Date: February 2024 - April 2024

Role: Lead Programmer, Team Member

Working with two other peers, I designed, simulated, built, and tested an acrylic truss which need to fit certain requirements such as span, load placement, member length, and cost in order to support the largest possible load. My main task for the project was to create a MATLAB script which could accept a custom input file specifying where the joints were located and which joints were connected by members, and use that data to calculate the internal forces in each member at a certain load. Using data that we collected on the buckling strength of different lengths of this acrylic, the program was able to increase the force until the internal force in a member exceeded it buckling strength, allowing the critical member and maximum load to be calculated. Using this code allowed for rapid iteration upon the design of our truss, allowing me to optimize the design by adjusting joint placements in order to maximize the load the truss could support. After building the truss, it was tested to compare its predicted behavior to real-life. Using our program, we correctly predicted which member would buckle first, and the truss supported 1300 grams which was within the uncertainty of the buckling strength of the acrylic. From this project I was able to successfully implement what I had been learning in classes in order to meet design objectives and constraints while collaborating with a team of peers and growing my technical writing skills through reports and documentation which we wrote.