2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

A Low-Cost Spanned Anchor Simulator for Firefighter Training and Statics Education Developed Via University–Fire Department Collaboration

Presented at Technological and Engineering Literacy/Philosophy of Engineering Division (TELPhE) Technical Session 3 — Broadening Participation Through Experiential and Community-Engaged Learning

Spanned anchors are ropes attached between fixed points to create a descent zone when natural anchors are unavailable along an over-ledge line of descent. As span horizontal included angle increases, anchor forces can significantly exceed the applied load. This counterintuitive effect is not fully addressed in firefighter manuals, which rely on tabulated angle multipliers and assume centered symmetrical loading.

Gainesville Fire Rescue (GFR) partnered with the University of Florida’s Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering (MAE) Department to analyze forces induced by spanned anchor rope systems used during their advanced over-ledge rescues. The collaborative objective was improving firefighters’ intuitive understanding of statics-based force amplification in spanned anchors. This study was guided by two research questions:
(1) How accurately do tabled spanned anchor guidelines available to firefighters predict anchor point forces under centered loading?
(2) Can a low-cost physical simulator improve conceptual firefighter understanding of force amplification in spanned anchor systems?

An inexpensive tabletop spanned anchor simulator was built from common materials, which allowed firefighters to vary span horizontal included angle and load position while directly measuring anchor reaction forces. Measurements were compared and verified against analytical predictions from Statics and guideline multipliers in firefighter field manuals. Key findings include strong agreement between the spanned anchor simulator experiment, static equilibrium equations, and tabulated multipliers. The simulator also demonstrated force prediction capability under load asymmetry, providing utility beyond tables in firefighter manuals.

This work illustrates how community-engaged engineering can enhance public safety while strengthening conceptual understanding of force balance through accessible, low-cost educational kits suitable for firefighter training and engineering classrooms.

Authors

Jake Joseph Ormanic University of Florida - GatorKits Laboratory [biography]

My name is Jake Ormanic, and I'm a Mechanical Engineering student at the University of Florida. My academic interests consist of manufacturing, applied mechanics, and robotics. I contributed to this paper as an author through research, design, and analysis related to firefighter training and statics education.
Ernest Richard Wright
Dr. Matthew J. Traum http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1105-0439 University of Florida [biography]

Dr. Matthew J. Traum is a Master Lecturer and Instructional Full Professor in the Department of Mechanical & Aerospace Engineering at the University of Florida (UF) where he leads GatorKits Laboratory as PI. He is a Fellow of Sigma Xi, the International Scientific Research Honor Society, and he is an elected Sigma Xi Director representing the Southeast Region. Dr. Traum is an experienced educator, administrator, fundraiser, and researcher. As of 2026, he has co-authored 1 book chapter, published 90 refereed journal and conference papers, written an engineering design Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook, and attracted over $1.43 Million in funding as PI or Co-PI. Prior to UF, Dr. Traum was founding CEO of Engineer Inc., a successful education technology social enterprise and pioneer in STEM instructional lab kits for remote learning.

Previously, Dr. Traum was an Associate Professor and Director of Engineering Programs at Philadelphia University. He also served on the Milwaukee School of Engineering faculty as well as co-founding the Mechanical & Energy Engineering Department at the University of North Texas – Denton.

Traum received Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and he holds two B.S. degrees from the UC Irvine in mechanical engineering and aerospace engineering.

Note

The full paper will be available to logged in and registered conference attendees once the conference starts on June 21, 2026, and to all visitors after the conference ends on June 24, 2026

« View session

For those interested in:

Broadening Participation in Engineering and Engineering Technology