ß  Before  we  began  constructing  the  tower  our  group  looked  at  a  number  of  different  options  to  determine  which  would  give  the  best  structural  support  and  distribute  the  loads  that  would  need  to  be  supported  as  the  tower  extended  in  height.  Originally  we  went  with  option  2,  which  had  two  diagonal  cross  braces  for  support  however  this  proved  to  add  to  much  weight  and  the  tower  wasn't  going  to  be  able  to  support  this  extra  load.          ß  This  picture  to  the  right  shows  our  original  choice  using  the  two  diagonal  braces  for  added  support.    The  choice  of  using  two  diagonals  for  bracing  of  the  structure  would  also  not  enable  us  to  construct  a  tall  enough  tower;  therefore  we  reconsidered  the  design,  choosing  to  only  have  one  diagonal  for  support  of  the  rectangular  frames.      The  picture  to  the  right  shows  the  type  of    Joins  used  to  hold  most  of  the  braces/  Strips  together.  We  found  that  they  held    Better  when  stuck  this  way  compared  to    if  at  right  angles.  

Constructing  Environments    Week  2  

The  triangular  base  was  able  to  support  the  loads  of  the  increasing  tower.  à    After  constructing  the  first  level,  adopted  a  tee-­‐pee  design  to  add  height  to  the  tower.  The  tee-­‐pee  was  constructed  of  3  balsa  pieces  stuck  together,  adding  height  to  the  design.  This  was  made  possibly  due  to  the  triangular  prism  base  being  able  to  support  the  loads  of  the  structure.        

^(Referring  to  above)    As  the  tower  increased  with  height  it  could  be  seen  that  the  base  of  the  structure  was  beginning  to  become  unstable  with  the  growing  load.    Therefore  it  was  necessary  to  add  some  horizontal  braces  to  the  wider  part  of  the  tee-­‐pee  before  the  intersection  point  as  well  as  some  extra  support  extending  from  the  side  of  the  prism  base  to  the  ground  level.    This  would  have  been  likely  to  help  distribute  the  load  around  the  tower  to  create  a  more  stale  structure.      

         

^  It  was  interesting  to  see  how  the  group  who  ended  up  with  shorter  pieces  of  balsa  wood  constructed  their  tower.  While  they  were  unable  to  build  the  tallest  tower,  they  managed  to  come  up  with  an  efficient  design  that  was  probably  the  most  structurally  stable  out  of  the  whole  class.  Their  design  encompassed  using  2  triangles  for  the  base  and  a  lot  of  horizontal  braces  for  support  and  redistribution  of  the  loads.  

^  All  of  the  groups  chose  to  use  a  triangular  base  to  support  their  towers.  It  would  have  been  interesting  to  see  what  would  have  happened  if  someone  tried  using  a  different  type  of  base  such  as  a  rectangle/square  and  if  this  would  have  been  able  to  support  the  loads  added  upon  it.      Most  groups  started  to  taper  the  design  of  their  towers  as  they  got  higher  so  that  the  base  was  the  widest  and  most  supportive  part  of  the  structure.      

^  Our  final  tower  managed  to  stand  up  while  bearing  the  loads  of  the  structure  however,  it  was  evident  that  as  the  tower  grew  taller  the  stability  of  the  structure  lessened.    In  the  above  photo  you  can  see  (sort  of)  that  the  tower  has  started  to  lean  slightly  due  to  the  increased  weight  of  the  loads.    I  think  our  design  could  have  been  a  bit  more  stable  if  we  had  have  made  a  wider  base  and  used  more  support  braces  to  strengthen  the  overall  model.