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General Card #2270
Flying Forces: Adding Lift to Statics
Updated: 10/14/2022 3:14 PM by Michael Johnson
Reviewed: 10/14/2022 3:14 PM by Michael Johnson
Summary
Using EML to add lift to a statics course
Description
3D particle equilibrium is one of the first techniques that you will likely cover in your course. In its most theoretical form, 3D particle equilibrium applies several known force vectors at a single point in space. You may have used this theoretical vector analysis to solve example problems such as suspending traffic lights or potted plants. However, if you want your students to see an even bigger picture and connect with the course content, this EML is for you! By integrating an EML-based project into one of their first core engineering courses, students learn from the get-go that engineering is not an exact, straightforward process. There are high levels of complexity that require the integration of a broad range of skills.

In this project, students are calculating tensions in cables used to hold a floating wind turbine in a given location. The basic underlying fundamental skill is 3D particle equilibrium, but the project is designed to give students the opportunity to solve a technical challenge that is directly linked to social and financial factors. It allows students the chance to see the potential effects that their decisions have on the people whom their design is serving.

This version of the project is contextualized within a sub-Saharan rural community, but this context could easily be modified to other locations or other structures. The exciting part of the project is the map which is used to provide a framework for both social and financial interactions.

See the KEEN'zine article about the project here: https://engineeringunleashed.com/keenzine5/46/

The project's deployment is described in the Timing and Logistics document provided.

Learning Objectives
1. Apply the fundamentals required for 2D and 3D static system analysis
- 3D equilibrium calculations to design a system without exceeding a maximum tension
2. Examine the ways in which the physics you analyze on paper is manifested in the physical world
- During the hands-on day they see how anchored balloons behave with subjected to wind loading. This shows how the tensions change with balloon height and wind direction.
3. Apply engineering skills to analyze the real world structures that surround you
- 3D particle equilibrium on a real-world turbine application
4. Situate technical analysis within a societal context
- Analyzing the pros and cons of installing infrastructure as well as the effects of what they are powering with the community
5. Examine peer work and provide critical feedback
- Critique peer work through the assigned QC process
Instructor Tips
Below are my general impressions (written very informally) for how the overall project as well as the individual activities went the first and second times I included the project in my course.

First time – A’16
I was excited to run the project for the first time, but I didn’t convey that excitement well to the students. My lack of project introduction in class, and lack of using lecture time to revisit the project made it feel a bit ancillary. While the overall project went well, and the students were able to practice the 3D particle equilibrium technical skills, many weren’t as excited as I expected. There were many groups who met the project criteria, but few who went above and beyond.
During the hands-on session, students were asked to think broadly about technical aspects of the problem, and not the social elements. Students developed a sense of how the wind forces acting on the balloons made tensions increase and decrease in different cables.
Students were asked to develop a pitch poster to the community which explained how the balloon anchoring would work and its costs. This deliverables structure resulted in all calculations displayed on the pitch posters. This lessened the “value added” in the poster development process as the posters became more of a display of calculations.
Overall, my impression was that students enjoyed the project, but were not especially excited about the work they were doing.

Second time – A’17
The second time around I did a better job motivating the project for students. I also gave the students more opportunity to be creative and develop their own ideas by having them scope the elements that they would power within the community. Students seemed much more engaged during the project. They asked many more questions about both the social and technical aspects of the project. Additionally, this time around they were much more willing to look beyond the assigned zones. Rather than accepting a social impact score within a zone, they thought about how they could reduce the impact in that zone once they had more revenue from the sales of energy from the turbine.
While the project was successful the first time around, the second time around was much more engaging. Student excitement was much higher and they were more engaged.
One change that I will make before running the project again will be to have the students read or respond to something in the project description to ensure that they have read all of the content before their hands on activity. This year, during the hands-on activity, they were asked to think about the stakeholders in the different zones. However, many of the students had not spent much time working on the project at this time, so there was too much time spent at this hands-on station with them becoming familiar with who the stakeholders were. Some additional preparation should enhance the effectiveness of this activity.
My impression of this year’s learning included both students ability to analyze 3D equilibrium systems and synthesize and analyze the conflicting interests of different groups. Students were thinking more deeply about the actual scenarios within the zones rather than only the social impact score that I assigned. Requiring students to think about the social impact within the zones and synthesize that with their impressions of the social impact of the things they choose to power made them think about the ways in which construction would affect people.






Thank you for reading about this project. I had a great time working on the development, and I am excited to iterate again. I would love for others to utilize the ideas in the project so that I can incorporate your experiences and ideas into our future course deliveries! Some areas that I think could use some improvement or other additions are:


1) Develop a better balance of social impact scores and construction costs so that students make more diverse location choices.

2) Contextualize the project in different locations. This type of turbine could be installed in many different types of locations. Making a new map with different zones would be really great.

3)It doesn’t need to be a floating wind turbine. The same 3D particle equilibrium concepts can be analyzed with other physical infrastructure. Maybe power lines with guy-wires, maybe circus equipment, maybe something entirely different.


4) Change up the topography. Maybe you want to install on a mountain range, or in some sand dunes. Then students also learn to read topo maps!


5) Develop more precise ways to add hands-on elements. It’s so much fun to bring in balloons and fans, but the balloon lift versus fan speed isn’t quite spot on. It gets the concept across, but it could certainly be improved.


