Science World Search Gallery

On February 17, we started finalizing our report and started making our slides for the presentation. In the afternoon, we met with our mentor and practiced the presentation and got some feedback for the report and presentation from him. By Saturday, Julie finished the drawing and put it into the report.

 

 

The week of February 20-24 was Reading Break at UBC, so we all had time to prepare for our presentation that Thursday. Alyssa finalized the report and Powerpoint by Tuesday, giving everyone time to review it and practice for the meeting with Science World.

 

On Thursday, February 23, we presented our designed project to our clients, Mila and Rhoda, at Science World. Although the design concept was accepted well by our clients, there were some aspects of the design process where they wished to have more information. For example, they desired more detail on how we arrived on our final design, including the following: other preliminary ideas, links to videos and pages which inspired us, and further detail of our testing process.

 

As this desired information was not included in our report, Rhoda asked us to email her any additional files, data, and links which would assist Science World in continuing the design of this exhibit. Despite some short-comings, we believe that the Beach Table concept was well accepted, opening Rhoda’s mind to many new ideas and concepts. As this was the main objective of our project, we are pleased with the outcome and have thoroughly enjoyed our time with Science World.

This week most of us were working on the documentation and the final report. In additional, as we mentioned last week, posters were needed to better illustrate the table. Alyssa and Saman were doing the poster and these were what they had so far. The posters part will be included in the recommendation in the final report.

(poster 1)

 

(Poster 2)

Plexiglas was used in the design and the price was roughly calculated by Jack and Jordan, since we have designed budget for this plan. As our mentor said, it is better to estimate the price by knowing the major and minor cost associated with the project. The estimation will be included in our draft report in addition to summary of the grit experiment we did last week.

 

The sketch up of the final design created by Julie is shown below. As we stated last week, the final design will include Plexiglas, paddles that creates waves, and four distinct shore line areas for the users to interact with. The design will use the existing drain system, with the options to install additional drain in each of the four shorelines. The entire table will be covered in Plexiglas and most of the barriers will also be made of Plexiglas to allow users to see as much as possible.

 

(Overview of the design)

 

( Top view)

 

( Side view)

 

We began our final report and presentation this week. Our report will include Introduction, Objectives, Overview (including the descriptions for each coastal scenario), Recommendations (alterations and cost), as well as a brief conclusion.

 

As scheduled, the PowerPoint for the presentation was roughly made by Alyssa and the content in the slides is similar with one in the final report. We also divided the slides between Alyssa, Jordan and Saman, we plan to run through the slides for a few time and got feedback from our mentor before we present it to our client next Thursday.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As we said last week, we have obtained the grit from Science World and have begun doing experiments on with the grit to optimize our design. The experiments included the following procedures:

 

We put the grit and some water into a box, and tried to experiment different ways to pack of the grit into a shoreline formation. We found that when the grit was wet, it was much easier to compact into a shoreline and was more resistant to the waves. Because this plastic is a non-wetting surface, some particles would float until the water surface was broken. Although this is not ideal when installing and changing the grit, we do not believe that it will pose a significant problem in the operation of the exhibit.

(Making waves to create shoreline)

 

We varied the wave intensity from gentle to violent and discovered that as we increased the wave intensity, the grit was not compact enough to withstand the stronger wave action. We also simulated different scenarios by positioning different objects between the grit and the waves. Unfortunately, the objects we used were too small to have a significant impact on the erosion of the shoreline. We plan to continue these experiments with larger objects through the weekend.

 

We also experimented with different wave angles and discovered that by varying the angle, different shoreline patterns can be created. A curved shoreline was created due to concentrated  erosion from angled waves. We concluded that each of these scenarios would erode the shoreline in different ways. These experiments also confirmed that when wet, the grit is very sticky and hard to remove from users’ hands, which was a major issue with the original design. To resolve this, we decided to install a vented Plexiglas covering and install levered paddles to create the waves.

(Shoreline created by angled waves)

In addition to experimenting with the grit and final design, our team began designing an informative poster that would mount to the sides of the table. The poster describes coastlines and coastal erosion, in addition to techniques to prevent such erosion. The poster is simply a template for Science World as they have a specific graphic sign template for exhibits.

 

( Sketch map )

We also contacted our client and they were satisfied with our designed strategy. They were interested in our wave concepts. And they are also open to other ideas including our drainage system and poster changes.

This week we started building our schedule, and assigned tasks to everyone in the group. Some of the tasks include drawing our model, testing the grit and preparing our final report. The schedule includes tasks to be done up to the compeletion of the project.

On February 2^nd, Julie went to Science World to collect some of the grit and measured the dimensions of the Stream Table. In the coming week, we are planning to do some experiment with the grit, which will allow us to determine how the grit will be incorporated in our final design. The dimensions that Julie collected allowed her to construct the model using Google SketchUp.  These dimensions will be important to our final design:

 

 

Our current model is based on the wave interaction with the shoreline. We currently plan to divide the table into a number of sections. Each will have its own waves and shore structure which will allows the users to see multiple outcomes at the same time. We also plan to cover the entire table in vented Plexiglas to make sure the users (especially children) are not able to touch the grit. We plan to have mechanical wave making devices on the outside of the table to allow the users to manipulate the waves as they like.

 

( Picture of grit)

 

 

Now that we have finalized our design option, we are excited to split up our tasks and get working on the design itself. We are looking forward to working with the grit hands-on and hope it works well with our wave table design.

