The UK & Ireland Chapter of the Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE), along with EPSRC Future Composites Manufacturing Research Hub (CIMComp) have announced the launch of the "Design and Make" competition: a national event inviting companies and universities across the UK and Ireland to showcase their composites expertise.
Participants are required to design and manufacture a scaled single-deck composite footbridge, capable of supporting a central load. This challenge requires extensive research into cross-sectional designs and will identify the one with the highest failure load relative to the weight.
This exciting joint initiative will take place at the prestigious Advanced Engineering Show, held at Birmingham's NEC on the 1 November 2023. Sponsored by SHD Composites, Instron UK, and the National Composites Centre, the show will host an awards ceremony with a prize to the team with the winning structure.
An in-person launch event will be held at the National Composites Centre (NCC) in Bristol on 20 September 2023. The gathering will give participants the opportunity to network, connect with like-minded individuals, and form the basis of a bridge-building team. In support of the competition, SHD Composites will generously provide training on material processing, as well as material kits for teams to begin preliminary designs. Attendees will also enjoy an enlightening tour of the NCC and a social event to extend networking opportunities.
The key competition guidelines are as follows:
The performance of the bridges will be assessed at the Advanced Engineering Show before the awards ceremony. Judging criteria will include:
Additionally, all participating teams will be required to submit a one-minute video presentation highlighting the design and manufacturing decisions taken to produce their bridge. The video presentations will be evaluated based on depth of technical content, effective use of images and/or video clips, clarity and flow of the video, creativity, and relevance to the bridge entry.
In light of the challenge ahead, SAMPE UK is offering a free annual membership of SAMPE UK and Ireland to all participants who attend the Advanced Engineering Show in person.