Conference Session

Capstone Courses I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Matthew Sanders, Kettering University; Mark Thompson, Kettering University; Mohamed El-Sayed, Kettering University; Lucy King, Kettering University; Michael Lindquist, Kettering University

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering Constituent Committee

. Page 11.238.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Assessing Interdisciplinary Engineering Capstone ProjectAbstractIn industry, engineers from different disciplines and levels of expertise work together onprojects. To prepare students for industry, professors from Electrical and Computer Engineering(ECE), Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering (IME), and Mechanical Engineering (ME)departments at Kettering University have combined their capstone classes to work on a commonproject.Students are divided into teams composed of students from each of the ECE, IME, and MEdepartments. Every team works on their version of a project known as RoboBug. The team isresponsible for the design, development, and manufacturing of a

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jon-Michael Hardin, Virginia Military Institute; Gerald Sullivan, Virginia Military Institute

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

Polytechnic Institute in 1987 and 1991 respectively. He has held teaching positions at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, and the University of Vermont. Prior to joining the faculty at the Virginia Military Institute in the fall of 2004, Dr. Sullivan was employed by JMAR Inc. where he was involved in research and development of next generation lithography systems for the semiconductor industry. Page 11.1426.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Vertical-Integration Framework for Capstone Design ProjectsThe importance of Capstone design projects within an undergraduate engineeringcurriculum is

Conference Session

Capstone Courses I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Smith, University of Kentucky-Lexington; Jamey Jacob, University of Kentucky; Suzanne Smith, University of Kentucky; James Lumpp, University of Kentucky

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering Constituent Committee

: A Multidisciplinary Capstone Engineering Design ProjectAbstractThe BIG BLUE project at the University of Kentucky is an attempt to integrating systemsengineering concepts and processes into undergraduate engineering education. NASA isaddressing the anticipated shortage of aerospace engineers through workforce developmentprojects of the National Space Grant College and Fellowship Program. BIG BLUE is aworkforce development project currently in its fourth year at Kentucky funded by NASA. BIGBLUE is a comprehensive systems engineering experience for undergraduate engineers topropose, design, and implement a complex aerospace system while managing the financial andhuman resources. The system the students develop is a

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Design Projects in ET

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Venkitaswamy Raju, State University of New York-Farmingdale

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

2006-2068: A UNIQUE CAPSTONE PROJECT: BUILDING AN AIRPLANEVenkitaswamy Raju, State University of New York-Farmingdale Page 11.137.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 A Unique Capstone Project: Building an AircraftIntroductionCapstone courses in engineering and technology provide the means for the graduatingstudents to demonstrate their comprehensive skills and knowledge and their ability toapply those to real world problems. They serve as an important tool in the accreditationprocess by enabling programs to provide evidence in producing graduates with thefollowing characteristics: 1) strong background in the concepts, tools and techniquesassociated

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Design Projects in ET

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mindy Breen, Eastern Washington University; Jason Durfee, Eastern Washington University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

practice, givesstudents the opportunity to participate in the partnership of production and promotion, whilegaining insight into their particular role in the relationship. Research demonstrates that whenstudents participate in applied, multidisciplinary learning experiences, they are engaged andvalue the educational and personal experience.5The current Engineering & Design capstone course at EWU evolved from a couple of differentcourses. One of these courses was a senior project course where students in the variedTechnology and Engineering disciplines would work either individually or in small groups on Page 11.1114.3projects. It was already

Conference Session

Electrical ET Projects and Applications

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Austin Asgill, Southern Polytechnic State University; Thomas Fallon, Southern Polytechnic State University; Walter E. Thain Jr.

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

hands-on experiences in telecommunications networks analysis and thevarious aspects related to the administration and management of such networks. A primary goalof the program from its inception has been to develop a capstone course in which studentsdemonstrate their competence gained via the program by the successful completion of a teamproject and associated report.This paper discusses the development of the telecommunications project course as a capstonecourse for the TCET program at SPSU. The most recent project involved the setting up of avoice-over-IP (VoIP) network using Cisco routers and equipment available in ourtelecommunications laboratory. The VoIP network operated over a Frame Relay (FR) cloud andincorporated security aspects into

Conference Session

Design Projects

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Cesar Luongo, Florida A&M/Florida State University; Chiang Shih, Florida A&M/Florida State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

