"Fairmont State University"
(21st place overall; 21st in paper; 19th in presentation; 19th in product)

Presentation:

Fairmont State represented the Virginias Conference and made their fourth consecutive national appearance.

Fairmont relied on 3 people to make their presentation; 2 men and 1 woman.  The presenters were dressed business casual and the presentation was business oriented.  The team used 1 screen and did not include any video. 

After a brief introduction, the team described their management scenario.  They explained how they achieved their goals and elaborated on how they reached the milestones established.

After elaborating on their theme, the team presented the salient features of their canoe.  They explained how they investigated the dimensional aspects of their design and elaborated on their structural analyses.

During this portion of the presentation, the team described how they placed sensors into the hull to monitor the curing process.  They described how these sensors were utilized to pinpoint the concrete compressive strength and described how structural elements were integrated with the canoe’s design. 

Finally, the team described how they constructed their form and concrete canoe.  They elaborated on the finishing techniques while showing a time lapse sequence of this phase of the project.  Then they brought the presentation to conclusion.

Questions and Comments:

• How well did the results from your journey monitoring compare with observations?
• How well does this method work when applied to a thin section?
• How much time did you devote to training and paddling?
• How did you determine the appropriate overlap lengths for joining your segmented reinforcement?
• What methods did you employ to heat your carbon fiber reinforcement?
• What were the manufacturer’s recommendations on this?
• How does the design of your canoe decrease the need for paddling practice?
• Did the shape of the canoe have any effect when analyzing the results obtained from your sensors?
• When did you develop the trowel used to produce the gunwale?
• How did you transfer the dimensions of your canoe from your CAD program to your finite element analysis package?
• Did you treat your canoe as a simply supported beam?
• Did you safety manager impose any restrictions or regulations on your team members?

 Product:

Fairmont fielded "The Fighting Falcon.
Length: 19' 10.5"
Weight: 196 lb
Color: light gray w/maroon

The team employed two layers of epoxy coated carbon fiber mesh to reinforce their hull and monitored the cure cycle of their concrete by using Intelli Rock sensors manufactured by Engius. 

Vital Statistics