Journal week 1

Week 1:

Activity- Compression

Together in a group of 3 people we had to construct a tower which can accommodate a rubber dinosaur toy. Using a box full of small timber blocks, we had to build a tower as high as we could. We agreed to arrange the wooden blocks as shown in the pictures presented below. We wanted to build a strong base, so as shown the base is very tightly aligned.

We used a rubber ban to hold pieces of wooden blocks together to make a longer block . We used a few of these to help support the weight of the tower via load transfer.

As we built the tower, we noticed that the structure was not straight. The top half was a little bit tilted to one side. Therefore, we tried to carefully push the blocks in place.

This is the final construction. In the end we noticed that the task was to focus on the height not the strength of the building, so we started building the top very narrowly as the amount of wooden blocks were not plenty. However, it turned out that the top part became very weak and started to fall off.

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There were a few weak points on the tower. The side of the tower started to spread out because the wooden blocks were not perfectly aligned. Here is one weak point spotted. As soon as the cardboard box was placed on top of the tower, a few pieces of wooden blocks fell off, which left a whole.

However, at one point when the force putting on the tower is too much, the blocks will start to fall off at the weak points, consequently the whole building will collapse.

After the tower was finished, our tutor removed the top of the tower because it was too weak. We experimented how much weight can the tower carry. She put a cardboard box on top of the tower and then started adding more weight into it.

More weights from a textbook, a diary and a lot more wooden blocks were put on the tower. The tower still could

withstand the increased force.

Compression force is when an external load is put on the building which causes the particles of the building compact together. The load in this context is the gravity loads from the weight of the tower and items it holds. It acts as a downward force pushing down the building.

This model is an example of mass construction. It is when building a structure from mass material such as concrete, masonry or adobe. Mass construction can lessen the effects from extreme climates.

This is from week 1 glossary. The word is Cross Ventilation.

The tower was already a little bit tilted to one side due to lack of precision in the construction process. This caused the tower to collapse to the left side.

This is the moment when the tower collapsed. As presented, the middle part broke off first, the the overwhelming weight of the cardboard box crushed down the entire building.

The only things left over was the base of the tower as it was where the wooden blocks were

most perfectly and tightly aligned.