The 2nd AUB Mechanical Design Contest
Amphibious Vehicles

Organized by Prof. Abdel-Malek
While on leave at the American University of Beirut

As a the main project of the course of Mechanical Design I for Mechanical Engineering students, groups were assigned the task of designing and building an amphibious vehicle. Groups of 5 students were encouraged to seek funding from local industries, banks, and manufacturing companies. Students were treated as Project engineers, under a flat structure, and were encouraged to start at the drawing board with ideas and creations. The deadline was specified and a race was held on land and in water, to determine the best design and to give awards. Naturally, AUB students were invited, parents, and faculty members...(approximately 2000 people attended the event). To say the least, the event and the concept was very well received and has significantly contributed to the hands-on experience and enthusiasm acquired by students. See the before and after pictures of the group Extasy.

Amphibious Vehicles were designed and manufactured in four months. These are probably the most creative students this professor has ever worked with.

Under the hot and shiny day, the 2nd AUB Mechanical Design Contest was held at the AUB private beach on June
12 at 4:00pm. Everybody was waiting for that event. All the teams were doing their final touch on their boats.
Who will win the race? Which design will prove to be the best?

For a quick summary of what the contest is all about, check the design project of the ME083 course.

There was 7 teams competing: 5 teams from the 3rd year mechanical students, 1 team from the 4th year
mechanical students was doing their final year project, and one team from the Notre Dame University
(NDU).


TEAMS

Group Name:
Ecstasy: Hussein Fakih, Ahmad Hammous, Saad Achkar, Nizar Awar, Bilal Saleh, Samer Sadek
S.S.Troubia: Christine Richa, Georges El-Khoury, Francois Farah, Mazen Ladki, Sarjoun Skaff.
FeeBee: Elie Shammas, Samer Haddad, Firas Matraji, Mounzer Chammas, Yeghra Yehyajian, Gaby Mike
Newt99: Youssef Habbouche, Abdo Chelala, Rami Mehanna, Zahi El-Haddad, Antoun Daou
Mammoth: Mazen Farhood, Omar Azanki, Mohamad El-Gibahi, Omar Nasr Eddin, Samer Saliba
Natasha (NDU): Ziad Youssef, Pierre Kannan, George Nader

Unfortunately, Newt99 had a serious accident and couldn't participate in the contest.
At 5:00pm, Dr. Karim Abdel-Malek annouced the start of the race.

It consisted of two parts: the land race and the water race. Each team had to travel a distance of approx. 200 m. Racing against time, the team that makes the best time wins on land. During the land race, Mammoth broke their steering because it hit the ramp from the back, and therefore couldn't continue the water race. FeeBee also had some problems on the ramp. Ecstasy was the fastest.

The water race began. It consisted of about 1.5 km round trip in the sea, then the team had to go back on land to the finish line.
Natasha was faster in sea and S.S.Troubia following them. But at the end, Natasha couldn't go up on the ramp, so S.S.Troubia crossed the finish line first
and won!

Prizes and Awards were given to the teams. Each team received (at least) one award.


At the end, what is better than a nice swim? Dr. Abdel-Malek and Dr. Hijazin found themselves thrown in the water by the students :)

For more pictures, check out the original site at AUB mechanical Design Contest