Essential Question
How can we design structures that are stronger and safer to protect us during an earthquake?
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Project Overview
In partnership with the Society of Civil and Structural Engineers (SCSE) at UCSD, students will compete in teams in the KNEX Earthquake Engineering Competition through UCSD’s Seismic Outreach Program. Students will study the engineering design process and understand the structural components of towers, domes, and bridges. Using their engineering knowledge, teams will then design and build a structure that will experience a simulated earthquake on a mini shake table at UCSD on Tuesday, February 28th. Student groups will also create detailed scaled blueprints of their structure, calculate a budget, and use Google SketchUp to create an architectural rendering of their structure. Teams will be interviewed by SCSE students at the competition about their knowledge of engineering, structure design, and earthquakes!
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Student Products
* Team KNEX structure
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* ​​Team artistic rendering of KNEX structure (using Google SketchUp)​
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* Team scaled architectural drawings of the structure (side view, front view and one representative floor plan)
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* Team Bill of Materials, which is the total building cost and cost per square foot of floor space
* Team Interview: Students will present their structure and supporting documents to SCSE members at UCSD. Students will demonstrate their knowledge of earthquakes and engineering via a group interview.
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Exhibition
Students will exhibit their work at UCSD on February 28th. UCSD engineering students will interview each group on their earthquake and engineering knowledge and students will test their structures on a mini-shake table.
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