Steel Bridge

The MTU Steel Bridge team designs, fabricates, and constructs a competitive steel bridge to meet a specific set of requirements and withstand a certain load. They then compete in the ASCE Steel Bridge Competition at the end of the school year.

Team members used RAM Elements to design several potential bridges to comply with the SSBC 2026 rules. Structural analyses were conducted on each bridge, and cost estimates for competition were made based on structural analysis results.

The bridge design includes simple bolted banana connections and single shear planes in specific locations. After completing the design, each member of the bridge was modeled in OnShape, and the shop drawings were then used to fabricate the bridge, which includes cutting, grinding, and tack welding each truss section.

Every year, the goal of the build team is to construct the bridge as efficiently as possible. The team focuses mainly on construction sequencing to achieve this goal. Four team members prepared as the build team to minimize penalties from dropping pieces or stepping in restricted areas, while assembling the bridge as fast as possible.

Youngstown State University hosted the 2026 ASCE Eastern Great Lakes Student Symposium on April 9-11. At competition, the bridge is scored based on the build time, cost analysis, and performance during vertical and lateral loading. The bridge placed 1st Overall – 1st in Stiffness – 1st in Cost Estimation – 1st in Structural Efficiency – 1st in Construction Economy – 1st in Construction Speed – 3rd in Lightness!