MMME3074 – Resit Assignment
Deadline: Monday 14th of August, 2023 15:00 Submission by Moodle.
Prerequisites
• You should complete all the classwork on modelling, analysis and design
optimisation.
Module Learning Outcomes
Just a quick reminder - You will be able to use advanced CAE software (e.g.
SolidWorks) to generate, analyse, assemble, animate and render solid models
from both solids and surfaces. On successful completion of this module you will
be able to:
• Apply core engineering and mathematical principles to evaluate CAE system
analyses and appreciate their limitations.
• Identify data sources, extract and synthesise data from various sources to
create complex models and analyses.
• Identify and critically evaluate developing CAE tools and techniques.
• Understand and appreciate the principles of design intent and design process
within the context of CAE.
• Justify and communicate techniques selected for model generation and
analysis.
• Provide visualisations as computer models and renderings of a product,
component or system.
Resources
You will need:
• To be enrolled on the Moodle course MMME3074.
• You need access to SolidWorks. Link to the M3 Design Manual Moodle page
can be found on the MMME3074 Moodle page, and from there you can
download Solidworks. If you are not able to install Solidworks you can be
provided with remote access to a Virtual Machine that runs the software –
you must contact s.lawes@nottingham.ac.uk to request access to this
service.
• You will need to use the Solidworks parts and assemblies within
‘Beam_assembley.zip’.
Exercise
- Analysis and Design
Your company has been asked by a customer to design a beam which will
support a static crane hoist. The crane is required to support a load of 2 metric
Tonnes (19,600 N) at the centre of its span. The span of the beam is to be 10.2
m with the two supported ends resting on 100 mm long compliant soft plastic
MMME3074 Resit Assignment 2
pads, giving an effective span of 10 m. See figure 1 for an illustration of the
beam and load conditions.
The location where the beam will be placed means that only a certain beam
geometry would be acceptable, a Universal Beam 356mm depth of section, 171
mm width of section, further details of Universal Beam geometry can be found at
https://amesweb.info/Profiles/universal-beam-sizes-dimensions-table.aspx. The
material of the beam is Al6063 in the T6 heat treated condition. The materials
properties of AL6063-T6 can be found in the Solidworks Materials >> Aluminium
Alloys section of Solidworks library. This type of beam and support system has
been used before in these applications and it is known to perform well.
Solidworks models of the beam, the pads and an assembly with their
arrangement has been provided for you, ‘Beam_assembley.zip’
There is a problem however. A beam of this construction has a mass of ~200
Kg. This would be too heavy for the types of lifting equipment that can access
your customer’s site. The maximum mass that your company believes they can
install on this site is 150 Kg.
You have been tasked with performing analysis of the beam to determine its
strength and stiffness, and then by utilising analysis and design tools to produce
a revised model of the beam with material removed by subtractive machining
Figure 1 – Illustration of the beam loading conditions. Note that the full length
of the beam is not shown, and that the beam profile is shown as rectangular
rather than the true I-beam profile of a Universal Beam.
MMME3074 Resit Assignment 3
operations in order to bring its mass below 150 Kg, while maintaining safe
performance characteristics. The 100 mm at either end of the beam which is in
contact with the pads should be left unmodified.
Note: you should calculate the mass of the beam by using the
Evaluate>Mass Properties tool within Solidworks to find the volume of
the just the beam, and then multiply that volume by density (AL6063-
T6, ρ = 2700 kg/m3). This may be more accurate than using the Mass
calculated by Solidworks.
Safe performance has been determined as the following.
• No part of the beam may experience a Von Mises stress in excess of 1/3rd
of the ultimate tensile strength of the material (AL6063-T6, UTS = 240
MPa), so the safe working limit is 80 MPa.
• The centre of the beam must not deflect by more than 40 mm when
experiencing its full rated load.
• The beam must not experience any twisting, i.e. torsional deflection
• The beam must not experience any buckling.
