Week 10
Week 9
Week 8
Week 7
Week 6
Week 5
Week 4
6/3/13
We have finished the project. The presentation is completed as well as the final report. The project was a lot of fun and we learned a lot about structural engineering. We all look forward to using the information that we gathered during our project in the future. We will take what we learned to our Co-ops and future jobs.
Week 9
5/28/13
Everything about the project is set. During week 9 we are giving a mock presentation. Based on the critique we get back from the professors we are going to make the necessary adjustments to our final presentation and possibly do some last minute research. The pictures below are of our computer model of the Three Gorges Dam and our cake model of the dam.
Week 8
5/21/13
After receiving our final draft back, we have learned that we have a little more tweaking to do. Half of the power point has been completed for our presentation. The other half has the information gathered but has not been put into powerpoint format yet. The computer model is almost completed and the 3D cake model will be completed this coming weekend.
Week 7
5/14/13
The research has been completed. We have begun to work on our 3D digital model. We submitted our final draft report which will help determine if our research is up to standards. The information on the blog and in the draft is the information we will base our presentation on. Our attention during the lab time is the force diagram of the dam and how it transfers loads. Next week will consist of consolidating our information into powerpoint and finishing the 3D digital model. Since our actual model will be made of cake, we will not start that until the final week.
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| Preliminary scale model. Google SketchUp |
Week 6
5/7/13
We are almost done our research. We are having trouble finding the width of the dam which is why we have not started our scale model. Mansoor has decided to head the scale model on the computer. We plan on meeting in the upcoming week to work on the model as well as complete the Final Draft. We will also begin to consolidate our information onto power point slides for our Final presentation.
Week 5
4/30/13
We have begun to fall behind in our research. Techniques analysis, foundation analysis and materials analysis should have been completed by now. All other areas have been completed and uploaded to the blog. Some parts of the foundation analysis have been posted. We have also began to tackle the question, "Is the Three Gorges Dam an efficient way to produce electric energy apposed to alternative methods?" So far our research has led us to believe that it is. More about this topic to come under the Special Features section.
Sources being looked at:
http://www.power-technology.com/projects/gorges/
http://www.brighthub.com/education/homework-tips/articles/62935.aspx
http://ussdams.com/proceedings/2012Proc/1511.pdf
Week 4
4/23/13
More research has been concluded and uploaded to the page like the Funding, Aesthetics, and Structure Analysis. Progress has also been made for the Foundation Analysis. The project is still running on task and the deadlines are all attainable. A new category has been added to the Gantt Chart for learning the basics of Google Sketch-up. Although that it has not been decided that this is the way we will make the computer model of the dam, we would like to have it as an option when we make the final decision. The blog has been reorganized so that each area of the Gantt chart has a tab in the blog. We feel that this provides more organization and also allows easier maneuverability around the blog for the viewers.
Week 3
4/18/13
Each group member has begun to do there own individual research on the Three Gorges Dam. Some work has led to publishing on the blog such as the History section. Other areas have been started, but not yet published on the blog while still other areas have not yet been started. We discussed further about what materials to make our 3D model out of and the general consensus seems to be cake. While the scale factor has not been decided, it is our intention to be able to give everyone in class a slice of cake. The project is running smoothly so far and seems to be running on time.
Sources Being Looked
at:
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~vanti20m/classweb/website/history.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/22/us-china-threegorges-idUSBRE87L0ZW20120822
http://www.worldwater.org/data20082009/WB03.pdf
Week 2
4/15/13
In lab last week we completed our introductory presentations for our Three Gorges Dam project. The presentation went well and we covered all the requirements for the presentation. However, we realized that we have a lot of research to do (as well as the rest of the class). Yet, despite all the groups's minor understanding of their projects, we are looking forward to everyone's final projects and presentations.
For the second part of lab we began to do some more specific researching of the dam. Then Ben gave a presentation on project planning. This is something we need to do so that we are not procrastinating the project, and it all doesn't catch up to us at once. We also began our discussion of what to build our scale out of. We discussed making it out of cardboard, and this seems to our most likely choice. Although, we are still open for new ideas for the construction of the scale. The research was distributed as following:
Matt Cimino: Construction materials; construction techniques; how does the structure transmit loads from super structure to the foundation.
Liam Brennan: Detailed history of structure; who, what, when, why was the structure built; special features.
Mansoor Siddiqui: Asthetics; Foundation system
Yue Ceo: Socio and economic policies and climate of the time and region; Detailed analysis and design of the structure.
For the second part of lab we began to do some more specific researching of the dam. Then Ben gave a presentation on project planning. This is something we need to do so that we are not procrastinating the project, and it all doesn't catch up to us at once. We also began our discussion of what to build our scale out of. We discussed making it out of cardboard, and this seems to our most likely choice. Although, we are still open for new ideas for the construction of the scale. The research was distributed as following:
Matt Cimino: Construction materials; construction techniques; how does the structure transmit loads from super structure to the foundation.
Liam Brennan: Detailed history of structure; who, what, when, why was the structure built; special features.
Mansoor Siddiqui: Asthetics; Foundation system
Yue Ceo: Socio and economic policies and climate of the time and region; Detailed analysis and design of the structure.
Week 1
4/2/13
Researches: Liam and Mansoor
Recorders: Matt and Yue
The object of today's lab was
to do some minor research on magnificent structures in order to determine the
structure for our project. After researching structures that vary from age,
height, and length, we ranked 7 structures in order from most desired to least
desired. We ranked the The Elizabeth Tower in London as our most desired
magnificent structure. We chose this structure because of its popularity in
England and throughout the world. Also, the name of the bell tower is Big Ben,
so we chose in honor of our TA Ben Cohen. Although this was our first choice,
we were assigned dams as our topic. Therefore, we chose the Three Gorges Dam in
China, because of its impressive structure and environmental impact. The dam is
also surrounded by a lot of controversy, because of the history behind the
construction of it. For example, the people in the area were forced to leave
their homes. The combination of the dam's history, and the fact that it is a
modern marvel will allow us to come up with a very informative project. For
next week we will have our proposal template complete, and we will begin our
research and come up with ideas of how we can make a scale model.
