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Design Project

Your engineering firm (your group!) has been asked to design a Swinging Ship for an amusement park to be built adjacent to the Tuscola Outlet Mall. Several other firms are expected to submit designs; the design that provides the most "thrill" and "eye appeal" while providing safety and incorporating site constraints will be selected. The selection committee has broken the design process into several phases, each with a deadline and specific requirements. As you complete each phase you will be critiqued so that you can incorporate necessary changes into the final design. Some of the constraints identified by the selection committee include:

The ride must fit on a plot of land the size of a football field. No part of the ride should extend beyond the boundary of the field, at any time. The ride should last about 45-60 seconds, once all passengers are loaded, before unloading starts. The ride must have a central A-frame from which a ship is suspended via a fixed arm or support structure (it is NOT hanging by chain!). Motors will cause the ship to begin swinging back and forth. Once a maximum amplitude is reached, motors will be turned off and the ship will swing on its on (with some braking) for a short time. The ship should hold at least 6 rows of passengers (at least two per row). Seating may be all facing the same direction, or may face in alternating directions. The ride should be motorized for about one minute, then have about a minute of free swinging/braking. The ride must be SAFE.

Here are the phases of the design process (with percentages of the overall grade indicated): Phase 1: Form a "company" and create a (very basic!) design Phase 2: Analyze your ride Phase 3: Analyze the support structure Phase 4: Getting Up To Speed Phase 5: Managing G-forces Phase 6: The "Thrill Ride Scream" Phase 7: The Final Design

Phase 1: Start a new "company" and create a (very basic!) design


Some background information:

For most rides, the loading platform is fairly close to ground level. For the gravity constant g, use 32 ft/sec2 and work with feet as your unit of distance (in metric, its 9.8 m/sec2). Tall heights, sensations of weightlessness, high speeds, and "sensory effects" (such as sound effects and lighting) are what give riders their thrills the more, the better! A football field is 120 yards (360 ft) long, including end-zones, and 50 yards wide. One Swinging Ship ride manufactured by HUSS attains a height of 66 ft (20 m.)this is the height of the END rider, not the center of the ship!

Your Requirements: 1. Decide on a name for your company. You may use this name for your ride, but you don't have to. Make a company logo to affix to a folder where all your work will be stored. 2. Examine some photos to get some ideas of what typical superstructures for Swinging Ship rides look like, and some idea of what the radius of the swing and the size of the ship might be. You'll also want to look for some special features (or make up your own!) to make your ride more exciting. 3. Make a scale drawing (side view) of your ride. This drawing can be a fairly rough sketch; you'll fill in some of the details later. Be sure to indicate the scale you're using somewhere on the sketch. 4. Decide on basic design and operating parameters for your ride: the height of the frame, the radius of the swing, the maximum height of the swing (where is that measured?), the size of the ship. Make a more detailed drawing (again, as seen from one side) of your ship, showing the seating arrangements. Discuss how the seating arrangement can contribute to the thrill of the ride.

Phase 2: Analyze Your Ride


Some background information:

The motion in your ride is around part of a circle. You know how to describe position on any part of a circle, as a function of the central angle. One of the challenges will be figuring out how that central angle changes with time. Gravity always pulls downward (toward earth). A rider is weightless when the ship is accelerating toward the earth as much as gravity is pulling: at 32 ft/sec2 (or 9.8 m/s2). It is doubtful that your riders will experience true weightlessness, but any time they are moving downward with a downward acceleration they will feel lighter. One of the main ideas of physics that makes roller coasters work is CONSERVATION OF ENERGY. We can simplify the situation and assume that the swinging ship (once it is no longer motorized) has either potential energy or kinetic energy or some combination of the two. "Conservation" means that once energy is placed into the system (in the case of the swinging ship, the motor that gets the ship up to its maximum height places energy into the system), the total energy in the system remains constant unless work is done (we'll assume that the braking at the end of the ride is the only work done). Thus, PE + KE = TE, or potential energy + kinetic energy = total energy. Potential energy is given by PE = mgh, where m is the mass of the ship, g is the acceleration due to gravity (use 32 ft/sec2 and work with feet as your units), h is the height above the base (well use the height of the center of the ship). Kinetic energy is given by KE = mv2/2, where v is the velocity of the ship in ft/sec. Thus, the "total energy" equation can be re-written, using these formulae, as mgh + mv2/2 = TE = constant. If your top angle T (displacement from the vertical at the top of the swing) is not too large (remember, safety is one of your design considerations!), the displacement angle g (t) can be approximately modeled by (t ) = T cos t r , where g is the gravitational acceleration constant, r is the radius (make sure both are in the same unit!), and t is the time, in seconds, after the ship has departed from the top of its swing.

