This quiz-style game challenges students to take on the role of structural engineer for a hypothetical design project. The game was originally developed as a contest for SteelDays in 2024, and it has been converted to a format for classroom use. 

Description 

Business owners in Steelville, Ill., are excited about the new convention center that will bring new customers to the area--but the architect needs some help! The new convention center will have large open spaces for exhibit areas on the first and second floors. The second floor framing is designed to carry a uniform floor load from above as well as hanging loads from below. To keep the spaces open and column-free, the floor framing system uses very large trusses spanning 90 ft. As the design team’s structural engineer, students must review the preliminary design for the steel truss in preparation of the design package for the client.

Prerequisites

This game is ideally suited for students who are currently enrolled in or have completed a steel design class. Topics include statics, factored load calculation, truss analysis, and tension member design using LRFD. They’ll be asked to run several calculations, all of which can be done by hand. 

References

Questions refer to the 2022 AISC Specification for Structural Steel Buildings and the 16th Edition Steel Construction Manual. 

Download the PDF

Note to Instructors

An instructor guide is available on the AISC Educator Forum in the Course Resources group, and it provides a description of what the game entails, suggestions for implementation, and the answer key for all questions.