Work in Groups of 3 (Just Like in the Lab )

BAE2023 Design Challenge #1, Spring 2009 The Mystery of Repose Work in groups of 3 (just like in the Lab!!!) 1 report required per group Due 3/27 as a part of HW#7

 Scenario:  Your group, as the engineering consultants, has been contacted by a major merchandiser that will remain nameless (but they use smiley faces a lot in their advertisements!). In China and Brazil, their stores display rice and pinto beans in bulk (open piles, not bagged) on open counters. When they try to pile more material on each display, it slides off the display and on the floor unless they increase the footprint of the display. Their current footprint is 1.5 m square for each display.  Your Challenge:  Determine how high they can expect the pile of rice and the pile of beans to be given the current footprint of 1.5 m2.  Suggest modifications that could be made to the display to increase the amount of material each display would hold without increasing the footprint.  Determine the current capacity of each display and the increased amount of rice and beans your display would hold compared to the current display.

Deliverable (this is what you will turn in to your instructor!) Your report to the customer should include a summary of the problem, sketches (produced neatly by hand or in some version of CAD...Visio, Paint, AutoCad, ProE...) of your design, calculations determining the current capacity, and calculations of the increased capacity. You will need to determine the angle of repose (see page 244 of your Stroshine book) either through web/book research or experimental testing on your own, i.e. purchase a small bag of rice and a small bag of beans, pile them and measure the pile diameter and the pile height...then using trigonometry, calculate the angle of repose. The success of your engineering consultant company depends on your answer to this bean/rice problem. Your report will be the “sales tool” to encourage the customer to hire your company to solve the problem.