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The Engineering Design Process: An introduction to Engineering Students using the Tower Bridge Project

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Conference

2024 South East Section Meeting

Location

Marietta, Georgia

Publication Date

March 10, 2024

Start Date

March 10, 2024

End Date

March 12, 2024

Tagged Topic

Diversity

Page Count

12

DOI

10.18260/1-2--45572

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/45572

Download Count

16

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Paper Authors

biography

Felix Ewere North Carolina State University at Raleigh Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-3777-2963

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Dr. Felix Ewere is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at North Carolina State University and Instructor of the Aerospace Engineering Capstone Senior Design courses. Engineering research interests are in the science and technology at the intersection of aerodynamics, structural mechanics, energy, and smart materials. Recent works have focused on exploiting aeroelastic instabilities on piezoelectric structures for engineering applications. Educational research interests include engineering design education, developing better-equipped graduates for the workforce, bridging the core competencies gap, improving diversity and collaboration within disciplines

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Abstract

Familiarity with the engineering design process is essential to the professional development of the Integrated Engineer. Therefore, as part of the new MAE Transfer to Success course, an Introduction to Engineering Design module was added to familiarize new transfer students into the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at regional university with the Engineering Design Process. This paper discusses the module which is based on the design and build of a Tower Bridge using everyday items like playing cards, tape, and popsicle sticks. The students were put in teams and taken through the engineering design process in a step-by-step manner with every step briefly introduced to them followed by an activity that builds on the previous step. The process included identification of need, project definition, conceptual design, preliminary design, detailed design and then manufacturing. The teams were given a list of requirements and a budget for extra items they could buy to complete their project. The Tower Bridge platform of their built prototypes were then tested to ascertain the loads that it can support with the measured maximum loads found to range from 225g to 782g. The top three prototypes were then selected based on additional criteria including aesthetics, structural rigidity, and wind resistance. A self-assessment survey given post course module showed an overwhelmingly positive result. Greater than 90% of the respondents perceived that participation in the module improved their familiarity with the engineering design process and that the engineering design process was helpful to the success of their finished prototypes

Ewere, F. (2024, March), The Engineering Design Process: An introduction to Engineering Students using the Tower Bridge Project Paper presented at 2024 South East Section Meeting, Marietta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--45572

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