2:21 p.m., April 14, 2009----This weekend, the Delaware Field House at the University of Delaware will be filled with engineers rather than athletes as UD's student chapter of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) hosts the Mid-Atlantic Regional Student Steel Bridge Competition.

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Students from 12 schools in the region will converge on Newark for the competition, with events taking place on both Saturday and Sunday, April 18 and 19. The event also includes a concrete canoe component at Lums Pond, although only a few of the schools will be participating in that aspect of the competition.

Sponsored by the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC), the student steel bridge competition requires each team of students to design and fabricate a 1:10 scale model to demonstrate a design concept in response to a problem statement, with the details changing every year to ensure that competitors design and build new bridges.

This year's problem is that a fictional Department of Transportation needs to replace a century-old highway bridge spanning a scenic river. The bridge carries traffic serving residences and resorts that are the foundation of the economy for this rural region. A quick replacement is necessary because no other crossing is available for miles.

The resulting miniature bridges will be judged on six criteria: display, construction speed, lightness, stiffness, construction economy, and structural efficiency.

Chelsea Stachura, a junior majoring in civil engineering is one of UD's three steel bridge captains, and she recently took over as president of the UD ASCE student chapter. She admits that the combination of hosting the event and entering a bridge has become an all-consuming effort this spring.

“I've been in the structures lab in DuPont Hall until 2:30 or 3 in the morning over the past couple of weekends,” she says. “But we're learning things that will help us when we get out in the real world.”

In addition to designing and building their own bridge entry, the UD students are responsible for all aspects of planning the event, including recruiting volunteer judges from the engineering community. About 10 students are involved with the bridge building and event planning, with the latter led by junior Mindy Laybourne, who is serving as ASCE treasurer.

The UD team is advised by three faculty members in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering -- Jennifer McConnell, assistant professor; Rusty Lee, assistant professor; and Tripp Shenton, department chairperson -- as well as by lab coordinator Danny Richardson.

The steel bridge and concrete canoe events are open to the public. There is no charge for admission, but those who attend the canoe competition at Lums Pond will be charged a state park entry fee.

For more information, contact Chelsea Stachura via e-mail at [cstach@udel.edu].

Article by Diane S. Kukich
Photo by Doug Baker