SMCE310 16SCVE310 Engineering Skills Project Brief Flume Rid

16smce310 16scve310 Engineering Skillsproject Brief Flume Rideint

Design and build a fully functional Flume Ride within a proposed Fun Park near Salmiya, Kuwait, ensuring safety, excitement, and adherence to specified constraints. The project involves designing the ride track, creating a ride car capable of carrying a 1.5 kg load, and ensuring the structure is lightweight yet sturdy. The ride must include an inverse vertical curve followed by a ramp, ending in a small water pool, with specific height and area restrictions. Use CAD software for design, 3D printing for the car, and perform structural, physics, and mathematical analyses. Additionally, prepare technical documentation, including calculations, decision matrix, risk assessment, and project plan.

Paper For Above instruction

The development of amusement park rides, particularly flume rides, combines engineering creativity, safety considerations, and structural innovation. The challenge posed by this project is to design a safe, exhilarating, and efficient flume ride that fits within precise spatial and material constraints while maximizing safety and feature efficacy. This paper explores the comprehensive engineering process required to accomplish such a task, including conceptual design, structural analysis, safety considerations, manufacturing processes, and documentation.

Introduction

The importance of safety, excitement, and sustainability in amusement ride design is widely recognized in the field of civil and mechanical engineering. A flume ride—designed to thrill while fundamentally prioritizing rider safety—demands meticulous planning, precise calculations, and innovative structural solutions. These requirements are compounded by constraints such as maximum height, area, track width, and materials, which serve to limit and challenge the engineer's creativity and analytical skills. This paper presents an integrated approach toward designing and constructing a flume ride that optimally balances these competing demands, leveraging tools like CAD software and 3D printing technologies.

Design Principles and Safety Considerations

In designing a flume ride, safety remains paramount. The ride must incorporate features such as secure track joints, sufficient clearances, and structural stability to prevent derailment or collapse. The minimum ground clearance of 0.5 meters ensures adequate space for track support and safety buffers, while the maximum height restriction of 1.5 meters keeps the structure manageable and complies with spatial constraints. Additionally, the ride’s design must ensure that the car remains on the track throughout its motion, with pin joints and glued fixtures used in assembly to prevent detachment.

Structural Design and Material Choice

The project's constraints favor lightweight materials and efficient geometries. Using wooden sticks or sheet metal in truss configurations aids in minimizing weight while maintaining strength. The structure's design must withstand not only the static weight of the ride car and additional 1.5 kg load but also dynamic forces during the ride's operation, such as accelerations and impacts. Computational tools like Staad.Pro or AutoCAD facilitate stress analysis, ensuring the design's structural integrity. The use of CAD design (SOLIDWORKS) helps model the complete structure, including joints, curves, and load paths, which enhances accuracy during manufacturing and analysis.

Analysis and Calculations

Comprehensive analysis involves calculating forces such as shear, compressive, and axial loads acting on the components. These forces derive from the ride's motion and the structural configuration, requiring thorough static and dynamic analyses. Governing equations stem from Newton's laws, energy conservation, and material strength criteria. Plotting axial forces along the track’s length guides reinforcement needs, while velocity and energy graphs illustrate the ride's dynamics, ensuring riders experience appropriate acceleration without exceeding safety limits.

Manufacturing and Material Implementation

The car is designed to be manufactured via 3D printing, leveraging additive manufacturing techniques for precision and customization. The design must include considerations for load capacity, stability, and safety features. On the other hand, the track's construction with wooden sticks or sheet metal in truss shapes emphasizes lightweight yet durable design. Pin joints connected via wires or glue promote structural flexibility and strengths, allowing energy dissipation and smooth operation.

Evaluation and Decision Making

Developing a decision matrix facilitates comparing various design propositions based on criteria such as safety, cost, weight, manufacturability, and aesthetic aspects. Each alternative’s advantages and disadvantages are analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively, ensuring a rational selection process aligned with project constraints.

Risk Assessment and Project Planning

Risk assessments identify potential structural failures, material shortcomings, or manufacturing challenges. Mitigation strategies include selecting high-strength materials, incorporating safety factors into calculations, and performing simulated tests using CAD and analysis software. A Gantt chart schedules the project timeline, ensuring the design, analysis, manufacturing, and testing stages align within the deadline, with testing scheduled for week 12.

Conclusion

The successful design and construction of a flume ride involve the harmonious integration of engineering principles, safety standards, material science, and innovative manufacturing. By applying thorough analyses, leveraging CAD and 3D printing technologies, and adhering to design constraints, it is possible to create an engaging, safe, and cost-effective amusement ride. This project exemplifies the multifaceted skills required in modern engineering—problem-solving, creativity, teamwork, and technical proficiency—culminating in a design that can be tested and refined to meet safety and entertainment standards.

References

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• Autodesk. (2021). SOLIDWORKS Applications for Mechanical Design. Autodesk Inc.
• American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). (2020). Safety Standards for Amusement Rides. ASME PVPD-2020.
• ISO. (2021). Safety of Amusement Rides and Devices — General Requirements. ISO 17842.
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