Lab Week-8 – Senior Design

The Week-8 lab requires you to attend two senior design presentations instead of going to the regular Friday lab.  You will write about them afterwards so review the requirements for the assignment and take notes.

Note that some of the sessions are in week-9 so that there is a definite advantage to attending your sessions earlier in the week.

 

When and Where are the Presentations

Here’s a google calendar showing the presentation schedule http://goo.gl/VFdH0

· Change to the “Week” view to see the times graphically

· To see the details for each presentation, including the location, student names and the advisor click on the calendar entry.

· Note that the room for the presentations changes between morning and afternoon and on different days. Check the location carefully. The general info is below.

· The presentations are mornings and afternoons Thursday &Friday (5/23-24) and then Tuesday and Wednesday (5/28-29) . If your calendar shows other times your Google account probably doesn’t have EST set as the time zone

· Dr. Brehm, the senior design coordinator, advises me that he is going to be very strict about access to the rooms:

o No standing in the room.

o The door will be closed at locked at the beginning of presentations – no late arrivals

Room Locations (also on the calendar)

Date	Times	Location	Comment
5/23 – Thursday	All Day	AEL-275	The department conference room in the middle of the N-S hallway in the end building of the Main building complex, 2nd floor – It’s small, seating is limited.
5/24 – Friday	All Day	Disque-103	This is a large room – a great one to attend.  These presentations are during your 201 lab so you can attend them.
5/28 – Monday	All Day	AEL-275	The department conference room in the middle of the N-S hallway in the end building of the Main building complex, 2nd floor – It’s small, seating is limited.
5/29 – Tuesday	Morning Afternoon	AEL-275 Curtis-341	Third floor of Main building complex in the 3rd building.

There will be no sign-in sheet for this lab, your two documents will be proof of attendance.

Week-7–Rec Center Visit

Lab Locations and Times

This week we’ll be touring the Rec Center AND having time in the lab to address the calculation assignment of the week.  You should plan to be involved the whole two hours of your lab period.

Note that we will meet outside the East entrance to the Papadakis Integrated Sciences Building (inside if raining).  Here’s a map showing where we’ll meet and where we’ll go.

Wear flat shoes (NOT heels) – we’ll walk on sensitive surfaces.

Time & Location

Lab	Last Name	Time	Location	2nd Hour
060	A-L	10:00	Papadakis ISB	Randell-121
060	K-Z	10:00	Randell-1-21	Papadakis ISB
061	A-M	12:00	Papadakis ISB	Randell-121
061	N-Z	12:00	Randell-1-21	Papadakis ISB

Posted by James E. Mitchell at 9:17 PM

Engineering Lab Reports

A sizable component of your engineering and academic career will be acquiring data and presenting your work.  There are many ways to present your work: laboratory reports, memos, executive summaries, professional letters, posters, and presentation formats.  Perfecting your business and engineering writing styles takes practice and matures over time.  Many times the documents that you produce may become legal documents, subject to future scrutiny should a problem arise.

Be sure to conduct your own search to locate good sources for writing examples.  I've included a few to get you started.

Here is a great source for writing laboratory reports, where the major sections are discussed: Abstract, Introduction, Procedures, Results and Discussion, Conclusions, and Appendices:
http://www.writing.engr.psu.edu/workbooks/laboratory.html

When writing business memos, always avoid the use of first person, casual tone and opinion.  You just need present the important data keeping in mind the purpose, details, limitations, and implications of your work.

For example: We took a tour of the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge and it was so fun to get hands-on experience and measure the strain gage distance for ourselves.

A better way to state the same activities: A site tour of the Tacony-Palymyra Bridge was conducted and field measurements were recorded to determine the strain gage distance.

Here is a great source for writing business memos:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/590/04/

You can always get help here at Drexel by utilizing the Writing Center:
http://drexel.edu/engphil/about/DrexelWritingCenter/
http://drexel.edu/engphil/about/DrexelWritingCenter/workshops/

They also have various workshops you may register for during the various terms:
http://drexel.edu/engphil/about/DrexelWritingCenter/workshops/

Accessing The CadLab With Your Dragoncard

Question

How do I schedule a time to use the Cadlab again?

Response

Any student in CAEE-201 can get 24/7 access to the cadlab by requesting it.  Send an email to cadlab@drexel.edu including in it:

• Your name
• The class you’re in – CAEE-201
• Your request to have cadlab access
• Your DragonCard # (back of card – all digits) – NOT your drexel ID

It usually takes a couple of days for Drexel security to process the request.  After that your card will activate the door in the lab.

If you need access before your card is activated you may knock on the door.  One of the students in the lab will probably let you in if you explain you’re in CAEE-201.

Bridge Lab Questions

 

Question 1:

For problem #1, is the sketch suppose to be similar to the PNG image "Truss Chord Diagram with Strain Gages"? 

Response 1

The intent of this sketch is to locate where the strain gauge is located along the length of the bridge rather than where it is on the chord member.

 

Question 2:

For problem #2, do we find the minimum or maximum strain gage value (-33.79ue or 5.55ue for sensor 1)? 

Response 2:

I assume you are referring to part #5 in lab description.  It asks you to figure out whether you expect the strain gauge gets shorter or longer on the top chord (compression or tension).  The answer to that question gives you which value is appropriate.

 

Question 3:

For problem #4 and 5, Is the circled location correct for the strain gage? 

 

Response 3:

This is part of your challenge: to interpret the drawings.  The information circled is true between U7 and U9.  Is that where you think you were?

Note that the data description page also provides location information in terms of percentage along the span..

For those who weren’t certain, the strain gauge was located in the first span after the bascule on the New Jersey side.

Question 4:

For problem #7, we assumed the units for the strain was in micro strains (10^-6). Can you comment if that is correct?

Response 4:

Yes, the “ue” indicates micro strains as you indicate.