Your Requirements: 1. Make a scaled sketch of your ships path (part of a circle). Label the radius of the path R, with HT as the vertical height of the center of the ship at the top of its maximum swing (measured from the lowest point in the swing), and T as the maximum displacementfrom-vertical angle. Note that since you are using an angle, it would make sense to think of T in degrees or in radians but for ease of calculator use, youre probably better off if you do everything in radians. 2. Calculate the total distance traversed by the center of the ship as it swings from one side to the other (assume it returns to HT on the other side). 3. You don't know the mass of your ship with its passengers, so you can't write a numerical expression for the total energy at the top of the swing. You do, however, know the height of the top, and you know g and your ships velocity at the top of the swing (0 ft/sec, since it stops momentarily before falling). Use this information to write an algebraic

expression for the total energy at the top of the swing that involves only the mass as a variable. You'll want to circle this expression, because from now on it gives the TOTAL ENERGY in your swinging ship system. 4. Write an expression for the total energy of the ship at the bottom of the swing (be careful as you consider the value to use for h!). This expression will have two unknowns: m and v. But, due to conservation of energy, the total energy at the bottom equals the total energy at the top! Use this fact to eliminate m and solve for v. Convert your answer for v into miles per hour to compare with the information given for other thrill rides. 5. Use the formula for (t) (in the background information) to calculate the period of (t), which will correspond to the period of the free swing. Note that the cosine function in the formula is assuming unitless [radian] input, even if you chose for T to be measured in degrees. 6. Use your answers from items 2 and 5 to compute the average speed of your ship in its swing. How does this average speed compare with the maximum speed calculated in item 5? 7. Use what you know about the position of an object on a circle to write down a function h(), that will give the height of the center of your ship above the ground as a function of , the displacement-from-vertical angle. You wont be able to use a pure sine or cosine, since is not starting in the usual spot. Once you get this worked out, replace with the formula for (t) to obtain a graph for h(t). Reproduce that graph on graph paper; identify (clearly) the amplitude and period of your graph. How does the period on your graph compare with the period you identified in item 5 (they should NOT be the same!)? Discuss

Phase 3: Analyze the support structure


Background Information

Triangles are often used in construction because they're rigid. As long as the beams used in construction, and the joining mechanisms (bolts, welding, etc.) don't fail, triangles won't collapse. Think about it: a three-legged stool can't wobble, but a four-legged one can; if you make a triangle out of popsicle sticks attached with a thumbtack at each corner, the triangle won't deform, but if you make a square out of popsicle sticks you can deform it into a rhombus...

Requirements 1. Select a picture of an amusement park ride whose structure is clearly visible. Find two sections of the structure that contain triangles that are not right triangles. 2. Obtain an enlarged photocopy of each triangle, and highlight the triangles youre using in color. Label the first triangles angles A, B, and C, and label its sides a, b, and c (according to the "usual" convention: side a is opposite angle A, etc.). Measure angle A and sides b and c on your drawing (show the measurements on the drawing). 3. Use the law of cosines and/or the law of sines to "solve" your triangle (predict the length of side a and the measures of angles B and C). Measure side a and angles B and C; comment on any discrepancies. 4. Label your second triangles angles J, K, and L, with sides j, k, and l. Measure side j and angles K and L. 5. Use the law of cosines and/or the law of sines to solve this triangle. Then measure to confirm your work. Explain any differences [note to any lazy engineers: the "selection committee" will carefully check your calculations and your measurements if you claim that your predictions were correct in order to avoid trying to explain any differences]. 6. Be sure to cite the source of the photo you use (not only the book or web site, but, if possible, the names of the park and the ride).

