LSU's CEE Steel Bridge Team to Compete Nationally
April 21, 2009
The LSU Steel Bridge Team from the LSU American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) student chapter placed second overall in Steel Bridge competition at the 2009 Deep South Regional ASCE Conference March 26-28 at Arkansas State University; and the Concrete Canoe Team placed fifth. The Steel Bridge Team is now invited to attend the National Student Steel Bridge Competition in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The Deep South conference, an event sponsored by the ASCE and local engineering firms, is an annual conference which brings together ASCE Student Chapters from civil engineering programs from around the region. The conference gives ASCE student members a chance to gain valuable hands-on experience by competing in such events as a concrete canoe competition and steel bridge design and construction.
According to Steel Bridge Team Captain Brad Adams, LSU’s team has been, “working since September running analyses for several designs in order to select the one that would give us the best score.” They were judged on aesthetics (the overall appearance of the bridge and the design poster), weight (poundage of the bridge), stiffness (how little it deflects under a 2500 lb. loading scenario), construction speed (how fast the team can assemble the bridge on-site), construction economy (speed multiplied by the number of builders), structural efficiency (stiffness multiplied by weight), and finally, the overall construction economy and structural efficiency, for which the lowest score wins.
Adams noted that, “We will be attending Nationals in Las Vegas on May 22. We are also making some modifications to the bridge to improve our score; and we are still seeking sponsors to support us at the national competition.”
The 2009 Steel Bridge Team members are Brad Adams (Captain), Josh Porter, Danny Rick, David Craft, Carl Gaudry, Mark Dunn, Steven Schorr, and Kyle Breaux (fundraising). Faculty Advisor is Dr. Ayman Okeil and Staff Advisor for the team is Dave Robertson.
The Team was sponsored by the LSU Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and received additional support from:
- ABMB Engineers, Inc.
- CDM
- CH2M-Hill
- CSRS, Inc.
- Engensus, LLC
- Evans-Graves, Inc.
- Fabricated Steel Products
- Mansion Construction
- Michael Baker Jr., Inc.
- Pelican Energy Consultants
- SJB Group
- Sable Steel
- Sigma Consulting Group
- Structural Preservation Systems
- URS
- LSU Mechanical Engineering Machine Shop and personnel
As the much anticipated event draws near, the students are in the process of raising funds to help send the 2009 Steel Bridge Team to compete in the National ASCE competition. Please contact Don Eisenberg at 225-578-2441 or eisenberg@lsu.edu to lend your support. Expenses such as steel, shop supplies, traveling expenses, etc. are underwritten by sponsorships by companies and helpful individuals.
To learn more about the LSU ASCE student chapter, including a slideshow of the regional conference, please visit their website at http://www.cee.lsu.edu/undergrad/ASCE/index.htm.
Founded in 1852, the American Society of Civil Engineers represents more than 139,000 civil engineers worldwide and is America’s oldest national engineering society. For more information on ASCE, visit www.asce.org.
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