SCIENCE PASTA PROJECT – Engineering Project
In Year 9 Term 4, we have been studying earthquakes and the types of waves they produce, our final project for this year was to construct a building that would withstand a earthquake. We were put into groups of 4 or 5 people and were told to construct a building made out of pasta and blutack which would have to survive different types of earthquakes that the teachers would simulate by using a earthquake shaker. The teachers told us that our budget would be only hypothetically $60 and that a stick of spaghetti and blutack would cost $1 each.
The Criteria of the project :
- is quick and easy to assemble
- has a minimum height of 60 cm
- has a maximum base of 30 cm x 30 cm
- has a flat platform on the top level of at least 5 cm x 5 cm (this will be supplied to you)
- remains standing after an earthquake, as simulated by shaking a table for 10 seconds. This will include the motion of both primary (p) and secondary (s) waves
- is constructed from the materials supplied by your teacher
- costs less than $60 to build, given the material costs listed below
My Group Roles:
- Project manager: makes sure that everyone understands the challenge and keeps the team on track – Dylan
- Assistant manager: Helps the project manager with any problems they have or and if the project manager needs help : Andy
- Equipment manager: makes sure that the materials needed for the task are available and that everyone cleans up after each session- Eva
- Speaker: seeks help from the teacher, other class members or outside experts- Xiang
- Reporter: makes sure that the final presentation is ready by the deadline- Alicia
What I learned from this project:
This project gave me an understanding of how dangerous earthquakes can be. It also gave me real world experience of building a building in a earthquake zone/area. It also gives you an understanding of how much effort you have to put into creating/making one building because you have to think of different factors during the process. This group project helped me with my communication and collaboration skills because I needed to communicate with my group a lot especially during the design and create process. This project also helped me to express my ideas and I had to get out of my comfort zone, we also had a look at the design process.
Define
Earthquakes, while they are not a solvable problem, there are ways to mitigate the damage they can cause on infrastructure, buildings and the livelihood of people. A fantastic way to reduce these horrific consequences is the use of earthquake proof buildings. These are engineered and structural sound buildings which employ various mechanisms and structural techniques to resist a shock. These include: Counter weights, moving bases, triangular frames, deep foundations, support beams and pistons which move the building in an opposite direction to the direction of the wave. In a scale-model, we can use some of these concepts even if they are only made from Pasta. Our problem is earthquakes and our solution is creating a building that can withstand them.
Brainstorm:
SOME IDEAS WE THOUGHT ABOUT :
Triangles.
- Our response was to try to avoid adding too much blue tack to one particular area of the construction because doing so will lead it to collapse more quickly due to the added weight. Instead, we should increase the number of support sticks on the angles. Simply so that the structure’s weaker areas would receive additional support and not fall as quickly.
- Sheer walls and cross braces to transfer the movement away from the ground (foundation)
- Horizontal frames to enforce the columns and walls
- Flexible pads, building a platform for the building. Only the platform will move and the building won’t
Research:
Spreading the blue tak equally on each connecting area, just so there structure wont have unequal parts
Some things we made sure was part of our design:
- Triangles are the strongest shapes so we need to include triangles
- Shear walls and cross braces transfer movement away to the foundation
- Horizontal frames distributes forces into the columns and walls
- Strong bases are needed and specifically made so seismic energy can flow through them onto the ground.
Design:
For our initial design we wanted to include triangles as they are the strongest shape. Then try and make cross frames upwards, we would then have to put a 30cm by 30cm base on top. This is shown in the simple design. We then realised that the 30cm by 30cm base was to big and that it was uneven. So we had to change that idea to make it flat and the right measurements. We also put in the measurements to make sure it would work. This is shown in our final design above.
Create, Test and Evaluate:
Create, Test and evaluate is our last step in the design process, this step was were we go to work as a team. We had to test our building on the shake table and our building would have to survive S waves and P waves of high magnitude. Overall our building end up being quite sturdy and did fall of. We as a team were very happy with our results. Here are some videos of the tests below.
Improvements and Reflection
Overall I was pretty happy with the out come of the project and the results. And it gave a good real world experience of earthquakes and how much effects they have on buildings. Next time I would try and use a slightly more efficient design which can be taller, using short (cut) pieces of pasta and cross braces. Another group tried this and it worked well. I also think that our group could of been more organised because we were a bit slower in the brainstorming stage because we weren’t sure of what the base would be. But while we did the test our building was very strong and didn’t seem like it was going to fall which is good. One of my challenges was working in my group because I didn’t know some of the people in my group so I had to use my collaboration skills to get to know my group better. One the collage capabilities I used was problem solving because at the start our building wan’t tall enough and we had to change the whole design so it could reach the requirements. Another collage capability I used was effective communication and leadership. I really enjoyed this project because it was a hands on experience and we got to work with people we didn’t know as well as our friends. Can’t wait to do another project again!