General Information for Hosts and Judges

Congratulations on being selected to host or judge a Student Steel Bridge Competition sponsored by the American Institute of Steel Construction (AISC) and by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), and co-sponsored by the American Iron and Steel Institute, the James F. Lincoln Arc Welding Foundation, the National Steel Bridge Alliance and Nucor Corporation.  The sponsors and co-sponsors support your intentions to conduct a safe, fair and enjoyable event.

This web site provides instructions for conducting a Student Steel Bridge Competition and is distributed to universities that are hosting these competitions and to judges for the competitions.  It is companion to the Rules document that describes the competition and states the official rules.

 SUPPORT

AISC provides limited funding for hosting the competition but you may need to solicit additional support.  The following types of organizations are most likely to make donations: your college or university, chapters of engineering societies, trade associations, design firms, and companies with an interest in producing, supplying, fabricating or erecting structural steel.  If you charge an entry fee it should be small so that potential competitors are not discouraged from entering.

RECRUITING AND TRAINING JUDGES

The host recruits judges who will be fair, unbiased and competent.  Steel fabrication companies are good sources of judges.  Structural engineers and erectors also make good judges.  It is highly recommended that at least one judge with past judging or competition experience be recruited.  There should be more than one judge, with one appointed as head judge.  For the national competition, selection of judges is a joint responsibility of AISC and the host.

Regional competitions may recruit and train as many judges as they feel necessary to run the competition.  At the national competition there are typically four judges per erection lane, one judge (with two or three assistants) per loading bay and one judge in the weighing area.  Aesthetics judging is normally conducted by a committee of three or more judges.

Judges should have copies of, and be familiar with, this document, the Rules document, and clarifications to the rules.  All are available at the AISC website.

The host should arrange a meeting of judges at least a day before the contest.  This meeting typically consists of an overview of the rules, common violations, and techniques for determining compliance with the rules.

GUIDELINES FOR JUDGES

Judges share responsibility for safety with the host and competitors.  Judges are directed and empowered to halt any activities they deem hazardous.  Judges should insist that competitors wear the safety equipment specified in the Rules. 

Judges must use the current official rules for the competition without modification or addition. 

Judges have complete and final authority for enforcing the rules of the contest, scoring and rating bridges, resolving ambiguities in the rules and settling disputes.  Procedures for resolving protests are described in the Rules  document.

Before the judges' organizational meeting, each judge should carefully study this document and the current Rules, and should consult the AISC website for official interpretations of the rules.  Copies of the Rules also may be downloaded from that site.

The judges' organizational meeting should be held at least a day before the contest.  Questions regarding rules and procedures should be discussed and resolved at this meeting.  In addition, the duties of each judge should be defined.  The judges should be prepared to answer questions and resolve disputes that may arise during the competition.

Judges are reminded that competitors have invested significant amounts of time and money in their bridges.  They will expect judges to make accurate measurements, keep careful records, compute scores and ratings accurately, understand and enforce the Rules, and to be fair in all decisions.  In particular, penalties should be handled with due regard to the relative seriousness of the infraction and fairness to all competitors.

A scoring spreadsheet is available on the rules web site.  This spreadsheet contains judging forms that will help ensure thorough enforcement of the rules.  While the spreadsheet has been tested, there may still be bugs in the system. Judges should run their own check of the spreadsheet to verify it's accuracy. Please email aftbq@uaa.alaska.edu with any potential errors and/or questions.

RULES

The rules changed EVERY year and, therefore, are different from every other year; the current Rules document should be studied carefully.  The current rules must be used without modification or addition.  This is necessary so that bridges from all regions may compete nationally without disqualification or disadvantage.  The rules govern if there is a conflict between the rules and any other document.

SITES

See the section on site layout provided on this web site.  Good site layout is essential to a successful competition.

DATA AND COMPUTATION SHEETS FOR SCORING

Judges should be provided with data sheets for recording all raw data (deflections measurements, construction time, penalties, etc.) and for computing scores so that results can be checked and verified.  An Excel scoring spread sheet is available for this purpose; it may be downloaded from here.  In addition to computing the results, the provided spreadsheet includes forms for judges to use the day of the competition.  If other spreadsheets or computer programs are used, they should be checked very carefully by several independent reviewers before the competition.

Scheduling

Plan a realistic schedule for the competition and try to maintain it.  The number of competitors has a major effect on scheduling.  If the number of competitors is very large, it may be advisable to have several load testing areas and several construction areas.

The competition may be expedited by having separate stations for checking components, construction, aesthetics, and load testing.  At least one judge is needed at each station.  Bridges are carried from station to station so that the stages of the competition are conducted simultaneously for several bridges.

AWARDS

AISC provides nine plaques (first, second and third place overall, and first places in the six categories of competition), financial support for the host, and stipends for each participating team. ASCE provides monetary awards at the national level.

COMMUNICATION

As soon as possible, the host should inform potential competitors of the date and location of the competition and of estimated entry fees, if any.

Well in advance of the competition, the host should send competitors a description of the equipment that will be used, including the type of load, type of safety support, dimensions of the construction area (if different from the regulation dimensions) and description of decking (if the regulation decking is not used).

The host should provide each competitor with a schedule of events, map to the contest site and lodging recommendations.

The  AISC website lists answers to questions about the rules.  Competitors, judges and host personnel may submit questions via a form on that web site but should first read the previously posted clarifications and reread this Rules booklet carefully in its entirety.  The names of students and their universities will be posted with their questions.

At the beginning of competition, the judges should meet with the captains to review the rules and answer questions.