Building A Spaghetti Tower

Outline Of The Project

In this Task we were separated into groups of 3 and given a $60 budget to construct a prototype for an earthquake proof building using spaghetti and blu tack. Requirement for the structure were a base no more than 30 x 30 centimeters and a 5×5 centimeter square sitting at the 60cm height mark, the structure also had to be under the given budget of $60 and built on the given platforms. Prices were $1 per piece of spaghetti and $1 per gram of blu tack. Over this task we started by dividing up roles between the group and then creating a initial design with research to support our structure. We were then to buy the resources we needed and construct the initial design for the first test. Once the initial structure was tested, we could look into what went well and what did not and what we need to improve in our new design. After constructing a new design with our new knowledge, a final prototype was to be constructed in 50 minutes with the $60 budget. After 50 minutes, whatever we had constructed was tested and put under the stress of a real earthquake.

Design And Testing Phase

In my group our initial design was a cube shaped base with triangular supports on each side. Above this was a pyramid type shape leading to a smaller square point with a rectangular cube attached vertically. The image shown is the plan for our initial prototype. This design was drawn up with a final cost of around $55. Very quickly in building this design we noticed that the structure was twisting far to much and was very weak and brittle. Because of this we quickly made the decision to scrap out initial design and construct a new structure consisting of a hexagon shaped base minimizing the twisting motion however still keeping the triangle supports for better bracing of the structure. This base was 1 spaghetti length high and was very sturdy, and given the minimum height limit we decided to place a second hexagonal prism onto the existing one to make a 2-spaghetti high hexagonal prism. Three struts were places in between the two given the middle of the structure some needed support. Above this we went through some different ideas struggling to find one to work with our building, however settled for a pyramid on top leading to the 5×5 cm square. While constructing this we noticed that this was extremely flimsy and would struggle standing on its own without a quake. This led us to our final design with two rectangles being placed vertically on either side with support going diagonally across from the corner of one rectangle to the opposite corner of the other rectangle.

Final Testing

During the testing process our structure managed to withstand the full force of an earthquake of both P waves and S waves. Despite its performance in this quake test, additional tests were done where weights were placed onto the top platform of the structure and our structure could not hold any weight collapsing very quickly under the pressure. Below is the video of our structure during the final testing phase showing how it performed and what went wrong in what stages.