Students on the Peninsula College Composites team posted an impressive seventh place finish out of 24 entries in their class during the international SAMPE Student Bridge Competition held in Seattle on May 24. Over 70 total teams entered from the USA, Canada, Mexico, and China, competing in eight classes of model bridge building.
The PC Pirates team, the only solely 2 year school in attendance, defeated teams from the University of Washington, UCLA, NYU, Western Washington University, University of Delaware, University of Maryland, Harbin Engineering University (China), Gonzaga University, Brigham Young University, and Montana Tech.
Pictured are 2017 team members Dustin Henning, Keith Lesnick, Scott Ohman and Andrew Martyanov.
Advanced Composites students Scott Ohman (team leader), Dustin Henning, Keith Lesnick, and Andrew Martyanov designed, built, and tested two bridges over three weeks, prior to their first-time entry in the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering Student Bridge Competition, now in its twentieth year. Their bridge, weighing only 43.8 ounces, withstood a load of 6.7 tons before failing, making their bridge the third strongest, and giving them the seventh place ranking in their I-beam class.
Prior to the event the team built a test fixture like the one used in the competition, allowing them to load test their first bridge to 11,900 lbs., then built a second bridge for the contest entry.
The Composites Recycling Technology Center, co-located with the Advanced Composites program, donated carbon fiber materials and equipment use, and performed engineering reviews to refine the student’s design. Guy Houser, Director of Engineering at CRTC, answered student’s questions, discussed engineering concepts, and reviewed the design changes.
Lesnick and Martyanov graduate from Peninsula College this June with AAS degrees.
For more information, contact James Russell at jrussell@pencol.edu.