Weekly Progress Reports (see sidebar), the Gantt chart, and this Project Management page should be printed out before meetings with the sponsor and instructor.
All team members should be able to explain all items on the progress report.
Place a "*" at the beginning of the title of the active week Progress Report (see * in sidebar).
Project Objectives
Concisely list and prioritize the project objectives and constraints
High Priority Objectives
Analyze and test components for yielding
Metal: find the failure criteria of existing case
Composite: compare failure criteria with metal case
Recommend design choices to improve composite design if needed
Material and geometry can change to meet criteria
Second Priority Objectives
Optimization
Different materials and hinge designs can be implemented to improve strength
Recommend test procedures for failure
Conditions: vibrations, salt spray, etc
Other Constraints and Issues
Given composite material and design to start with
Design for “infinite life” (20-30 years)
Injection mold of current composite design has already been made
Will take a long time to create new molds for potential design changes
Potential issues with regulations
WOW Design Solution
We deliver a design of the composite hinge assembly that has been proven by hand calculations, physical tests, and FE simulations to be able to withstand yielding and fatigue with a given set of easily compilable conditions
Risk Reduction Strategy
List areas of risk and strategy that will be used to eliminate risk really in the design process.
Risk: using given composite material for hinge design will result in an inadequate yield strength
Determine assumptions for calculations
Hand calculations of yielding and rough estimations of fatigue conditions
Verify calculations through FEA software
Intermediate Milestones
Identifying meaningful intermediate milestones is a critical for effective project management. Together with your sponsor identify such milestones, and specify specific performance requirements you aim to meet at each milestone.
Hand calculations on the hinge assembly
Determine expected service load conditions for a hinge
Max stress location on assembly for each expected service load condition
Detailed calculation report showing:
Free body diagrams
Assumptions
Load conditions
Stress results in comparison to available materials
Physical test design and setup
Simulate loads from the door on the hinges with weights
Strain gauges to find stresses
Simulation of stresses with FEA software
Learn the basics of FEA (Solidwork Sim, ANSYS, etc.)
Attempt at gathering comparable results to hand calcs
Test procedure write and execution to benchmark physical strength of parts
Composite destructive test
Stainless destructive test