×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

(OP)
Hi All,
I understand that commercially available products are being manufactured in the USA with outstanding strength to weight ratios (if you'd call it that). Where would a humble Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering start to learn of such advances when he has only become accustomed to Grade 9 in a bolt and NaXtra 700 as a plate. I have an application that demands that a machine, currently completely made from prodominately steel components, to be heli lifted. Is there a crash course or a famous professor?
Cheers,
ExDrill

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Take a materials course from a school with an automotive or aerospace degree offering.  Knowing where you are located would help in giving suggestions.  U of Washington Aero Engineering dept. would mine, but there are probably dozens of schools closer to you with equal reputations.

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Adding to above post by btrueblood here are links to sources of information on designing vehicles that might be applicable to your case.   
Sorry nothing about airplanes.

Hope these links get you close to the source of the information you require and if not lead you to it.  The Auto Steel site has a lot of information sources.  While the A-SP.Org  has it's share, check them all out.

http://www.a-sp.org/database/default.asp?doc=28

http://www.a-sp.org/publications.htm

http://barsteelfatigue.autosteel.org/login_bar.asp

http://www.autosteel.org/

One thing to remember is there is generally no quantum leap in design only small incremental advances.
  

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Easiest solution:  Get a bigger helicopter.

Next up:  Do what racers do.  Seek out areas that are lightly stressed, and increase the net stress, e.g. by drilling holes in the lightly stressed area to remove weight, while preserving adequate strength in what remains.

Next up:  Do what auto manufacturers do.  Eliminate entire parts or assemblies that aren't needed.  If they're not necessary to the mission, just omit them.  If they perform a necessary function, explore ways to get the same function out of other parts.

I'm not a big fan of substitution of high-tech materials, which are typically expensive, may have long lead times or otherwise limited availability, and have failure modes that may be new to you.
 

Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

Move it in pieces and re-assemble on site.

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

ExDrill,

I recommend you start by reading as much as you can from Prof. Mike Ashby from the University of Cambridge.  His book Materials Selection in Mechanical Design is the best reference on the subject, and should help guide you through some of the important ideas to understand, how to determine what is driving the mass of the design, etc.  The following links are to the 4th edition of his book and to a website that has a number of papers that you can freely download:

Papers, etc. on Materials Selection & Design (Cambridge University)
http://www-mech.eng.cam.ac.uk/cms/publ/papers/

Materials Selection in Mechanical Design, 4th edition
http://www.elsevierdirect.com/ISBN/9781856176637/Materials-Selection-in-Mechanical-Design


Here are some other links to useful information on the subject:

NACE webpage on materials selection
http://web.nace.org/Departments/Marketing/Industries/Industry.aspx?id=32BF4EB9-FE7D-DE11-AAB1-0017A446694E

ASM HANDBOOK Volume 20 Materials Selection and Design
http://asmcommunity.asminternational.org/portal/site/www/AsmStore/ProductDetails/?vgnextoid=5ab732f0fe0f8110VgnVCM100000701e010aRCRD

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS OF MACHINE ELEMENTS
http://school.mech.uwa.edu.au/~dwright/DANotes/intro/contents.html




 

RE: Study Question, Ultra Lightweight design to a Standard

if you want to use high strength steels ... look for aero-space materials (steel up to 160 ksi) ... look for 4130, 4140, 4340 ... talk to someone who has the material supply.  

be ready to pay for it !

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources