| SPECIFICATIONS:
Overall length of boat: 6.4 m (21.1 ft)
Net weight of canoe: 67.1
kg (148 lb)
Concrete: 1098
kg/m3 (68.5 lb/ft3)
Reinforcement: Three Layers of Spatially Separated Un-impregnated
Graphite
Placement: 3rd at Nationals
Regional Conference: University of South Florida,
Tampa, Florida
National Competition: Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.
Officers:
P: Sarah Yeldell
VP: Jackie Whitaker
S: Amber Dickens
T: Robert Dudley
COB: Mo Bryant
SBC: Andrew Habel Faculty
Advisors:
Dr. John Gilbert
Dr. Houssam Toutanji Contact Members:
Mr. Tim Barnett
Mr. John Martin Concrete
Canoe Chair: Mo Bryant Coaches:
Amber Dickens
Todd Watts
Sarah Yeldell Media
Relations:
Mr. Phil Gentry Technical
Editor:
Ms. Kay Bradburn |
|
"Being defeated is often
a temporary condition.
Giving up is what makes it permanent." -- Marlene vos
Savant
"ConQuest"
was a Strategically Tuned
Absolutely Resilient Structure (STARS) that acted as an energy storage device.
As our team pulled their paddles from
the water, the elastic strain energy stored in the deformed shape was converted
into forward momentum.
We determined that the first mode is anti-symmetrical
torsion and the second mode is flutter bending. When these modes combine, the boat acts like a fish swimming along with its paddlers to
increase their input efficiency. Only the lower natural frequencies and their
associated mode shapes in a free-free boundary condition were calculated because
they adequately described the dynamic behavior of the canoe
See an animation
of our swimming
boat.
We
swept the technical events at the 2004 Southeast Regional Concrete Canoe
Competition in Tampa (UAH Exponent press
release) and won the technical paper category at the 2004
National Concrete Canoe Competition held in Washington, DC.
Download the UAH
2004 NCCC Design Report (PDF; 1.83 MB)
We
placed third overall in the 2004 NCCC where UW Madison successfully
defended their title while seven-time Canadian champion, Universite
Laval, placed second.
(Civil
Words - August 2004 - PDF Download)
Regional
Spreadsheet:
As part of our national delivery, we
gave our oral presentation in the National Building Museum
auditorium.
This was an excellent
opportunity to learn about "STARS" technology and how
the newest generation of cementitious composites may be the key to
building morphing aircraft. Seating was limited in the auditorium
and our presentation was telecast to the Great Hall to accommodate
all who were interested.
About
Our
2004 NCCC Entry:
The physical dimensions and performance
specifications for our boat are:
The project featured a multidisciplinary approach
to build the world's most technologically advanced watercraft designed
for paddlers using single-bladed paddles. And it represented, by
far, the most comprehensive and
challenging stint in our Chapter’s history.
The Quest:
Historically, Team UAH has been very
successful in the concrete canoe competition and our teams have been
responsible for some of the most dynamic and innovative performances at
the national level. Since
competing in the first national competition in 1988, we have assumed the
role of an aggressive innovator, constantly raising the bar while
searching for the next generation's technology.
In recent years, we have demonstrated concrete's
amazing versatility as a high-performance material. In 2001, for example, a prototype rocket was built using the
concrete that we designed for our concrete canoe
(article). The rocket was successfully launched
[launch
video (7913996 bytes; mpeg format; Real Player will work)] and plans are underway
to build a larger and more advanced prototype with the concrete mixture
that we designed in 2002 (article).
 Samples of this space-age concrete and our
graphite reinforced cementitious composite sections were displayed along
with concrete fabricated in Roman times at The Royal Institute of British
Architects in London. The exhibition
entitled, "Hardcore! Concrete's
rise from Utility to Luxury,”
ran from March through May, 2002. It explained concrete's rich
heritage but concentrated on contemporary groundbreaking developments
that are set to become a part of our everyday landscape.
We
subsequently recently received a U.S. Congressional set aside (article)
to explore the
possibility of using reinforced cementitious materials to retrofit parts
in aerospace vehicles and have made significant progress in that regard.
 But during the past two years of competition, our efforts
became so complex that even educated audiences had difficulty
appreciating and absorbing what we did (article).
We realized that standard methods used to analyze
civil engineering structures could not be applied to study our concrete
canoe and developed new tools for that purpose. We introduced a
modified transform section theory to study the stress distribution in
our flexible hull and employed composite laminate plate theory to design
boats that would surge forward between strokes and swim. We even
built our 2002 display entirely from the same reinforced concrete used
to construct our boat!
 Our
arguments were sound. But, mainly due to page and time
constraints, audiences were overwhelmed. And,
as a result, our predecessors fell short of their goal, failing
to reach the national level where they could pit their technology and
talent against those of formidable national contingents.
But our team is more enthusiastic and smarter than that!
We reached the national
level by integrating our most important discoveries into “ConQuest,”
the most innovative and technologically advanced concrete canoe ever designed by any of our
teams and we worked very hard preparing
to take on the national contingent (article).
 Our Goals:
During our quest to become the National
Concrete Canoe champion, we innovated and
meticulously documented the technology underlying our efforts, educated
civil engineering students, educators, practitioners, and the general
public about the discoveries that we made, disseminated
that information via a thorough design report, magnificent oral
presentation and marvelous product, and captivated
our audience with team spirit and a power-packed delivery
unmatched in the history of the competition.
Our
Accomplishments:
We had fun building public awareness of
concrete technology by designing, building, and racing our concrete
canoe and we were very pleased to have been taken seriously... because our primary
purpose for building "ConQuest" was to make our
audience aware of the advancements that we made so
that they can better appreciate the milestones that we achieved
as the next generation of civil engineers (article).
Details regarding our preparation for future
competitions can be found in our
Current Events
section.
Back to Competition History
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