Craft Stick Beams

Abstract

The objective of this exercise is to provide a phenomenological 'hands-on' experience that shows how geometry can affect the load carrying capacity of a material used in construction, how different materials have different failure characteristics, and how construction affects the performance of a composite material. This will be accomplished by building beams of a single material and composite beams of a mixture of materials (popsicle sticks, fiberboard sheets, and tongue depressors); testing these layered beams to determine how and where they fail; and based on the failure analysis, designing a layered beam that will fail in a predicted manner. The students will learn the effects of lamination, adhesion, and geometry in layered beam construction on beam strength and failure location.