2006-717: SENIOR DESIGN PROJECTS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING – ACASE STUDY OF CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE WITH STRONG INDUSTRIALPARTICIPATIONCesar Luongo, Florida A&M/Florida State UniversityChiang Shih, Florida A&M/Florida State University Page 11.1116.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Senior Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering -- A Case Study of Capstone Experience with Strong Industrial ParticipationAbstractThe Department of Mechanical Engineering at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering adoptedan integrated curriculum in the late 90s. The curriculum features a capstone one-year seniordesign course in which students work in teams tackling

Conference Session

Capstone Courses II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

C. Stewart Slater, Rowan University; Mariano Savelski, Rowan University; Robert Hesketh, Rowan University

Tagged Divisions

Environmental Engineering

2006-279: GREEN ENGINEERING DESIGN THROUGH PROJECT-BASEDINDUSTRIAL PARTNERSHIPSC. Stewart Slater, Rowan University C. Stewart Slater is a Professor and Founding Chair of Chemical Engineering at Rowan University. He received his Ph.D., M.S. and B.S. from Rutgers University. His research and teaching interests are in the area of membrane technology where he has applied this to fields such as specialty chemical manufacture, green engineering, bio/pharmaceutical manufacture and food processing. He is the recipient of the 1999 Chester Carlson Award, 1999 and 1998 Joseph J. Martin Award, 1996 George Westinghouse Award, and the 1989 Dow Outstanding New Faculty Award.Mariano Savelski, Rowan

Conference Session

Mechanical/Manufacturing ET Design Projects

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joseph Musto, Milwaukee School of Engineering; William Howard, East Carolina University

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

Professor of Engineering at East Carolina University. Prior to joining ECU, he was a faculty member and program coordinator at Milwaukee School of Engineering. Howard has fourteen years of industrial experience in design and project engineering functions. He received BS and MS degrees from Virginia Tech, and his PhD from Marquette University. Howard is a registered Professional Engineer in Wisconsin. Page 11.1413.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Using the ASME Professional Practice Curriculum Within an MET Capstone ExperienceAbstract:The Capstone Experience in

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Lihong (Heidi) Jiao, Grand Valley State University; Jeffrey Ray, Grand Valley State University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

wafer to interface with the electrical test equipment. During wafertesting, electrical probes are lowered onto the semiconductor wafer and make electricalconnections to the wafer. This paper presents the design and implementation of a probe stationproject that was carried out as a capstone senior design project in School of Engineering at GrandValley State University. The probe station was designed to have a durable, stable base and a 4inch vacuum-assisted hot chuck as a sample stage. A microscope was integrated to view thewafers and to assist in making the electrical connections. In addition, microprobes with theability to probe the wafers of 25om structure were designed. The project team consisted ofstudents with majors in mechanical and

Conference Session

Capstone Design II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Richard Goff, Virginia Tech; Janis Terpenny, Virginia Tech

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

2006-1676: CAPSTONE DESIGN, MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROJECT ORPERSONNEL MANAGEMENT CHALLENGE?Richard Goff, Virginia Tech RICHARD M. GOFF Richard Goff is an Associate Professor and Assistant Department Head of the Department of Engineering Education in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. He is also the Director of the Frith Freshman Engineering Design Laboratory and the Faculty Advisor of the VT Mini-Baja Team. He is actively involved in bringing joy and adventure to the educational process and is the recipient of numerous University teaching awards.Janis Terpenny, Virginia Tech JANIS P. TERPENNY Janis Terpenny is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering

Conference Session

Capstone Courses II

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Susan Donohue, University of Virginia; Garrick Louis, University of Virginia; William Scherer, University of Virginia; Michael C. Smith, University of Virginia; K. Preston White, Jr., Jr., University of Virginia; Peter Beling, University of Virginia

Tagged Divisions

Systems Engineering Constituent Committee

. His research interests include optimization theory and financial engineering. He is the Department's Chair of Undergraduate Studies.© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Page 11.191.2© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 An Innovative Model for the Administration of Undergraduate Capstone ProjectsAbstractWe discuss the program-level model used in the administration of undergraduate Capstone(senior design) projects in the Department of Systems and Information Engineering at Universityof Virginia’s School of Engineering and Applied Science in this paper. A unique model at thetime of its inception in 1988, its adoption

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gregory Watkins, University of North Carolina-Charlotte; Michael Smith, University of North Carolina-Charlotte