Phase 4: Getting Up To Speed


Background Information

The amount of work required to get the ship up to its maximum height HT is substantial. It could be done by a fairly powerful (and expensive!) motor all at once, but that wouldnt be very exciting. Once that work is done, conservation of energy stipulates that nothing about the system changes if no additional work is done. Of course, friction, air resistance, and (if needed!) brakes do apply additional work to the system. Angular velocity is the rate at which an object is turning, measured in units of (angle measure)/time. There is a fairly simple formula (which you may derive!) relating the velocity of a point at the outer edge of a spinning object, the radius of the object, and the angular velocity of the object. Note that every point on a spinning object has the same angular velocity, but that points farther from the center have greater speeds.

Requirements 1. Record your total energy value from Phase 2. 2. Use trigonometry to write down the height of your ship (center of ship) as a function of the displacement angle . Use the energy equations in Phase 2 to write down the velocity of the ship as a function of the displacement angle . Produce a graph of the velocity function (use graph paper or a printout from some computer software). 3. Write down the angular velocity of the ship, in either degrees per second or radians per second, as a function of . Produce a graph of the angular velocity function. 4. The crows nest on your ship is a place for small children to ride. Assume the crows nest is halfway up the mast of the ship (halfway up to the axis of the swing). The angular velocity at the crows nest is the same as the angular velocity of the ship, but the velocity at the crows nest is NOT! Find an expression for the velocity of the crows nest as a function of time; add its plot to your plot from item 2.

Phase 5: Managing G-Forces

Phase 6: The "Thrill Ride Scream"


Some background information:

Sound travels in pressure waves. These waves don't look like sine or cosine curves as they travel through space, but if you plot pressure versus time (or distance) on a graph the curve would look sinusoidal. Louder sounds involve more pressure (amplitude of the sine curve), and higher pitched sounds have greater frequency (successive "peaks" are closer together). Waves move, so in describing waves it's necessary to talk about both time and distance issues. One quantity relating time and distance is speed or velocity, and with a wave, velocity refers to how fast a portion of the wave is moving. One way to think of this is to imagine the speed that the crest of an ocean wave approaches the beach. The usual rate*time=distance equation applies, even to waves! But waves have additional properties: they have a periodic "shape." Two additional characteristics of waves are frequency and wavelength. Frequency is concerned with time: how many waves pass a fixed point in a given time. Wavelength is concerned with distance: how long is the periodic shape? Frequency is denoted by various symbols, depending on the context; I'll simply use f for frequency of a wave pattern, and the units for f are "waves per unit time" (the unit Herz, or Hz, refers to waves per second). Wavelength is usually denoted by (lambda), with units of "distance" (or "distance per wave"). f, , and velocity v are related by the equation f =v, and a quick unit analysis confirms the logic in this equation. An analogy for the frequency/ wavelength/ velocity relationship: Imagine standing on the I-74 overpass on Prospect Avenue looking down at traffic, at 7:45 AM on a week day. Traffic is moving at 65 mph (v); cars are fairly close together ( small), and lots of cars pass by in a short amount of time (f large). Now imagine standing on the same overpass at 11:00 PM on a Sunday night. Traffic is still moving at 65 mph (v), but now cars are few and far between: a very large ( distance between cars), with a low f (very few cars passing by in a fixed time). The speed of sound in air is 348 m/sec (or 1140 ft/sec). The human ear can detect pressure wave differences as small as 0.0002 microbars, or a deviation of only 0.00000002 percent from normal atmospheric pressure! The doppler shift occurs when a wave-producing object and an observer are moving toward or away from each other. You have probably heard a train whistle drop in pitch suddenly as the train passed you. Think of what happens like this: as the train moves toward you, its whistle emits a pressure burst (one piece of a sound wave), which travels toward you at the speed of sound. By the time the whistle emits the next burst (the next wave), the whistle has moved closer to you, so that second burst won't have as far to travel as the first burst did. Since it's traveling at the same speed as the first burst, it takes less time to reach you. So, if you measure "time between bursts" of the sound you hear, your measurement is actually lower than the time between bursts at the whistle. Since frequency is the reciprocal of "time between bursts," you hear a higher frequency that the whistle is actually emitting. This is the doppler effect, and in the case of a higher perceived frequency it's called a violet shift (violet light has the highest frequency of the

