The
Society for the Advancement of Material and Process Engineering (SAMPE) will host the final of its building competition at
Advanced Engineering taking place 1-2 November at the NEC, Birmingham. The contest, which aims to provide a practical composite engineering challenge to Young Engineers and Students (YES), requires each team to apply their composites knowledge and creativity to design and construct a bridge capable of spanning a 1m gap while resisting simple weights.
The winning bridge will be the one that meets all the specified guidelines and withstands the greatest load before failure. All teams receive a composite material kit (supplied by sponsors) that ensures equal terms for all participants. Previous competitions have featured such as the tallest load-bearing composite tower, the longest spanning composite bridge, and the construction of a composite crash structure. This competition enables teams to gain valuable experience that includes teamwork, materials manufacturing and processing, managing technical requirements, networking, and public speaking.
One of the objectives of SAMPE — a global professional organisation with over 15,000 members throughout 40 chapters worldwide and dedicated to enabling growth and innovation in advanced material sectors — is to foster technical excellence in the UK by promoting interest in new materials and processes within the composites community, while ‘facilitating networking with tomorrow’s engineers’.
SAMPE UK and Ireland chairman Tim Wybrow said: “We would like to highlight the ‘greener’ materials that our contestants are using in line with the sustainability commitment of
Advanced Engineering. Some of the sustainable initiatives of the event include reusable stands, a sustainability trail showcasing eco-friendly solutions from exhibitors, and digital guides to reduce paper waste, among others.”