6) If you are more into optimization problems, rather than picking any two locations that meet the physical system requirement, you could have your students write code to maximize social benefits while minimizing payback time. You could come up with a creative way to still incorporating other elements of social benefit based on what they choose to power within the community.
Curiosity
  • Demonstrate constant curiosity about our changing world
Connections
  • Integrate information from many sources to gain insight
Creating Value
  • Identify unexpected opportunities to create extraordinary value
Design
  • Determine Design Requirements
  • Perform Technical Design
  • Analyze Solutions
Opportunity
  • Evaluate Tech Feasibility, Customer Value, Societal Benefits & Economic Viability
Impact
  • Communicate Solution in Economic Terms
  • Communicate Societal Benefits
Categories & Tags
  • Classroom & Courses
  • statics
  • Engineering Science/Physics
  • General Engineering
  • Mechanical Engineering
Curtis Abel
Bethel Eddy
Leslie Dodson
Folders
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Introduction to the Drifting Dynamo EML Project.docx Instructor Notes .docx 5/25/2018 18 KB 963
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Course Syllabus - Example 1.pdf Syllabus .pdf 5/25/2018 599.5 KB 1090
Course Syllabus - Example 2.docx Syllabus .docx 5/25/2018 1.8 MB 1117
From Course to Project Learning Outcomes.docx Syllabus .docx 5/25/2018 13.2 KB 1003
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Links to KEEN framework.docx Other .docx 5/25/2018 9.1 MB 1030
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
01 Project Guidelines and Introduction A17.pdf Instructor Notes .pdf 5/25/2018 512.4 KB 1054
02 KEEN-EML-ES 2501- Drifting Dynamo -EML Handout Summary.pdf Activity / Handout .pdf 5/25/2018 80.5 MB 1049
02 Single-sheet Project Introduction.pdf Lesson .pdf 5/25/2018 303.3 KB 994
03 Timing and Logistics of the Balloon Turbine Project.docx Instructor Notes .docx 5/25/2018 19.2 KB 1071
04 QC Calculations Review A16.docx Instructor Notes .docx 5/25/2018 14.6 KB 1109
05 Related Prep - HOW2 Particle Equilibrium.pdf Instructor Notes .pdf 5/25/2018 141.5 KB 1339
06 Student Interaction.docx Student Artifact / Example .docx 5/25/2018 20.3 KB 1122
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
01 Samples of Team Project Poster V2.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 4.3 MB 943
01 Samples of Team Project Posters.pdf Student Artifact / Example .pdf 5/25/2018 1.4 MB 1013
02 Samples of Team Peer Feedback.pdf Student Artifact / Example .pdf 5/25/2018 35.3 KB 1000
02 Samples of Team Project Essays.pdf Student Artifact / Example .pdf 5/25/2018 503.4 KB 976
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3512.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 430 KB 901
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3559.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 369.4 KB 940
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3561.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 415.1 KB 927
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3586.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 355.2 KB 936
03 Project Photo.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 437.1 KB 909
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3555.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 411.7 KB 915
03 Project Photo D16 IMG_3594.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 389 KB 919
03 Project Photo A17.JPG Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 176.4 KB 927
03 Project Photo A16.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 842.2 KB 914
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Project Reflections and Instructor Assessment.docx Instructor Notes .docx 5/25/2018 12.9 KB 1069
Changes between first and second iterations.docx Instructor Notes .docx 5/25/2018 12.4 KB 1100
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
01 map_with_graphics A17 no star no wind.eps Activity / Handout .eps 5/25/2018 10.2 MB 1115
02 Updated map v3.jpg Activity / Handout .jpg 5/25/2018 9.1 MB 998
03 Balloon with blades.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 826.1 KB 980
04 Actual Image 1-floatingwind.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 5.9 MB 994
04 Actual Image PF5019_2013_6_h.jpg Student Artifact / Example .jpg 5/25/2018 6.2 MB 993
05 Role Playing Cards.pptx Presentation .pptx 5/25/2018 77.7 KB 1241
01 map_with_graphics A17 no star no wind.pdf Activity / Handout .pdf 5/25/2018 11.4 MB 1026
03 Vector analysis graphic.jpg Activity / Handout .jpg 5/25/2018 53.4 KB 1013
04 Actual Image Altaeros_Prototype_Flight_High.jpg Activity / Handout .jpg 5/25/2018 5.3 MB 1009
01 map_with_graphics A17 no star no wind.ai Activity / Handout .ai 5/25/2018 10.5 MB 1026
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Downloads
Adding Stakeholders - Example Bios.doc Instructor Notes .doc 5/25/2018 25 KB 483
Adding Stakeholders - Drifting Dynamo.pptx Instructor Notes .pptx 5/25/2018 722.7 KB 615
Drifting Dynamo for WPI ProjBL Summer Institute v5.pptx Instructor Notes .pptx 5/25/2018 335.7 MB 574
Adding Stakeholders - Role Playing Cards.pptx Instructor Notes .pptx 5/25/2018 77.7 KB 541
Description
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Requests to the KEEN Community.docx Other .docx 5/25/2018 13.2 KB 942
Description
The timing and logistics document explains the way in which I incorporate the activities into my 7 week term. The In class project introduction is a few images that explains the project. Most of the introduction is a discussion and explanation of the overall project goals.

I change the map each year to modify the costs and the social impacts. I used a MathCAD code to calculate every teams cable tensions based on their selected anchor points. This year I encouraged them to write a code too!
Title Type Ext Date Size Download All Downloads
Timing and Logistics of the Balloon Turbine Project.pdf Instructor Notes .pdf 1/7/2018 216.9 KB 950
In class project introduction.pdf Lesson .pdf 1/7/2018 303.3 KB 992
Flying Forces Assignment.pdf Activity / Handout .pdf 2/21/2018 538.6 KB 1055