"University of Wisconsin - Platteville"
(9th place overall; 13th in paper; 8th in presentation; 6th in product)

Presentation:

Platteville relied on 5 people to deliver their presentation.  They used 1 screen and presented their effort from a business standpoint.

Following team introductions, the team gave details of their management scenario.  Then they elaborated on the motivation for selecting their boat’s name. 

After describing their organizational breakdown structure, the team elaborated on the process used to select team members and paddlers.

Hull design came next .  The team specified the desired attributes of their hull and explained how these were incorporated into their design.

Then the team explained how they took service loads and transport stresses into account.  They found that the maximum stress was during transport.

The team explained how they tested different reinforcement schemes and investigated different finishing methods. 

Loading conditions were specified for the different service loads and the team explained how they put together a database for strength testing.

Construction came next.  The team outlined the methods employed for construction and quality control and elaborated on the methods used to finish the canoe.  Then, the team brought the presentation to conclusion.

Questions and Comments: 

• If you could do something different in your mix design table, what would you do?
• Did you realize that, after the table was constructed, anything was odd?
• How did you arrive at the factor of safety selected for your design?
• Why did you want to avoid brittle failure?
• What is the biggest thing that you learned between this year and last year?
• How was the strain gage data taken from last year’s canoe used this year?
• Do you plan to use this data in the future?
• Do you plan to measure the elastic modulus during your next stint so that stresses can be determined in your composite section?

Product:

Canoe Name: Fortuna  
Length: 20.25 ft  
Weight:195 lb
Color: blue, black, red, and tan

Vital Statistics (debut)