Category: Innovation & Enterprise

Engineering Challenge: Earthquake resistant buildings

Zoey ChiaInnovation & Enterprise

Project Overview:

For our final assessment in Science this year, we were put into groups and tasked to design and construct an earthquake-resistant building made out of spaghetti and bluetack. This tower had to meet the following criteria:

  • Quick and easy to assemble
  • Has to have a minimum height of 60cm
  • A maximum base of 30 by 30cm
  • A platform on top which is at least 5 by 5cm.
  • Go through earthquake simulations of P/S and surface waves for at least 10 seconds
  • Costs less than $60 to build as 1 piece of spaghetti is $1 and 1 gram of bluetack is $1.

This project was a great opportunity for us to experience real-world examples of how important it is to be innovative in our designs. It taught us how much an earthquake can have on people’s lives and encouraged us to work out of our comfort zones with new people. My group involved Me, Amelia, Kanin and Ridley. It pushed us to use our communication skills and collaboration to build the most effective building we could have.

Engineering Process:

The first step in this process was to go through a design sprint. This involved us making random groups and having 50mins to create our very first building. We only got 30 sticks of pasta. This was a scary experience but our building didn’t stay up. This was an opportunity to fix our design and try something else. Our main goal in this was to create height instead of stability because it would give us the most points. Before we were allowed to start our final design we went through an engineering process to design a prototype and test if our main strategy of cross bracing would be effective.

This was our very first design sprint

The first step was brainstorming

This was the brainstorm for our group

The second part of the engineering process includes defining and research. In our research we found that the most effective ways of earthquake resistant buildings was to cross brace and use base isolation. With our limited supplies, cross bracing was the easiest and most cost effective option. Our building was specifically designed to be triangular because this would evenly distribute the weight and damage throughout the building. Cross bracing also distributed energy from the earthquake throughout the whole building. The brace walls had minimal shaking compared to non-cross-braced walls. This shows that the cross-braced walls boosted structural integrity a great deal when compared to a structure with non-cross braced wall. We ended up with a building of 84cm which was 24cm above the height minimum. We first started with a small prototype where we compared a building with cross bracing and one without

The building with cross bracing held up much better and was much sturdier compared to the one without. This persuaded us to make our whole earthquake building out of cross bracing.

This was us halfway through building

I think our group worked extremely well together and we all had separate roles which played to our own strengths. We collaborated extremely well and all helped each other. We only ended up using $45 and created a building with a height of 84cm and it withstood all earthquake simulations and even being tipped upside down. I think our building was extremely stable and secure especially after multiple tests.

First test of our shorter building

This was our final test of our final design.

I overall really enjoyed this project and it taught me valuable lessons of real life.

Semester 1 Lock Reflection

Zoey ChiaInnovation & Enterprise

This semester in lock we covered a range of topics. This included knot tying, rock climbing, environmental awareness like leaving no trace, kayaking and bush cooking. As we entered the program my main goal was to learn new skills and tricks that would be useful for me in the future and in future Outdoor ED camps.

Lock Camp

On Tuesday the 3rd we went to Dwellingup. This was part of the lock course, and we were required to kayak, cook and treetops adventures. The day was filled with lots of challenges for everyone and required us to push ourselves outside of our comfort zones. Treetops was a really fun relaxing activity for me because I had been there lots of times before and I was familiar with everything. We did some of the easier courses because we didn’t want to tire ourselves out for the day. Kayaking was also quite fun and it wasn’t difficult with a long kayaking trip. We played some fun games and watched people get tipped over and the water was freezing cold. Bush cooking was fun and the fire was warm to be around.

This is where we went for our Dwellingup day trip. We cooked here on the fires.

Rock climbing

When we started rock climbing it was hard to get the hand of be-laying because I missed a couple of lessons. Once I got the hang of it, it was a simple thing to do, and I enjoyed be-laying. Rock climbing was fun because it was a physical thing to do, and we didn’t have to do much theory. I think as I progressed, I got stronger and was able to go further with my climbing.

Knot tying

Learning to tie knots was quite difficult in the beginning but throughout the end I understood them. We had to tie around 10 knots with ones ranging in different difficulties. The knot tying process was quite fun when you finally got it and I was proud of myself when I finally understood them all.

Kayaking

During term 1 we also kayaked during our double periods at Shelley foreshore. Kayaking was something that pushed me out of my comfort zone because I felt abit challenged in some activities. I’m proud of myself for pushing my limits and doing the specific activities we had to do.

Bush cooking

This term we started to learn about bush cooking and fires. We learnt two different techniques to start up a fire and give it oxygen to spread. We learnt about collecting sticks and the different sizes to set up with. Jarrah was really handy in helping our fires get started and spread quickly. We started our second cooking session last week and cooked Italian food. My group started cooking pizza this week and we went pretty well. We forgot to bring oil though which made our pizza stick to the pan. I think we were well prepared, and our fire was catching pretty well. Our first cooking session was on the day camp in Dwellingup. That session also went pretty well because we cooked everything fine, and our fire caught without needing a starter. We just caught on to the embers from the previous group.

Our fire at the campsite
Our first week of cooking in our double periods was Italian.

Leave no trace

There are 7 principles of leave no trace. These principles include plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife, be considerate of others. When we were cooking, one of the principles we used for leave no trace was disposing of waste properly. We were careful to not leave any rubbish or plastic or food behind after we finished cooking or kayaking. We also planned and prepped ahead of time for our food and materials to cook with which helped us be prepared and not stressed for our cooking.

Camp and overall goals

My overall goals were to push myself to my limits and my camp goals were to try my hardest and not burn anything while cooking. I think I did well with my goals and I’m proud of my efforts from this Dwellingup camp.

Weather conditions

The weather conditions on the day of the camp were really cold but there wasn’t a lot of rain which was good and helpful for us to cook and do our outdoor activities. Kayaking on the water was freezing and if you fell in the water was ice cold.

Holly, Ruby and I on the Dwellingup camp. This was during our treetops activity.