"Universite Laval"
(3rd place overall, 17th place in paper, 5th place in presentation, 3rd place in product , 1st in races)

ConcreteCanoe.org's award for "Outstanding Achievement" - for sweeping the races

Presentation:

Universite Laval represented the New England Conference and made their tenth national appearance.

Laval relied on 2 people to make their presentation; 1 man and 1 woman.  The presenters were dressed business casual.  The team used 1 screen and included several animations.

The team began by introducing their theme and team members.  After outlining their goals, they discussed their approach to project management.  They described their analysis techniques and specified the magnitude and location of the critical stress.  Then they outlined how they met the critical design requirements.

They described the constituents that they included in their mix and mentioned that it was very light in weight.  They specified the material characteristics of the final mix.  Then the team described the empirical tests that they used for composite analysis and specified the flexural stress of their composite.

Mold and canoe construction came next.  The team detailed the process and gave the person hours expended.  They explained their finishing techniques and touched on the efforts spent to train the paddling team. 

The team wrapped up by summarizing the project before bringing their presentation to a very strong conclusion.

Questions and Comments:

• Could you have achieved the thickness that you did by using conventional placement techniques?
• Can you outline the chemical admixtures that you employed?
• Can you clarify your shotcrete process?
• How did you decide on the water to cement ratio for your concrete?
• Are there any drawbacks to using such a high water to cement ratio?
• Was the process of adding structural elements to maintain a thin wall new for you?
• How did you control the large amount of material that you removed?
• How did your project schedule help you to manage your project?
• What did you think when your finite element results differed from your empirical results?
• What was you safety program regarding the handling of materials?

The presentation was “stunning” from a technical standpoint and the team was on their best game.

Product:

Canoe Name/Weight: "Voltage"/100 lb

Display and Cross Section:

Vital Statistics