University of Minnesota civil engineering junior Rachel Gaulke is shown her putting the final touches on a 1/200th-scale model of the former I-35W bridge she built for the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
The model, approximately five feet long, will be shipped in a large crate to Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, Feb. 20 where it will be used by engineers at NTSB for various presentations to help visualize and explain information related to the bridge collapse and its causes. NTSB contracted the University of Minnesota to produce the model because of its familiarity with the bridge. The budget for the model was about $6,000, including labor and materials.
Civil engineering professor Carol Shield received the call from NTSB and chose Gaulke for the project because of her attention to detail and excitement for working on the project. "This is a terrific opportunity for one of our undergraduate students to contribute to the profession," Shield said. Gaulke estimates that she has spent more than 100 hours over the last two months building the model.
"I believe that the most important and useful thing I have learned in doing this project is time management. It has taken a lot longer to complete than I had ever expected," Gaulke said. "I also learned the importance of precision and accuracy, and what can go wrong if measurements and calculations are not perfect."
Gaulke used bridge plans and computerized drawings to make her calculations. The model is made primarily of model railroad parts and painted to identify tension and compression members of the bridge to illustrate the structural forces affecting the bridge.