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

Engineering graduate student at UNC Charlotte. He received his BSET in Mechanical Engineering Technology from UNC Charlotte in May 2005. He served as project team leader for the 2005 HPV Challenge. Page 11.116.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 A Senior Design Project Team of Engineering and Engineering Technology StudentsAbstractDuring the senior year, both mechanical engineering (ME) and mechanical engineeringtechnology (MET) students take a two-course sequence in senior design. Each version of thecourse includes a design project and acts as a capstone course for the

Conference Session

Capstone Design I

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John K. Estell, Ohio Northern University; Juliet Hurtig, Ohio Northern University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

categories to the work. Unfortunately,the use of professional judgment in this process varies from faculty member to faculty member;as a consequence, one person's "excellent" can be another person's "very good." The lack ofstandard definitions for such terms act as an impedance toward fair and impartial grading ofstudent performance.At its 2002 Faculty Retreat, the Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science(ECCS) Department at Ohio Northern University examined the effectiveness of the senior designevaluation process. Senior design at this school is a year-long endeavor, with multiple teams offaculty grading several capstone projects each at the end of each quarter. The differencesbetween the individual graders and between each team

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelley Racicot, Washington State University; Charles Pezeshki, Washington State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

uses of web-based group platforms, such as wikis and weblogs in industryand education, have been adopted for project management, to support “folio thinking”1,to encourage reflective practice and to build communities of practice. This qualitativeand quantitative study looks at the pilot semester of using social software in a well-established senior capstone design course to support collaborative knowledgemanagement and group assessment. We want to answer the question: How do we assessteam or group learning?From this research question, we developed three project goals: 1. Leverage the group-editing capabilities of WSU Wiki to facilitate a new course dimension: collaborative knowledge management. 2. Pilot the use of social software as a

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

William Janna, University of Memphis; John Hochstein, University of Memphis

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

Pennsylvania State University (1979), and a Ph.D. from The University of Akron (1984). Page 11.328.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 COLLABORATION OF FRESHMAN WITH SENIORS IN A CAPSTONE DESIGN COURSEAbstractAn innovative capstone design course titled “Design of Fluid Thermal Systems,” involves groupsof seniors working on various semester-long design projects. Groups are composed of 3, 4 or 5members that bid competitively on various projects. Once projects are awarded, freshmenenrolled in the “Introduction to Mechanical Engineering” course are assigned

Conference Session

Capstone Design and Entrepreneurship

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Gül Okudan, Pennsylvania State University; Jennifer Finelli, Pennsylvania State University; Elizabeth Kisenwether, Pennsylvania State University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

2006-2137: ENTREPRENEURIAL DESIGN PROJECTS: WHAT TYPE OFPROJECTS ARE EFFECTIVE IN IMPROVING STUDENT LEARNING &ENTHUSIASM?Gül Okudan, Pennsylvania State University Gül E. Okudan is an Assistant Professor of Engineering Design at The Pennsylvania State University. She received her Ph.D. from University of Missouri-Rolla. Her research interests include intelligent shop floor control, manufacturing strategy modeling and measurement, solid modeling, product design, and product design teams. Her published work appears in journals such as Journal of Engineering Design, Design Studies, Journal of Engineering Education, European Journal of Engineering Education and Technovation. She is a member of ASEE

Conference Session

Integrative Projects in Aerospace Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Joel Weinstein, Northeastern University; Randy August, Northeastern University; Len Dow, Northeastern University; Jerome Tapper, Northeastern University; Francis Di Bella, Northeastern University

Tagged Divisions

Aerospace

2006-345: A DESCRIPTION OF AN INTEGRATED CAPSTONE PROJECT TEAMWITH ELECTRICAL, MECHANICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERINGTECHNOLOGY STUDENTSFrancis Di Bella, Northeastern UniversityJerome Tapper, Northeastern UniversityJoel Weinstein, Northeastern University Prof. Weinstein is the Program coordinator for the Computer engineering technology unit at Northeastern University.Len Dowd, Northeastern University Prof.Dowd is the Electrical Engineering Technology program coordinator at Northeastern University and specializes in electrical power engineering. He has over 30 years experience with the Boston Edison company before joining Northeastern University in 1995.Randy August, Northeastern University Randy

