The evening of Tuesday 18th February 2014 brought
together groups of graduates and students in our very popular Midlands Counties
Make and Break Competition. Kindly hosted by the University of Birmingham, the
lecture room was filled to capacity with thirteen teams of up to four members.
The delivered brief required teams to build a crane-type
structure. This crane had to support the greatest possible load, with extra
points available for efficient construction and long horizontal reach.
A total of an hour was given for design and construction,
and teams quickly began thinking and discussing the best methods of building,
using the provided materials of straws and tape. The crane mounting frames were
well visited during construction time, as was the additional materials supply
(at a cost, of course).
When the time was up, thirteen very different structures
were presented for testing. First, a minimum 70g load was used to check the
crane met reach requirements. Unfortunately four teams failed at this first
hurdle, but hopefully they gained valuable experience from this. The remaining
nine teams battled it out to carry the most load, with one team carrying over
800g!
The results were then totted up, accounting for the amount
of materials used and the performance of the cranes. The final results were as
follows:
1st
Tony Gee - Tony Gee
2nd
OveDaBridge - ARUP
3rd Bracing
Squad - WSP CEL
4th
Two bricks Short - WSP CEL
5th
WhatSuP!! - WSP
6th
The Unbreakables - University of Birmingham
7th
Class of 2010 - RNP Associates
8th
Triangles - University of Birmingham
9th
JNRC Engineering - Coventry University
=10th
Millenium - University of
Birmingham
=10th
Pharmageddon - WSP CEL
=10th
Team Phoenix - Coventry University
=10th
CivSoc - University of Birmingham
Well done to the Bracing Squad, OveDaBridge and Tony Gee for
their top three places! The winners and runners up secured themselves
complimentary invites to the Midlands IStructE Annual Dinner which will take
place on 6th November 2014. The winning team were also awarded
Amazon vouchers in recognition of their efforts.
Special thanks must go to the Young Members’ Panel for
organising the event, with coordination from the ICE G&S committee. A big
thank you must also go to Jenny Illingsworth from the University of Birmingham
for hosting us, and the IStructE Regional Group Committee members who attended the
event, offering advice and support.
If you have any ideas for us or you’d like to get involved
with the Young Members’ Panel please let us know at istructeymp@gmail.com.
Post author: Tasha Scott
Post author: Tasha Scott
