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TheimportanceofinterdisciplinarydesignexperiencesinengineeringeducationishighlightedintheASCEBodyofKnowledgeandtheABETEngineeringAccreditationCommission.Professionalcompetenciessuchasleadership,theabilitytodesignsustainablesystems,effectivecommunication,andinterdisciplinaryteamworkareamongthemanyskillsrequiredbyengineersofthefuture.Functioningeffectivelyasamemberofamultidisciplinaryteamisarequirementforentryintothepracticeofcivilengineeringattheprofessionallevel.Italsostatesthatintradisciplinaryandmultidisciplinaryteamsareneededtosolvethecomplexproblemsofthefuture.

OnestrategyformeetingtheASCEBodyofKnowledge(BOK)andABETrequirementsisthroughmultidisciplinaryseniorcapstonedesignexperiences.TheASCEBOK(2008)definesamultidisciplinaryteamasbeing“composedofmembersfromdifferentprofessions—forexample,acivilengineerworkingwithaneconomist.Multidisciplinaryalsoincludesateamconsistingofmembersfromdifferentengineeringsubdisciplines(sometimesreferredtoasacrossdisciplinaryteam).”

ACaseStudyofInterdisciplinaryCapstoneEngineeringDesignDr.GeorgeHunt1,Prof.HerbDetloff2

1Departmentof Civil Engineering,2Departmentof Electrical and ComputerEngineeringUniversityof Nebraska-Lincoln

Results and Evaluation

Objectives• Thedevelopmentofapilotmultidisciplinaryyear-longcapstonedesign

projectintheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringattheUniversityofNebraska-Lincoln(UNL)

• CreateaprojectandteamwheretheCivilEngineeringstudentsplayanequalpartinallaspectsoftheproject.

• Evaluatethesuccessoftheprojectforfutureexpansionofthisprogram.

Water Treatment Process Summary of Results

Background and Motivation

Electrical

Future Plans

Acknowledgements

Preliminaryresultstodatearepromising.Studentsintheyear-long,multidisciplinaryprogramansweredthequestionsmorepositivelythanthetraditionalstudents.Additionaldatacollectedinthefuturewillallowforemorerigorousanalyses.

Approach

WewouldliketoacknowledgetheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringforfundingandworkspace.WewouldliketoacknowledgetheMetropolitanUtilitiesDistrictfortheiradviceandgenerousdonationofmaterial.

ThetypicalseniorcapstoneexperienceatUNLisasinglesemester.Studentsworkinteamsonacivilengineeringrelatedprojectwhichistypicallyanexistingindustryconsultingprojectsthatistypicallyinthe95-100%designcompletion,bidding,orconstructionphasebythetimethestudentsareintroducedtotheproject.Thisallowsthestudentstoaccessexistingdetailedsurveydataandotherprojectdata,sitedesigncomplications,andregulatoryrequirements.Thestudent’sfinalproductisa30%completiondesignreportandanoralpresentationtotheclient.

Forthe2017-2018academicyear,aMultidisciplinaryCapstoneDesignexperiencewasdesigned.Thegoalofthisprojectistodesignandconstructafunctionaltabletopwatertreatmentplantmodel.Thisalternativeprojectisatwo-semesterprojectwithamultidisciplinaryteamoftwocivilengineeringandtwoelectricalengineeringstudentsandisbeingsupervisedbyfacultyintheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringandtheDepartmentofElectricalandComputerEngineering.

Theroleofthecivilengineeringstudentsistodesignthewatertreatmentportionoftheunitincludingsizingthetreatmentunitsandcalculatingflowratesandweightrequirementsforthetablethatwillholdthemodelsystem.Oneofthedesignconstraintswasthattheentiredemonstrationshouldbecompletedwithin30minutes.Thecurrentdesignincludescoagulationandsedimentation,filtrationanddisinfection.TheelectricalengineeringstudentsaredesigningtheSCADAsystemthatwillcontroltheunit.TheSCADAsystemisrunbyaprogrammablelogiccontroller(PLC)thatcontrolsthesensorsandpumps.Thesensorsincludedinthesystemincludesensorsforflow,turbidity,etc.ThefinishedtabletopmodelcanbeusedbytheDepartmentofCivilEngineeringandotherenvironmentalandwaterresourcesprofessionalorganizationsforeducationalpurposes(K-12educationandothercommunityoutreachactivities).

Weplantocontinuethisinterdisciplinarycapstonedesigncollaborationbetweencivilengineeringandelectricalandcomputerengineeringstudents.Forthe2018-2019AY,wehaveidentifiedaprojectwherewewillpartnerwithastateagencytodevelopaweb-basedapplicationtodisplaywateravailabilityandwaterdemanddata.Theroleofthecivilengineeringstudentswillbetoanalyzethedataanddeterminethebestwaytodisplaytherawdataandhowbesttosynthesizetheinformation.Theelectronicsandcomputerengineeringstudentswilldevelopanappthatwillallowtheusertoseetherawdataavailableonthewebsiteanddisplaythesynthesizeddata.Wewilladministerthedesignevaluationsurveywithstudentsthatparticipateinboththealternativecapstonedesignaswellasthetraditionalsemesterlongdesignprojecttobetterunderstandtheimpactoftheinterdisciplinarydesignprojectonstudentlearning.Wealsohopetoexpandourpartnerstoincludemoreengineeringdisciplines,aswellasnon-engineeringdisciplines..

FinalSCADAsystemcontrollingtheunit,controls,pumps,mixers,andsensors

TheSCADAsystemdiagramoftheproposeddemonstrationunit.Thisisanexploded,nottoscale,stylizedmodeloftheproposeddemonstrationunit.

SeniorDesignTeamwithcompleteddevice