Western Engineering student team wins big at Big Beam Competition
Western Engineering News | October 1, 2012
A team of Western Engineering students has taken a top prize in the PCI Engineering Student Design Award “Big Beam Competition.”
The student team (Aiham Adawi, Muhammad Diab, Zixiao Wang, Zach McNeil, Ahmed Elansary, Yamen Elbahy, Ahmed Musa, Mohamed Monir, Eric Gerald Morin, Jared Harnish and Jason Daplyn) received first place in the international zone. The group, who were supervised by Civil and Environmental Engineering associate professor Maged A. Youssef, also won best video.
Prestressed Systems Inc. of Windsor, Ont. sponsored the Western Engineering team.
“The main goal of the contest is to expose students to the precast/prestressed concrete industry in real life so they can relate to what they learn in classrooms,” said Aiham Adawi, a PhD candidate.
The students are challenged to design and fabricate a precast/prestressed concrete beam that satisfies two criteria specified by contest rules: it does not crack below a certain service load and it can support a given ultimate load.
“We worked hard on this contest and we put all of our previous participation experiences towards the winning aptitude and were quite sure that we will win,” Adawi said.
“This was one of the most successful years for the Western team in the history of this contest,” he continues. “Western have been always on the winning list, but this time was a real jackpot.”
“The big beam contest allows students to apply classroom knowledge to design, construct, analyze and test a prestressed concrete beam,” notes Youssef. “The design process allowed them to learn new concepts and enhance their skills in analysis, design, investigation, team work, professionalism, communication and lifelong learning.
“Construction of the beam is a unique learning experience that gives them understanding of special limits used in the design stage and allows them to interact with professional engineers and construction crew.”
“I feel this contest brings the most practical experience a student may gain in lots of aspects of structural engineering such as: structural analysis, structural design, computer drafting, management, design and production troubleshooting, and of course, technical report writing,” adds Adawi. “In addition, this contest enhances innovation and critical thinking, which are of the most valuable areas in the engineer's brain.”
Also from this web page:p>
Contact
.: Allison Stevenson
Spencer Engineering Building, Room 2074
T: .519.850.2917
F: 519.661.3808
contactwe@eng.uwo.ca