You are required to submit a revised design for the beam as a Solidworks model,
as well as a report discussing the analysis and design studies that you performed
to arrive at this result. This report should include a verification of your
analysis approach against a simple manual calculation of a simply
supported beam.
Note: You may wish to refer to your 2nd year Mechanics of Solids notes for
this verification. The beam is simply supported at either end, with an effective
length of 10,000 mm, and a distributed load across a 400 mm width at its
centre. The second moment of area for this profile can be found from the
Universal Beam geometry and the link provided above.
Note: You should ignore the self-weight of the beam in your calculations
and modelling of stress and deflection.
You will need to consider and investigate:
• How to apply suitable load conditions to the beam.
• How to mesh the beam and demonstrate that the mesh and solver
conditions produce a result which is convergent to 98% agreement.
• How to verify a basic simulation of the unmodified beams behaviour
against a manual calculation of the stress and deflection of the beam.
This should be performed for the beam’s original geometry, prior to any
redesign.
• How to alter the design to subtract mass from the beam while
maintaining adequate stiffness and strength.
• How the ‘design study’ functions or other design tools within Solidworks
can assist you in improving the design. It will be necessary to
evaluate a range of options. The application of these different
approaches should be described and discussed in your report.
MMME3074 Resit Assignment 4
For this exercise:
• Your submission should include the design (submit your Solidworks part files
– see submission requirements below), as well as the report which contains
details of the methodology you adopted including descriptions of the
functions and tools that you used. The report should include a summary of
the most relevant results obtained from your FEA simulation and a full
description of any calculations performed.
• Your submission will be assessed in terms of the accuracy of your solutions,
and the engineering rigour adopted in your analysis.
• Remember that confidence in the software design analysis results can be
obtained from correlation with a simple model, there is no need to manually
calculate the stresses, strains, deflections, etc for all cases. You are strongly
encouraged to use an unmodified beam for verification against your manual
calculations.
• The basic manual calculations required are all within the 1st and 2nd year
mechanical engineering Statics and Dynamics, and Mechanics of Solids
modules.
The Report
You are to write a single 2000 word illustrated report, including appropriate
diagrams and screenshots, as follows:
• Outline your selection and justification of analysis techniques for the analysis
and design exercise.
• Describe your methods, focussing on the more challenging analysis issues.
You should demonstrate many of the techniques you have learned and
include this within your report – remember to take screen shots where
appropriate.
• The report should comprise:
o Title page - ‘studentID’ and ‘username’ together with the report title
o A single short summary – summarising report content and findings
o Contents list – should appear after summary and before introduction
o Introduction – briefly introduce the ‘problem’ and principles of use of FEA
o Methodology of your Design and Analysis exercise,
o Manual calculations where appropriate
o Analyses results including convergence
o A conclusion section
o Appendices where appropriate
o References.
2000 words is an absolute maximum, fewer than 2000 words is acceptable.
MMME3074 Resit Assignment 5
Marking Scheme
This project will be marked out of 100:
• Analysis and Design
o 30 marks will be awarded for design and rigour of analysis
o 15 marks will be awarded for verification of results using manual
calculations
o 15 marks will be awarded for the ingenuity evident in your modifications.
o 20 marks will be awarded for the discussion of modelling and analysis
methods including appropriate illustrations.
• Report (20): Marks will be awarded for correct submission, layout &
presentation (5), summary (5), introduction and conclusions (5), appropriate
technical content, logical progression of ideas and writing mechanics (5).
Submission
You should submit, via electronic submission, the following in a single zipped
folder:
• The report file, in pdf format, should be named studentID_report.pdf.
• A zipped folder of the Solidworks beam deflection assembly including your
redesigned beam. You should produce this file by using the Solidworks Pack
and Go function. Please watch the short video linked below to understand
how to use this function https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0KAvuf2mQ0.
The zipped folder should be named studentID_Beam.zip,
• All of this should be contained within a single zipped folder for the submission
which should be named studentID.zip
Please keep a backup of your submission.