Conference Session

Electrical ET Projects and Applications

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

James Everly, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

2006-1056: AN L/C METER PROJECT PROVIDES A CAPSTONE EXPERIENCEIN TOPICS OF APPLIED DESIGN COURSEJames Everly, University of Cincinnati James O. Everly is an Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Technology at the University of Cincinnati. He received a BSEE and MSEE from The Ohio State University in 1969 and 1970, respectively. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and a registered professional engineer in the state of Ohio. He is currently Chair of the IEEE Cincinnati Section, and in 1997 he received the IEEE Professional Achievement Award. He has held several research and management positions in industry working for such

Conference Session

Interdisciplinary Design Projects in ET

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Jyhwen Wang, Texas A&M University; Steve Liu, Texas A&M University; Angie Hill Price

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

5 years. Page 11.1267.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 The Dancing Marionette - An Interdisciplinary Capstone Design Experience for Engineering Technology and Computer Science StudentsAbstractWith the advances in microelectronics devices, often computers, sensors, and actuators areintegrated into mechanical systems. Modern engineering design thus requires efforts from amultidisciplinary team. Traditional capstone design projects offer few opportunities for inter-departmental collaborations. This paper presents an experimental capstone project organized toallow computer

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Wesner, Carnegie Mellon University; Richard Hoff, Carnegie MellonUniversity; Cristina Amon, Carnegie Mellon University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

2006-598: IDENTIFYING AND IMPLEMENTING PROJECTS FOR AMULTIDISCIPLINARY ENGINEERING DESIGN PROJECTS COURSE ATCARNEGIE MELLONCristina Amon, Carnegie Mellon UniversityJohn Wesner, Carnegie Mellon UniversityRichard Hoff, Carnegie MellonUniversity Page 11.712.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Identifying and Implementing Projects for a Multidisciplinary Engineering Design Projects Course at Carnegie MellonAbstractThis paper describes the process of identifying, selecting, and implementing sponsored projectsin a multidisciplinary Engineering Design Projects Course at Carnegie Mellon University. Inorder for the course to be most effective, the

Conference Session

The Senior Experience: Capstone and Beyond

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Philip Dunn, University of Maine; Bryan Pearce, University of Maine-Orono

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

, Dr. Pearce teaches hydraulics, engineering economics, and the Civil Engineering Capstone course at the University of Maine. Page 11.834.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Introducing Project Management to Senior Civil Engineering StudentsAbstractThe Civil Engineering program at the University has a senior capstone project that requiresstudents to seek out actual design projects. Many of these projects are done in conjunction withpracticing professionals and ultimately student work becomes the preliminary concept for finaldevelopment.Recognizing that the

Conference Session

The Senior Experience: Capstone and Beyond

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Niehaus, University of Cincinnati; Anant Kukreti, University of Cincinnati

Tagged Divisions

Civil Engineering

topics intended to guide students in their senior capstone design project andas they approach their transition from student to young engineers beginning a professionalcareer. Expert practitioners, some of whom are part of the IDS industry advisory team, areinvited to give one-hour seminars on following topics: • Introduction to the IDS Project Selected Page 11.1008.5 • Writing Reports and Giving Presentations • Environmental and Permitting Aspects of the Project Table 1. Suggested Outline for Final Report • Title page with date • Cover letter (from team to client) • Acknowledgements

Conference Session

ECE Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Rocio Alba-Flores, University of Minnesota-Duluth; Fernando Rios-Gutierrez, University of Minnesota-Duluth

Tagged Divisions

Electrical and Computer

requirement for a capstone senior design project, byproviding a one-semester workshop alternative to the normal two-semester senior design option.The content of the course combines departmental expertise in digital system design, digital signalprocessing, power systems and control. Based on ABET’s educational outcomes, uponcompletion of the workshop students were able to: - Complete a design project that is interdisciplinary in nature, integrating the knowledge obtained in previous ECE classes - Accurate communicate his/her project results, both in written report format and in oral presentation format - Understand how teams work and how to interact in a team setting. (Understand what is like to work in industry) - Appreciate the

Conference Session

Assessing Design Coursework

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Steven Beyerlein, University of Idaho; Denny Davis, Washington State University; Phillip Thompson, Seattle University; Michael Trevisan, Washington State University; Olakunle Harrison, Tuskegee University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

design instructors indicates that most use a collectionof custom-designed, single-purpose assessments that are not well-integrated with one anotherand are largely untested for reliability or validity11. This led participants in the TransferableIntegrated Design Engineering Education (TIDEE) consortium to shift their focus fromarticulation between 2-year and 4-year programs12,13,14 to capstone course assessment15,16. In2004, TIDEE received a National Science Foundation grant to develop transferable assessmentfor capstone engineering design courses. This research project responds to the need for a deeper,richer, more rigorous definition of the knowledge, behaviors, and attitudes that are important toengineering practice.The assessment framework

