Steel Bridge Design Team
The Steel Bridge Design Team builds a 1:10 scaled steel bridge for the Regional competition in April with given rules and parameters from ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) and AISC (American Institute of Steel Construction).
What is ASCE Steel Bridge?
The Steel Bridge Design Team at Virginia Tech is tasked with designing and fabricating a 1/10th scale steel bridge with criteria including construction time, deflection, aesthetics, and economy. The Steel Bridge Design Team is a hands-on student-led design team whose goal is to gain design experience while learning new engineering skills.
In April, they compete in the ASCE Virginias Student Symposium Regional Competition in hopes to qualify for the National Student Steel Bridge Competition, in which the top teams in North America compete. To prepare for competition, they spend the Fall semester utilizing multiple software programs such as SAP 2000 and AutoCAD to design and optimize their bridge. During the spring semester, the team begins prototyping, testing, and fabricating their bridge which consists of creating connections, cutting steel, welding, and practicing construction.
Who can join?
We welcome anyone to join our team.
Recent Awards
In April of 2022, the team competed in the Virginia's Conference at Virginia Military Institute taking First Place in every category, including First Place Overall. In June of 2022, they competed at the National Competition and hosted it at Virginia Tech. They placed 19th overall out of 34 as well as Top 10 in Construction Speed.
Fast Facts
Team size: About 20 members
Department Afiliation: Charles E. Via, Jr. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Workshop: Ware Lab