design of a tower/skyscraper
my physics class is requiring us to build a tower out of spaghetti. however, i have scoured the internet and cannot find anything regarding the designs of such buildings. does anyone know where i might information? or can anyone give me tips on how to build it?
thank you.
dear ltw
from experience of making spaghetti structures for internal department competition during my degree years, i would recommend that you think about crane jibs and how they work. although statically indeterminate, they have the advantage of being manufactured from relatively short lengths which is good as spaghetti tends to be rather slender. this design with its large amount of bracing also gives you stability in all directions even if your workmanship is relatively poor (as it tends to be when trying to glue spaghetti joints). don't try to design in spaghetti, just use trial & error as the materials factor of safety on spaghetti tends to be very high given the lack of manufacturing control and structural certification of the product !!
important safety tip - dont cook the spaghetti prior to construction. if you do, have a bowl of bolognaise sauce at the ready when load testing.
good luck
ginger
if you use a cheese sauce, you wouldn't need glue. natural adhesive o
you might want to investigate the texas a&m bond fire structural failure. that structure was conceptually similar to a spaghetti structure except built with logs. the intent was to bundle many together in order to increase buckling capacity by increasing kl/r.