59:005  Engineering Problem Solving-I    Sections 3 and 4

Design Project

The Design Project aims to give experiences in

• The design process
• Planning a project
• Designing a product
• Determining the economics of the product
• Being part of a team
• Giving presentations
• Building a prototype of the product
• Preparing a report

Background

In the blink of an eye, you find yourself catapulted forward in time to two years after graduation. You are now working for Amazing Products Ltd where you have, due to your excellent engineering education at The University of Iowa, risen quickly in the corporate hierarchy. You have now received an assignment to be part of a dynamic team to design and build a model prototype of a water storage facility for use in western states. The market for these facilities could be very large, given that many western states have not received appreciable rain for two years (since November 2009). Water will be shipped to these facilities and then stored at a height of 100 feet to maintain pressure for the system. Your structure should support as large a weight as possible to maximize the potential for water storage.

You task, should you choose to accept it, is to be part of a team to design and build a model prototype of the support structure of the water facility. More details are below. The constraints are also shown below.

 Design, Build and Test a Model Prototype

This will involve

1. Deciding on conceptual design by examining some existing structures.
2. Determining the distribution of forces on the members by a given weight w. This may involve force resolution calculations.
3. Building test models to test out the conceptual designs and to examine failure modes.
4. Determining the best design of the model prototype to be built using craft sticks.
5. Build your selected design.
6. Test the design to failure.

Constraints

Materials

1. The model prototype is to be built out of a maximum of 40 craft sticks. Use only those that are supplied to you.
2. The sticks are approximately 4 1/2" long x 3/8" wide x 1/8" thick.
3. The sticks are to be glued together using only Elmers Wood Glue.
4. Glue may only be used between sections of the craft sticks.
5. You may notch the craft sticks.

Size

1. The model height is to be 12 inches.
2. The maximum dimensions of the top are 4in x 4 in
3. The maximum dimensions of the base are 6 in x 6 in
4. At testing time, a square platform 6 ins x 6 ins will be placed on the top and weights added to the platform until the structure collapses.

Grading

The project accounts for 35% of your grade for the lab section and the grades are distributed as follows:

 A peer evaluation will be carried out to help determine the contribution of each team member.

[Report] [Present. Format]