Date of Award

Spring 2023

Document Type

Thesis

Terms of Use

© 2023 Julio A. Del Cid and David Mendoza. All rights reserved. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may only be used for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes. For all other uses, including reproduction and distribution, please contact the copyright holder.

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Engineering Department

First Advisor

Fiona O'Donnell

Abstract

The introduction of new construction materials has given rise to different, unique construction projects emphasizing architectural value without sacrificing strength, safety, and durability. This project proposed the design for a wooden octet truss along with an efficient fabrication process; furthermore, it studied the plausibility of implementing columns of octet trusses into everyday structures. Compressive loading tests were conducted on each fabricated truss in order to determine its strength properties and areas that could be improved upon in future iterations. In constructing each truss, priority was placed on maximizing load capacity and overall resistance to deformations while reducing both construction time and cost. Our second octet truss yielded the most satisfactory results, as this iteration achieved the highest maximum load of 14,400 lbs before failure. It had nearly the greatest stiffness of all 3 trusses at 40,800 psi, and presented the highest strength to weight ratio. Members of our trusses were connected using wood glue and punched metal plate fasteners. Additionally, the cross sectional area of members which experienced the most load in the previous iterations were doubled. Although a time efficient fabrication process was created for wooden octet trusses, there still exists opportunities to increase its load capacity to be competitive with other conventional construction materials.

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