Student Projects
3D Printing Challenge

Three students in ASCE

Project Manager

Jocelyn Luevanos

American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE)

Amount Requested

$4,500

Summary

The 3D Printing Challenge enables students to explore the growing discipline of 3D printed applications in civil engineering. Through designing, printing, and testing a bridge, students get to apply principles of physics and design programming in a team setting. The bridge the team creates will be tested for strength against other teams within the Midwest at the ASCE Western Great Lakes Conference. Students get to engage in multiple iterations of their design, strengthening their understanding of the design process and solidifying the engineering truth of continual improvement.

Planned Activities/Investments

The team will meet throughout the school year to learn about the field of 3D printing and prepare for the competition. Weekly meetings will focus on various aspects of the 3D printing software and technologies being used, including workshops on software usage, CADD models, filament types and uses, structural analysis, and material selection in design. Meetings in winter quarter will also focus on fabrication of final competition materials. The competition is held in spring quarter and will include a poster presentation and load testing of the final product.

Impact

This team will be open to whoever would like to participate, with ongoing recruitment throughout fall and winter quarters. Team members will learn 3D printing techniques and principles, CAD modeling, and materials selection. They will also further develop their communication skills through the poster presentation portion of the competition. This team also plans to participate in the E-Week design expo in the spring quarter to show various applications of 3D printing in the modern built environment.

Deliverables

The final deliverables of the 3D printing competition are a 3D-printed final project, a poster describing what was made, and a brief presentation on the design process. A final CAD model will also be developed and saved to a shared drive.

Budget Overview

  • Hard Colored Poster: $100
  • 3D Printing Filament: $200
  • Round-Trip Flights to Conference in North Dakota (5 members): $2250
  • Hotel for Conference in North Dakota (5 members): $600
  • Conference Registration Fee (5 members): $750
  • U-Haul (for transportation of poster and printed materials, split with other competition teams): $500

Total Budget Amount: $4,400 

Faculty Adviser/Department

Eric Garcia/Civil and Environmental Engineering