STRESSED OUT STRUCTURES

INDEX


 Introduction

 

Purpose


Hypothesis

 

Materials

 

PART ONE

Gateway Structures

 

PART TWO

3D Geometric Structures: Which is Strongest?

 

PART THREE

Testing Buildings: Which Design is Strongest?

 

PART FOUR

Stronger Buildings:

Supports

 

PART FIVE

Stronger Buildings:  Buttresses and Struts

 

PART SIX

Earthquake

Simulation: Columns

 

PROBLEMS WITH

MY EXPERIMENT

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

PART FIVE

Making Buildings Stronger:

Buttresses and Struts

PROCEDURE

A rectangular prism was put together with a triangular prism to make a little building but it had two flying buttresses on two sides. They were made of plasticine balls and bamboo skewers. The building’s strength was tested with sand bags. They were placed along the centre of the top bamboo skewer until the model broke. The weight of the bags used was added up and recorded in a chart.

The same experiment was done with three flying buttresses on two sides.

Finally, a little building was made with a rectangular prism and a triangular prism on top, with three flying buttresses, and with three roof struts to make the top stronger.

For each test, three trials were done.

The results from Part Four were used for a building with one flying buttress.

TABLE FIVE - USING FLYING BUTTRESSES
Peaked Roof building; rectangular prism & triangular prism; Weight to Break (g)
Trial # 1 buttress 2 buttresses 3 buttresses 3 but. + struts
1 600 1100 1200 2100
2 600 900 1200 1600
3 700 1000 1000 1900
avg.  633 1000 1133 1867

 

CONCLUSIONS

The more flying buttresses the stronger the building. The cathedral with three flying buttresses takes 500g more weight to knock down than the cathedral with one flying buttress.

It takes 133g more sand to break the cathedral with three flying buttresses then the one with two flying buttresses.

There wasn’t much difference in strength between the cathedral with two flying buttresses and the one with three flying buttresses. Two flying buttresses can support the building almost as well as three.

The cathedral with 3 flying buttresses and three roof struts takes almost twice the amount of sand to break that the one with three flying buttresses took.

To Part Four

To Top

To Part Six

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Peaked Roof building; rectangular prism & triangular prism:

1. One buttress

 

2. Two Flying Buttresses

 

3. Three Flying Buttresses

 

4. Three Flying Buttresses and Three Roof Struts