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TheimportanceofinterdisciplinarydesignexperiencesinengineeringeducationishighlightedintheASCEBodyofKnowledgeandtheABETEngineeringAccreditationCommission.Professionalcompetenciessuchasleadership,theabilitytodesignsustainablesystems,effectivecommunication,andinterdisciplinaryteamworkareamongthemanyskillsrequiredbyengineersofthefuture.Functioningeffectivelyasamemberofamultidisciplinaryteamisarequirementforentryintothepracticeofcivilengineeringattheprofessionallevel.Italsostatesthatintradisciplinaryandmultidisciplinaryteamsareneededtosolvethecomplexproblemsofthefuture.
OnestrategyformeetingtheASCEBodyofKnowledge(BOK)andABETrequirementsisthroughmultidisciplinaryseniorcapstonedesignexperiences.TheASCEBOK(2008)definesamultidisciplinaryteamasbeing“composedofmembersfromdifferentprofessions—forexample,acivilengineerworkingwithaneconomist.Multidisciplinaryalsoincludesateamconsistingofmembersfromdifferentengineeringsubdisciplines(sometimesreferredtoasacrossdisciplinaryteam).”
ACaseStudyofInterdisciplinaryCapstoneEngineeringDesignDr.GeorgeHunt1,Prof.HerbDetloff2
1Departmentof Civil Engineering,2Departmentof Electrical and ComputerEngineeringUniversityof Nebraska-Lincoln
Results and Evaluation
Objectives• Thedevelopmentofapilotmultidisciplinaryyear-longcapstonedesign
projectintheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringattheUniversityofNebraska-Lincoln(UNL)
• CreateaprojectandteamwheretheCivilEngineeringstudentsplayanequalpartinallaspectsoftheproject.
• Evaluatethesuccessoftheprojectforfutureexpansionofthisprogram.
Water Treatment Process Summary of Results
Background and Motivation
Electrical
Future Plans
Acknowledgements
Preliminaryresultstodatearepromising.Studentsintheyear-long,multidisciplinaryprogramansweredthequestionsmorepositivelythanthetraditionalstudents.Additionaldatacollectedinthefuturewillallowforemorerigorousanalyses.
Approach
WewouldliketoacknowledgetheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringforfundingandworkspace.WewouldliketoacknowledgetheMetropolitanUtilitiesDistrictfortheiradviceandgenerousdonationofmaterial.
ThetypicalseniorcapstoneexperienceatUNLisasinglesemester.Studentsworkinteamsonacivilengineeringrelatedprojectwhichistypicallyanexistingindustryconsultingprojectsthatistypicallyinthe95-100%designcompletion,bidding,orconstructionphasebythetimethestudentsareintroducedtotheproject.Thisallowsthestudentstoaccessexistingdetailedsurveydataandotherprojectdata,sitedesigncomplications,andregulatoryrequirements.Thestudent’sfinalproductisa30%completiondesignreportandanoralpresentationtotheclient.
Forthe2017-2018academicyear,aMultidisciplinaryCapstoneDesignexperiencewasdesigned.Thegoalofthisprojectistodesignandconstructafunctionaltabletopwatertreatmentplantmodel.Thisalternativeprojectisatwo-semesterprojectwithamultidisciplinaryteamoftwocivilengineeringandtwoelectricalengineeringstudentsandisbeingsupervisedbyfacultyintheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringandtheDepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering.
Theroleofthecivilengineeringstudentsistodesignthewatertreatmentportionoftheunitincludingsizingthetreatmentunitsandcalculatingflowratesandweightrequirementsforthetablethatwillholdthemodelsystem.Oneofthedesignconstraintswasthattheentiredemonstrationshouldbecompletedwithin30minutes.Thecurrentdesignincludescoagulationandsedimentation,filtrationanddisinfection.TheelectricalengineeringstudentsaredesigningtheSCADAsystemthatwillcontroltheunit.TheSCADAsystemisrunbyaprogrammablelogiccontroller(PLC)thatcontrolsthesensorsandpumps.Thesensorsincludedinthesystemincludesensorsforflow,turbidity,etc.ThefinishedtabletopmodelcanbeusedbytheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringandotherenvironmentalandwaterresourcesprofessionalorganizationsforeducationalpurposes(K-12educationandothercommunityoutreachactivities).
Weplantocontinuethisinterdisciplinarycapstonedesigncollaborationbetweencivilengineeringandelectricalandcomputerengineeringstudents.Forthe2018-2019AY,wehaveidentifiedaprojectwherewewillpartnerwithastateagencytodevelopaweb-basedapplicationtodisplaywateravailabilityandwaterdemanddata.Theroleofthecivilengineeringstudentswillbetoanalyzethedataanddeterminethebestwaytodisplaytherawdataandhowbesttosynthesizetheinformation.Theelectronicsandcomputerengineeringstudentswilldevelopanappthatwillallowtheusertoseetherawdataavailableonthewebsiteanddisplaythesynthesizeddata.Wewilladministerthedesignevaluationsurveywithstudentsthatparticipateinboththealternativecapstonedesignaswellasthetraditionalsemesterlongdesignprojecttobetterunderstandtheimpactoftheinterdisciplinarydesignprojectonstudentlearning.Wealsohopetoexpandourpartnerstoincludemoreengineeringdisciplines,aswellasnon-engineeringdisciplines..
FinalSCADAsystemcontrollingtheunit,controls,pumps,mixers,andsensors
TheSCADAsystemdiagramoftheproposeddemonstrationunit.Thisisanexploded,nottoscale,stylizedmodeloftheproposeddemonstrationunit.
SeniorDesignTeamwithcompleteddevice