 

 

On Friday January 20^th, all group members visited our principle organization, TELUS Science World. Mila and her team gave us an overview of the design process and the expected deliverables. Following the presentation, we were able to view and analyze the existing stream tablet. As we viewed the exhibit, the client informed us about some of the issues that the project had included the dispersal of grit and problems with the electrical cord. Because the exhibit was designed particularly for children, the client preferred that our solution is interactive and includes multiple outcomes, while still effectively demonstrating sediment deposition. Mila and her team showed us a few other exhibits at Science World. Most of those exhibits are either stream table or sediment interaction.

( Although the table is currently not in operation, the above picture shows original design)

On January 26^th, our group had a short meeting to brainstorm possible solutions to the Stream Table at Science World. After the 20min discussion, we determined our primary solution will model wave behavior at the shoreline( see the picture below). We also consider secondary solution such as a dry exhibit or restore the original format of stream model.

 

 

The wave model concept will include paddles for users to make waves and observe how those waves impact the shoreline. Users will also be able to reshape the shoreline and experiment with shore structures such as groins and jetties. By changing the shoreline, users will experience different outcomes each time they view the table. We also explore the possibility of covering parts of the stream table and encouraging the use of the tools or gloves to reduce the spread of the grit on the ground.

Introduction To The Group

Date: 2012/01/19

It has been our honor to be assigned to the project, Science World Stream Line Project.  We are excited by the opportunity to work with Science World through CIVL 202 at UBC. We are looking forward to exercising our technical and academic knowledge of fluid mechanics on a hands-on project. The purpose of this first post is to introduce the team and touch base on the project outline.

Name of the Organization: Science World at TELUS World of Science

Title of the Project: Science World Stream Table

Our Contact Info:

Mila Cotic

mcotic@scienceworld.ca

604-443-7565

 

 

Group members are so excited about this project, so they are so eager to introduce themselves.

From Left :Jack Crabtree   Saman Hashemi    Julie Park    Jordan Kwun

Alyssa Schultz   Hua Wu

 

Alyssa Schultz  (Team Leader)

“I am from North Vancouver and have been studying engineering at UBC for two years. Although I am enjoying all aspects of civil engineering, I am particularly interested in fluid mechanics and look forward to applying my knowledge of this discipline to this project at Science World.”

contact info:  604 928 3342

 

Jack Crabtree  (Client Liaison)

“I am from Calgary and I am currently in my second year at UBC. While I am mostly interested in the transportation portion of civil engineering, I enjoyed our fluid mechanics and earth sciences classes last semester, and I am looking forward to applying concepts learned in those classes to this project.”

contact info: 403 512 5101

 

Saman Hashemi (Mentor and Instructor Liaison)

“Hello, I am an enthusiastic civil engineering student. I am greatly passionate about civil engineering applications and interested in practicing and gaining more experience in this field. I highly appreciate the hydraulics branch of civil engineering and look forward to this interesting project that is closely related to this branch of civil engineering.”

contact info: 778-9605036

 

Yerim Julie Park (Secretary)

” Hello, I live in downtown near stadium station. I am  in second year of civil engineering and currently enjoying and considering all aspects of civil engineering. I am looking forward to apply what I learned so far to this project.”

contact info: 604-785-2304

 

Jordan Kwun (Document Coordinator)

“I was born and raised in Vancouver, BC. I am currently a second-year civil engineer studying at UBC. As civil engineering covers such a wide field, I am uncertain where my studies will… take me in the future. However, I find the applications of hydro-technical engineering very relevant and vital to society. I hope to gain a wider perspective of the field through this community service project.”

contact info: 604-916-8408

 

Hua Wu (Blogger)

“I was born in ShenZhen, China. This is my first year in UBC and I am trying to learn more to be a qualified civil engineer. It is so fun to study on something that people walk on and live in every day and it will also be a great challenge to built something that people walk on and live in in the future. Stream line sounds more about fluid mechanics which is one of my favourite part in civil courses. I am expecting to have a good time with my colleagues on this project”

contact info:  604-379-7244

 

Mentor Info:

Mike Lindgren

mmlindgren@gmail.com

778.888.9252

 

Here is some basic information about our project:

“The Sara Stern Gallery allows visitors to interact with the natural world. The stream table was intended to be a keystone interactive exhibit in the Rock Area and to model stream dynamics on sediment. The exhibit was eventually removed as the dispersal of grit was causing damage to surrounding areas, and the electrical cord and water displacement were a safety and maintenance issue. Science World is planning 6on modifying the stream table to contain the grit, or convert it to a dry sediment exhibit. The CSL Civil Engineering project would entail making recommendations for improvements, and provide the detailed drawings of these recommendations.”

Deliverables would include an exhibit conceptual design, and detailed design drawings (level of detail to be determined in conversation with Mila and others). (student team may be able to sit in on the portion of CIVL 300 that reviews Sketch-Up).

 

 

So, this is our first blog of the project. Our first meeting with our principle contact, Mila Cotic, is arranged on tomorrow. It is the time to know exactly what we need to do in this project. Hopefully it will go well. This blog was created by Hua Wu on 2012/1/19.

 

Introduction ends.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can chronicle your CSL team’s weekly accomplishments as you move toward the successful completion of your project.