5 Things Lego Blocks Can Teach About Structural Engineering

Concepts of scale are important for both Lego building and structural engineering. After all, you want to build something that's big enough for your toy minifigure and his friends, right?

Well, the same concept applies to engineers creating spaces large enough to accommodate a desirable number of people. Even considering the end result, there's a more important reason to think about scale: it requires planning and modeling your structure before tackling the real thing -- a must for structural engineers and architects.

Say you want to build a rendition of the Eiffel Tower with Lego bricks. Before gathering the number of pieces you'll need, it's a good idea to determine the scale of your project and how big it will be. This allows you to create the gist of the structure with the bricks on a smaller scale. Building to scale also puts building materials into perspective, requiring you to admit their limitations. The bigger the structure, the more ease you'll have incorporating curves and arches into it, even while using rectangular bricks. If you're especially up for the challenge, you can use math to downsize previous Lego projects by dividing sections into more manageable sizes.

The sky's the limit -- even with Lego products. But is your structure functional? Find out more on the next page.

Loading constraints can influence how structural engineers approach a given project. Though the term might not sound familiar, it's basically a way of questioning what will happen when weight or other factors act on a structure or object.

By using Lego bricks, you can better picture two basic principles engineers consider: static loading and dynamic loading. Static loading includes the weight and pressure on the structure while it's stationary, while dynamic loading refers to how outside forces act on the structure while it's being used. For example, every building has its physical limits for what it can support -- its static loading capacity. But what about something that's a bit more mobile -- such as an airplane that's crafted to accommodate passengers and always changing flying conditions? Engineers must consider these factors to ensure that when a plane is dynamically loaded (with people, and in midair) it's safe and efficient.

To test dynamic loading constraints, build a Lego bridge and then use a remote control car or wooden box cars of various weights to look at how they affect the structure as they move across it. Does one of the beams buckle under the added weight? Toying around with dynamic loading is far more effective than reading about it in a text book, where weights and numbers aren't tangible.

Next up, we'll talk about what every serious Lego builder needs to know.

Knowing how to use bricks to reinforce the strength of a structure will not only give you an edge while using Lego products, but it could also help you wrap your brain around the complex structures throughout your Lego community.

Let's say you create a quaint miniature village and realize one building isn't very stable and it topples over. Upon picking it up, you realize it's still relatively intact. Should you scrap it?

Not necessarily. See if you can provide extra support through bracing, or adding additional pieces for support. For a structural engineer, trusses, columns and beams should do the trick, but connector pegs and axles will provide extra support for his Lego counterpart. Also, it's wise to ask yourself: Were you stacking mismatched pieces or were you building with the same types of bricks on top of one another? Using the same types of pieces for stacking is a good strategy to make structures more stable.

Geography and weather patterns influence how engineers create a structure. How can you test these conditions using Lego products?

Several competitions and visual experiments have used Lego projects to model the pitfalls of structural engineering during natural events such as earthquakes. Competitors learn how seismic loading, or the extra stress a building endures during an earthquake, affects their small-scale structures.

What both Lego builders and structural engineers collectively admit is that creating a sturdy model -- or even a real building, for that matter -- requires understanding a range of seismic waves and the problems they pose. Since some areas in the Northwest experience both low and high frequency quakes, engineers are challenged to design building structures that can withstand both.

To create sturdier buildings that can withstand quakes, students craft structures with heavier tops or insert support trusses between floors or layers of buildings, much like what a structural engineer team would do. Then, they challenge their structures by placing them in earthquake simulators to see which design works best. The idea is to let natural innovation take hold, as some projects put forth new ideas that are worth testing on a larger scale.

What keeps components of your Lego bridge together? Find out which structural engineering concept you can play around with in your living room on the next page.

Some bridges seem like they defy physics, with massive pieces suspended midair. It turns out the same concept that makes this possible also works on a smaller scale with Lego projects at home.

Tension (the pulling forces on materials) and compression (the pressure on materials), give many structures a floating effect. For Lego lovers, you can try suspend portions of structures by creating your own arches and bridges. Truss bridges, in particular, use tension and compression to get the job done. It's also important to keep in mind your material's stiffness, as it will give more or less when under additional pressure.