Purdue ASCE

Competitive

Concrete Canoe
Teamleader: Mike Kreuzman
Description:
Concrete canoes are canoes made of concrete and designed for the purpose of racing.
Principle – This is possible due to Archimede’s principle. Simply put, all ships or boats float because the weight of the water they displace is equal to the weight of the boat. While concrete is typically quite dense, most competitive concrete canoes have concrete mix designs that are less dense than water. This is possible because, unlike normal concrete which uses sand and small rocks, concrete canoes are created with hollow aggregates such as Macrolite and microspheres. Alternatively, teams have been known to utilize non-structural foam pieces to achieve buoyancy.

Events - The concrete canoe competition dates back to the 1960’s when university students would hold intramural concrete canoe races. Today, the competition has grown to include more than 200 universities in 18 distinct regions of the US.

Requirements - Concrete canoe teams must design their canoes from scratch. Typically they create the shape of the hull with a computer design program specifically made for yachts, canoes, and other watercraft. The shape is optimized for racing. This hull shape is then given to a construction team, responsible for making a mold for the canoe to be formed on. A special concrete mix is designed over several months, emphasizing among other qualities, an optimal balance between strength and low density. The finalized mix design is placed on the form; the hull thickness usually ranges from about 3/8" to 3/4". Teams later spend hundreds of hours sanding and applying exterior graphics to their canoes for a nice finish. Scoring in the competition is based on the quality of construction, race performance, a design paper, and a business presentation.


Steel Bridge
Teamleader: Derek Anger
Description:
The steel bridge competition is a contest between student teams of various universities for the design, fabrication, and construction of a scaled steel bridge structure. Rules vary from year to year to promote new design principles and discourage the use of existing steel bridges. The key obstacles of this competition are the fabrication and construction phases. Students are required to machine their own bridge components including the cutting, forming, welding, and finishing of the steel members. In addition, students must design the bridge to be assembled at the competition under certain restrictions and time parameters.


Seismic Design Competition
Teamleader: John Zuleger
Description:
For the past two years, ASCE has competed in the annual Undergraduate Seismic Design Competition during the EERI annual meeting. Teams designed balsa wood models of commercial office buildings intended to maximize the financial return for the client over the life of the structure by maximizing rentable floor space, minimizing structural damage, minimizing roof accelerations that might damage sensitive equipment, minimizing building materials, and maximizing architectural aesthetics. On a shake table, each model was subjected to the El Centro, Kobe, and Northridge earthquakes. Performance was scored on the above criteria in addition to a team poster and powerpoint presentation.


Miscellaneous Regionals Events
Teamleader: Nick Ulliman and Steve Buck
Description:
Each year, lower profile competitions are held at the Regional. In the past, this has included events such as a Concrete Frisbee Competition, Concrete Baseball Bat Competition, and a Technical Paper submission. Events vary from year to year.