Troitsky Bridge Building Competition

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The Troitsky Bridge Building Competition is an annual event that takes place at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada in the spring, during the National Engineering Week. Participating teams of engineering students come from universities across Canada with some from the United States and Europe. They design and build model bridges out of popsicle sticks, toothpicks, white glue and dental floss.

1 History
2 2006 competition
3 2007 Competition
4 External links

[edit] History

The competition began in the 1960's when Dr. Michael S. Troitsky, a professor in the Civil Engineering Department of Sir George Williams University [which later became the Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering (BCEE) of Concordia University] spoke with students in his bridge design class about building bridge models similar to those in their course work. Students then began building small-scale bridge models using nothing but wood and glue.

By 1984, Concordia's BCEE Department held their First Annual Bridge Building Competition. Initially, the contest was only open to Civil Engineering students enrolled at Concordia. However, as words spread, the event began to expand - first to include other universities in the province of Quebec, then across Canada. In 1991, the competition included its first international teams, from the United States.

In 1988, the Civil Engineering graduating class created an award for most innovative concept, and dedicated it to the memory of Lars Rowland, an alumnus who completed his B.Eng in 1988 at Concordia and was working as a civil engineer for Canadair when he died in 1990 piloting his plane. The inscription reads:

"May his creativity, compassion, and love of life serve to inspire you, as it has us, in the pursuit of your dreams."

The Crusher, the hydraulic press which tests the strength of each bridge and is the focal point of the competition, has a history of its own. The original Crusher was a hydraulic device which, after ten years of service, was damaged beyond repair in 1994 - exploding hydraulic fuel all over the judges and competitors while attempting to crush the truss-bridge designed by Hugues Rivard, who was a Masters student at BCEE. A mark remains on the ceiling of the Hall Building Alumni Auditorium from the incident, and the real capacity of Rivard's bridge remains a mystery. The next Crusher was a donation from Wainbee in 1994. It was a screw jack style mechanism controlled by a computer. It could apply loads of up to 6000 pounds. In 2000, Mechtronix Inc. donated a new Crusher, which has a 10-ton capacity. During the 2000 competition, a bridge resisted up to 1860 kgf. The winner, however, is the one that has the highest overall score in terms of capacity, esthetic value, and originality.

[edit] 2006 competition

The 2006 competition was held on March 10. Over 40 teams participated in the event. Pictures of the event can be seen here and here. A short video of the competition can be seen on Discovery Channels page here