 |
| Two Civil Engineering Students who won international champions (Photo: Special) |
University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) students continue to innovate in various fields. The latest, the bridge model innovation designed by two UMM civil engineering students won third place in the international competition, Bridge Design Competition at Nanyang Technology University (NTU) Singapore, last April. In the competition, Erwin Yoga Pratama and Aliek Puji Wahyudi had to compete with 95 other teams from Malaysia, Vietnam, Egypt, India, Indonesia and Singapore.
Erwin said that the process of making the bridge model was short. From the announcement of the technical instructions for the race to the stage of collecting the models, it only took about two days. The design of the bridge model is based on a case study provided by the committee.
Read also: From America to the UAE, this is the story of Eid Al-Fitr for UMM Academicians
“In designing the bridge, we designed innovations in several aspects. Examples are reducing the weight of the bridge, reducing the number of frames, and reducing the cost of building a bridge. This is done so that the bridge design is more efficient and effective without reducing the safety factor. The modeling was carried out twice, namely at the initial stage after registration and the middle stage to determine the top 15. The two models also have different case studies,” he explained.
In the second model of the bridge, the eldest of the two siblings explained that they made a mixed bridge between a concrete bridge and a truss bridge. The construction period for the bridge model is also longer than the previous model, which is seven days. The merging of these two bridges serves to overcome cases in the field. “For the second model of the bridge, there are several areas that vehicles cannot pass. Therefore, we made a combination of two bridge models in order to make a new curved bridge," said Erwin.
Also read: Waterboom Sengkaling UMM, Comfortable and Safe Family Tour
Regarding this championship achievement, Erwin admitted that he did not expect to be able to beat the other participants and win the top three. The reason is that the participants who take part are not limited to Indonesia, but also several countries. Many well-known universities are also competing.
“Last year I took part in the same race but failed halfway. Alhamdulillah this year can be better than the previous year. Personally, I also want the knowledge from this competition we can bring and realize it in the construction of bridge infrastructure in Indonesia," he concluded. (shi/wil)
