly Blakely (CAEE) was the Theme Manager, and Alex Salerno (CAEE) was the Safety Manager. Additional team members are Andrew Bock, Dustin Brandl, Andrew Coleman, Emmanuel Garcia-Kenny, Colleen Hyde, Steve Kreeley, Josh Loser, Egla Qori, Marc Sbeglia, Ben Strauch, Elisabeth Wagner, Shannon Williams, Brenden Yamase, and Donna Zhang. Construction Management alumni Ed Williams and Doug Boyer assisted the team with this year’s preparations. L'Arcadia is the name of the canoe, referencing the “wooded coast,” originally a name given to the Mid-Atlantic coast by Italian explorers in the 1500s. The canoe and the display designs followed a rustic wooden theme. This year’s team was able to lighten the canoe by 100 pounds (compared to last year) by altering the proportions of the concrete mix used last year. This allowed for better floatation, thus better success when paddling on the river.
The Concrete Canoe and Steel Bridge projects require a substantial amount of time from a motivated group of students. These teams spent countless hours in preparation for competition. CAEE lab tech Greg Hilley was a significant help to both teams. The success of this year’s conference can be attributed to the people mentioned above and also to faculty advisor CAEE Professor Joseph Martin; conference organizer Colleen Hyde (MSE); ASCE student officers, including President Belinda Lester (CAEE) ,Vice-President Danielle Schroder (CAEE), and Treasurer Donna Zhang (CAEE); many CAEE alumni who volunteered their time; and the conference sponsors.