University of Michigan Team Makes Waves with Pro/ENGINEER
Name: Eli Rosenberg, senior mechanical engineering student
School: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Impact: PTC supports student entry in international submarine contest
Eli Rosenberg, a 21-year-old junior at the University of Michigan, has been in training for two years to prepare for his next competition. He's not a varsity athlete, but he is the leader of a competitive cadre of student engineers who are determined to win an offbeat international submarine contest.
In June 2003 Eli and his team will compete in the 7th Biannual International Submarine Race (ISR) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Carderock facility in Bethesda, Maryland.
The submarine races began in 1989, and have since grown to an international event that includes teams from colleges, universities, technical education centers, research labs and high schools in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Europe. Students design and build unique one- or two-person human-powered submarines that will be filled with water on race day. Wearing scuba gear so they can breathe, students power the subs themselves by pedaling, navigating through an underwater course while racing against the clock. The competition gives students hands-on experience with hydrodynamics, propulsion, ergonomics, and the design and use of advanced materials. Teams win recognition for best overall performance, innovation, speed, best use of composite materials, and spirit of the race.
Eli joined the University of Michigan's human powered submarine (HPS) team during his freshman year in 2001. "It seemed like a great way to apply some of what I was learning in my aerospace engineering program instead of just cranking out math problems," said Eli. "Plus, I am an avid biker and love scuba diving, so this was a neat thing to do to combine many of my interests."
Designing a Winner
The HPS team has enjoyed extensive use of the universities research facilities, however much of the funding comes from private sources. In 2001, Eli and his 30 teammates started campaigning for corporate sponsorships and private donations to subsidize funding. As a result, they received financial support from PTC as well as several seats Pro/ENGINEER, PTC's flagship 3D design software, to complement the University's licenses.
"PTC has proven to be an ideal sponsor. With both monetary support and the use of Pro/ENGINEER's manufacturing and design capabilities, the company has given our team a huge edge."
With the world's leading 3D CAD software and other sponsorships in hand, Eli and the team began their two-year journey to design, build and race their new submarine. One of the first priorities was to review and evaluate the performance of the team's previous ISR entries. The University of Michigan's 1997 entry, Sea Wolv won the award for "Best Use of Composites." In the 1999 race, Atlas won the prize for the top speed of 2.69 knots. Neptune won first place in the two-person division in 2001 (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Neptune and its team of designers and engineers won first prize in the two-person race of the 6th ISR
"Based on our prior performance, we decided to make some major changes for the 2003 race," said Eli. "Although we thought we'd be faster in a two-person submarine because of the extra propulsion, Neptune's size created too much mass and actually hindered our acceleration. We won the two-person race, but only came in fourth overall. This year, we are trimming down to a one-person submarine called Mercury and are confident we will win best overall performance."
The team spent most of the 2001/2002 school year working on the design of Mercury. Using Pro/ENGINEER, they modeled a human form and then experimented to find the best shape and drag to fit around the person. They also used Pro/ENGINEER to model the inside of the submarine, from the foot pedals to the gear box to the seat, making sure there is enough room for the scuba gear and the drive shaft.
Once Pro/ENGINEER yielded the best design, the team produced a half scale model and tested it in the University of Michigan's wind tunnel (see Figure 2). The goal of the wind test was to simulate drag and acceleration, as well as the output of the propeller design. With the final adjustments complete, Eli and his team sent the Pro/ENGINEER file to Envision (www.envision-nc.com), a machine company in North Carolina that produced the mold for Mercury's hull. The team expects to complete Mercury by the end of February 2003, which will give the team almost four months to test the functionality of the 12-foot long, 24-inch wide submarine.
Figure 2: Eli working on the half-scale mold in preparation for testing in the University's wind tunnel
In June, Eli and 10 of his teammates will head to Maryland for the competition. As a senior and co-caption of the team, Eli will drive his submarine in the race. He is also training his sophomore teammate, Jerome Backus, to take the reigns for the 8th ISR. Aside from bringing home the gold, Eli hopes to gain more knowledge about fluid dynamics and propulsion.
Life Back on Land
"Although I'm majoring in aerospace, the submarine races really piqued my interest in pursuing a career in fluids, jet propulsion, or space mission design," said Eli. "My Pro/ENGINEER experiences have made the race possible, and have also helped me with my job search. This is a real application in use at real companies to make real products, and I'm lucky to have a jump start on mastering the program before my peers."
To see the race details and results in June, visit www.isrsubrace.org.