visible spectrum). If the train is moving away from you, however, each burst takes longer to reach you than the preceding one, since it has further to travel. So you measure "time between bursts" as longer than at the whistle, with a corresponding decrease in the frequency of the sound you hear. This is known as a red shift. The equation for the frequency a stationary observer hears is fO = c * fS /(c + v), where fO is the frequency you Observe, c is the speed of sound, fS is the frequency at the Source, and v is the velocity of the source, with a minus used for an approaching source and a plus used for a receding source. Your Requirements: 1. Those glee-filled screams people on thrilling swinging ships tend to emit range in frequency from about 800 Hz to upwards of 3500 Hz. Use the relationship among frequency, wavelength, and velocity discussed in the background information to determine the range in wavelengths for those thrill ride screams. 2. An 80-decibel shriek results in a pressure wave with an amplitude of 2 microbars [source: R.J. Baken, Clinical Measurement of Speech and Voice]. Recalling that frequency (waves per second) is the reciprocal of period (seconds per wave), write an equation for p(t), the pressure in a thrill ride scream, as a function of time (use a sinusoidal model). Use any frequency you wish from the range given in item 1. 3. Make a careful graph of your p(t) from item 2. Be sure to label both axes, and show scale clearly (obviously, your time scale should be fairly SMALL). 4. Write a paragraph telling why your rides design will make riders SCREAM! List all the "thrill" features of your swinging ship on the same sheet as your paragraph. 5. Read the background information about the doppler shift. For your group's ride, assume an observer is standing near the base of the ride, when the ship is traveling at its top speed (refer to your work for Phase 2). For the shriek you analyzed in items 2 and 3, determine the frequency heard by the observer as a ship approaches, passes, and recedes from the observer.

Phase 7:The final design


"Specs" for the design contest (recap from the beginning of the project):

The ride must fit on a plot of land the size of a football field. No part of the ride should extend beyond the boundary of the field, at any time. The ride should last about 45-60 seconds, once all passengers are loaded, before unloading starts. The ride must have a central A-frame from which a ship is suspended via a fixed arm or support structure (it is NOT hanging by chain!). Motors will cause the ship to begin swinging back and forth. Once a maximum amplitude is reached, motors will be turned off and the ship will swing on its on (with some braking) for a short time. The ship should hold at least 6 rows of passengers (at least two per row). Seating may be all facing the same direction, or may face in alternating directions. The ride should be motorized for about one minute, then have about a minute of free swinging/braking. The ride must be SAFE.

Requirements 1. Make sure your designs from Phase 1 address the specifications above. 2. Write a summary proposal for the selection committee. Describe features of your design, including type of material, safety features, "thrill factors," duration of the ride, and any special features you think will make your design better than all the others. You should also propose a name for your ride. This proposal should be in the form of a typed memorandum or letter, addressed "Dear Selection Committee," with money stapled to the back for bribes; you may sign your proposal with "Sincerely, (your 'company name' here)." The quality of writing will be weighted equally with content in the project grade. The length of a good proposal will be 1 (full!) to 2 pages, with a maximum length of 3 pages. PLEASE DOUBLE-SPACE (most word processors allow you to set spacing under "paragraph format"). 3. Prepare a visual display to show how the name you chose for your ride will appear at the ride's entrance. Use color, but please, NO GLITTER. Your visual display may be in the form of a poster (at least 18" square) or a computer graphic (powerpoint slide, web page, shockwave file, etc.). If you use published material, including clip art, you MUST acknowledge the source. 4. If there were deficiencies identified by the selection committee in any of the earlier phases, you may make revisions or corrections. Jot a brief note (use a sticky note) to alert the selection committee to re-check your earlier work.

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