Conference Session

Emerging Trends in Engineering Education Poster Session

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Kelley Racicot, Washington State University; Charles Pezeshki, Washington State University

. She received her B.S.M.E., Washington State University in 1993 Page 11.737.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2006 Improving Performance and Reducing Professor Workload In a Capstone Design Class using Project Management SoftwareAbstractIn the past ten years, many varieties of Project Management (PM) software have becomeavailable, most notably Microsoft Project. However, such software can be difficult toimplement, requiring dedicated time from an IT professional, and a server that alsorequires maintenance. Further, the instruction burden of delivering software skills tostudents coming into the course adds

Conference Session

Successful Grant Proposals

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Dorene Perez, Illinois Valley Community College; James Gibson, Illinois Valley Community College; Rose Marie Lynch, Illinois Valley Community College

Tagged Divisions

Engineering Technology

2006-599: UTILIZING A CAPSTONE PROJECT AS A CATALYST FORREENGINEERING, RECRUITMENT AND RETENTIONDorene Perez, Illinois Valley Community College Dorene Perez, Program Director/Instructor of CAD/CAE at IVCC, was one of the MIMIC project originators. Co-leader of the Tech Prep team, she has been recognized for her pioneering in the development of online courses. She is the PI for NSF grant #0501885 and is participating in an NSF-funded revision of the CAD program at Moraine Valley Community College. Before teaching, she served as a CAD manager in industry.James Gibson, Illinois Valley Community College Jim Gibson is the Program Director/Instructor of Electronics at IVCC. He is a past State Director

Conference Session

Capstone Design and Entrepreneurship

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Ochs, Lehigh University; Gerard Lennon, Lehigh University; Todd Watkins, Lehigh University; Graham Mitchell, Lehigh University

Tagged Divisions

Entrepreneurship & Engineering Innovation

2006-1330: A COMPREHENSIVE MODEL FOR INTEGRATINGENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION AND CAPSTONE PROJECTS WHILEEXCEEDING ABET REQUIREMENTSJohn Ochs, Lehigh University John B Ochs is Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Lehigh and Director of the Integrated Product Development Program (IPD), which he co-founded with Dr. Watkins in 1994. He is the past chairman the Entrepreneurship division of the American Society for Engineering Education. From 1985-95 Dr. Ochs did extensive industry consulting and was involved in the start up of three companies. In 1996 the pilot courses IPD won the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ curriculum innovation award and in 1997 IPD won the Newcomen Society award for

Conference Session

Design for Manufacture and Industry

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Betsy Aller, Western Michigan University; Alamgir Choudhury, Western Michigan University; James Kamman, Western Michigan University; Jorge Rodriguez, Western Michigan University; Mohammed Elsamawal, Western Michigan University; Michael Desjardins, Western Michigan University

Tagged Divisions

Design in Engineering Education

Education, 2006Industry-sponsored Design Competition: Opportunities and Challenges for a Capstone Senior Design ProjectAbstract. Industry-sponsored product development competitions pose both opportunities andchallenges for senior design projects in engineering and engineering technology programs.Capstone design faculty recognize the value of industry-sponsored projects for involvingstudents in genuine practice of the design process, and participating in major competitions canresult in substantial resources, supportive sponsors, and enhanced motivation for students.However, such competitions may also impose timing, process, materials, fabrication, andperformance constraints that are not always encountered in a more typical

Conference Session

Capstone Design Projects in Mechanical Engineering

Collection

2006 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

John Burkhardt, U.S. Naval Academy

Tagged Divisions

Mechanical Engineering

DesignIntroduction A senior level project requiring the design, fabrication and testing of an idealized lifthook is discussed. The primary objective of the project is to address the issue of solutionaccuracy1 and its importance in computer aided design (CAD). Secondary objectives of theproject are to reinforce the CAD process, introduce the computer numerically controlled (CNC)machining process, and to provide some of the tools and skill helpful to students during theirsenior capstone design projects. The primary CAD tools used in the completion of the project are solid modeling and thefinite element method (FEM). Critical to the successful application of the FEM, under allcircumstances, is the generation of an accurate solution. As defined