Text written in Basque and translated automatically by Elia without any subsequent editing. SEE ORIGINAL

The Wooden Bridges

Strong, big, wide... Of stone, wood or iron. Bridges are needed in many cities. Sometimes beautiful ornaments, and always useful.

This is what the bridges that have been presented in the bridge competition organized by the School of Engineering of Bilbao want to be.

There have been seven bridges that have participated in this 10th edition, 7 in the aesthetic department and 5 of them in functionality. They're made of ice cream sticks and glued with white glue. That’s how they get consistency. Placing
the load is the only way to measure its capacity. For this, they use 10kg steel sheets and 6.5kg Bilbao tiles. In order for competition
to be balanced, the ratio of bridges by size and weight is calculated, since it is not the same whether the bridge is long or short.

They gradually and carefully place the load on the bridge so that it lasts as long as possible. When the resistance reaches the extreme, the bridge collapses.

the winning bridge has weighed 702 kilos. It was the work of Eduardo and Daniel López, father and son. The first is a carpenter, and the second is a senior engineering student. It was their first participation, but they managed to beat the champion of the last years.

DANIEL LOPEZ; Student: I think the secret has been in the making; that is, in the work of sticking the chopsticks together and making them as symmetrical as
possible. We’ve calculated it; we’ve been optimizing it to support as much load as possible. i weighed 650 kilos, and it ended up holding 702 kilos. I could have taken a little more, though.

These bridges reveal the skills of students and alumni and allow them to put what they have learned into practice.

PEDRO IRIONDO; UPV/EHU: They apply physics and the resistance of materials, mechanics, computer programs to shape or simulation programs... After all, making a bridge like this is a small part of reality. After all, it is a model, and a model is a small-scale thing of a great thing.

They use chopsticks, ice cream chopsticks. What you do is laminate them, glue them together with that white glue, and the resulting wood material is very resistant. The two that are used are basic and then the bullet thread is also used.

You don’t have to be an architect to build a bridge of chopsticks, and students from different branches have participated in this year’s award.

IKER MARTIN; Organized by: A project like this is not done every day, and you know people, and I think that even if it’s what you learn, even if you do practices and do class work, you don’t often see the right application. And that’s why if you include the things you’ve learned in something you do, it motivates you to continue.

This is the third year that Roberto has built a bridge to participate in this competition. He has done a solo job, and his personal challenge is to beat the winner of the last
few years. The project is done by computer and then the construction
begins. Over the years, the technique has improved.

ROBERTO POLVOROSA; Student: This year, in the fourth year of the career, we have learned the finite element method for the analysis of a structure, and after the design, you can apply this method and see more or less what the critical points are. And according to this, if you know how to analyze the results that the program gives you, you know what you need to improve, what to strengthen because it carries more burden, and where the material can be removed.

he has used 3,500 chopsticks to build the bridge and has spent many hours cutting, dyeing and gluing chopsticks. According to his calculations, he will not exceed the record in terms of strength in the competition, but he expects to maintain 350 kilos. In addition, it also presents the bridge in the modality of Aesthetics.

And also win, in this way. In addition, it is believed but with better results in usability.

ROBERTO POLVOROSA; Student: It's been really good. There were five of us and I've been the second, I can't ask for more.
I thought it was going to be 350, but I didn't think it was going to be 400, and in the end it was 507. I wasn't expecting
it. Next year I’ll do better.

Like Roberto, Arkaitz is already an expert in this modality of Aesthetics. He's studying chemical engineering. In the last edition he won the second prize with his project together with his other classmates, and this year he has tried again, but only.

ARKAITZ HERAS; Student: There is not much engineering used to do it in the aesthetics section. It is enough to make a few numbers, but you do not have to make difficult calculations. Anyone can do it.
I once saw on TV a building with three staircases, the staircases never touched each other, and each one was going to a floor. From there I took the idea of making towers, and from there, I made the other one imaginatively.

He has spent almost three months gluing about 3,000 txotx to each other and building the bridge.

It has taken less time for the Judith team to complete their project. Telekomunikazio-ingeniaritzako ikasle hauek joko moduan hartu dute desafioa, eta Interneten ikusitako eredu bat kopiatzen saiatu dira.
No paper projects or calculations; they have erected with pure will the bridge that they have presented in the Aesthetics section.

JUDIT HERRERO; Student: We saw how they make bridges in the other years, and we thought we'd come together to find out what came out.
Everyone did their job for a little while and then we put it all together, and it stays that way.

Everyone spent a lot of time building bridges. The bridges that have been presented
to the aesthetics have not had to bear the weight of the steel sheets and tiles of Bilbao, so they will go on to complete the collection of the School of Engineering. In the functionality section, only the one who holds most of the weight will be saved.