Available online
Description
The programme discusses the problems in choosing materials for bridge design and how this can be simulated in the classroom.
The programme discusses the problems in choosing materials for bridge design and how this can be simulated in the classroom.
| Module code and title: | PET271, Technology for teachers |
|---|---|
| Item code: | PET271; 06 |
| First transmission date: | 12-06-1975 |
| Published: | 1975 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OUDA web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:24:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Producer: | Tony Jolly |
| Contributors: | Charles Newey; John Whatley; Keith Williams |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Keyword(s): | Bridge building; Glass; Material requirements; Nylon; Simple models; Steel; Stiffness; Wood |
| Footage description: | Newey looks at how to bridge gaps, using a plank. He also describes a model of the Humber Bridge and explains how the programme will investigate how the choice of materials and their properties will affect bridge design. Whatley describes a classroom experiment for testing tensile strength and producing a graph of Young's modules. He shows his result for three materials. Keith Williams outlines some of the engineers' problems when designing. He mentions the second moment of area and using card, shows how basic plank design can be altered to increase the load-bearing capacity. He demonstrates a corrugated sheet and a tube or square tube form. Shots of train passing through Conway railway bridge. He demonstrates the problem of shear force on tube form designs. William shows how shear force can be overcome by mixing tube form and corrugations, as in box girder type design. He also describes other good designs, such as eye girders and jointed triangles as in Bailey bridges. Newey discovers that even so only smallish gaps can be bridged in the ways described above. Again using cards, Williams describes the principles behind arch bridge design. Shots of Menai Bridge. An alternative design - the suspension bridge is also examined. Newey outlines the stresses - tensile and compressive. Whatley looks at ways of teaching the fundamental problems of bridge design in the classroom. He shows a series of stills taken during his classroom experiments at Roundwood Park School, Harpenden. Whatley uses the children to model suspension bridges, with low towers and high towers. Whatley looks at some stills of other forms of bridges. He describes another classroom experiment with the children simulating an arch bridge. Back in the studio, Whatley discusses other classroom demonstrations. These include using springs in model bridges, to show the stresses in force, and using a strain gauge. He has models of these demonstrations. |
| Master spool number: | 6HT/71651 |
| Production number: | 00525_6088 |
| Videofinder number: | 733 |
| Available to public: | no |
