Herausforderung Sri Lanka - Angehende Ingenieure bauen Hängebrücke im Dschungel

Challenge Sri Lanka - prospective engineers build suspension bridge in the jungle

Students from Karlsruhe University initiate, plan and develop engineering projects worldwide with sole responsibility. In summer 2013 they built a suspension bridge in a small village in the Sri Lankan jungle. This report is going to show and emphasize the challenges which come along with conducting such a project. Next to the project itself the funding needs to be discussed clearly as well as the fact that the whole team needs to be confronted with possible cultural differences and characteristics. Considering the construction of the suspension bridge it needs to be kept in mind that the material needs to be extremely solid due to the Sri Lankan humid climate. The construction of the bridge is supposed to be planned as simple as possible. University students and villagers who are not familiar with working on a construction site are going to build the bridge. In addition for logistical reasons it is not possible to bring and move big construction machines into the Sri Lankan jungle. Therefore it is necessary to throw acquired knowledge overboard and to come up with own creative concepts and ideas. The suspension bridge had been built and finished within four months. Because of communication problems, tropical storms as well as difficulties in accurate project planning and purchasing no day on the construction site was like the other. Looking back a reliable team, staying power and a close cooperation with the villagers is indispensable for completing such a tremendous project successfully.