On Monday June 2 2014 student association Practische Studie attempted to break the world record for an arch made of beer crates on the Delft market square
TU Delft first set the record in 2005 with a seven metre bridge. Since then it has been a cat and mouse game with rivals at TU Eindhoven, who set the most recent record in 2012 of nineteen and a half metres. TU Delft wanted the title back this year.
The faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences stated on their website, “Last year, eight civil engineering students designed a bridge that measured an impressive twenty-four metres. To this end, they conducted a lot of tests to be certain the bridge would meet all the requirements.” A team of some fifty civil engineering students actually built the bridge. They started work on Friday, and continued through the weekend to be ready for Monday’s attempt.
Beer and students may be common companions, but there was no beer in the bridge. “We asked Amstel for empty crates,” said team member Jos Muller. He explained that “the towers at either end of the arch had a few layers with bottles that we filled with water for weight, but all the crates in the arch were empty.” Around 8,100 beer crates were used.
In order to beat the world record, the arch needed to be free standing for one hour. Sadly the team didn’t manage to bring the record back to Delft. “The bridge was free standing for around forty minutes. Then it started to tilt to the left, and lowered on the right, so we decided to stop,” stated Muller. The attempt was abandoned and the students left the site at around 23:00 on Monday.
“Afterwards there were mixed feelings,” said Muller, “so many people were interested in what we were doing, and it took a lot of planning and energy, so it’s a real shame, but it was still a great experience.” When asked whether there would be another attempt Muller commented, “We’ll have to see, maybe in the future with a different team, the initiative will definitely remain.”
Surprisingly, achieving a world record wasn’t the main objective of the project. Practische Studie wanted to promote the study of civil engineering, with a side goal of supporting the charity Stichting Samenscholen. You can find out more on their website and on their Facebook page.
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