Design Analysis Competition

Sponsored by ANSYS AIM

The Design Analysis Competition, sponsored by ANSYS AIM, is to encourage the effective application of appropriate engineering analyses in the execution of a design project.

Students from any University of Waterloo Engineering program in their final year of study are encouraged to apply.

Prizes

Winners will be announced at the winning team's department symposium in March. First place prize is $2500, first runner up will receive $1500 and second runner up will receive a prize of $1000.

Important Dates

~~Monday, Feb. 24, 2020~~ Friday, February 28: One-page summary due

~~Friday, Feb. 28, 2020~~ Monday, March 2: Notifications of acceptance sent out

Friday, Mar. 6, 2020: Presentations to judges

Application Instructions

Full Competition Details (pptx)

Questions and applications should be addressed to Chris Rennick at crennick@uwaterloo.ca.

Past Winners

Year	Winning Teams
2019	First Prize: Model Creation adn Validation of a Pulp and Paper Oven Process with Convection and Heat Exchange - Chemical Engineering First Runner Up: WatFly Urban Air Mobility Solution - Mechanical Engineering Second Runner Up: Process Design of Synthetic Fuel from Landfill Gas - Chemical Engineering
2018	First Prize: Hybrid Rocket Engine - Mechanical Engineering - The project objective was to design, built, and test a hybrid rocket engine that will provide thrust for a rocket with a target apogee of 30,000 ft. The winner's presentation can be read in full here: Hybrid Rocket Engine Analysis Presentation (pdf). First Runner Up: Optimal Surgical Operating Hours - Management Engineering - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Department of Surgery comprises over 100 surgeons and 39 operating rooms (ORs). This project analyzed historical usage data to improve the manual process of scheduling the operating hours for the 39 ORs. Second Runner Up: Portable Photocatalytic Water Treatment - Chemical Engineering
2017	First Prize: GYB (Got your Back) - Mechanical Engineering - Conventional automotive side mirrors account for up to 7% of a vehicle's total drag, and produce blind spots leading to more than 840 000 accidents per year in the US. This project minimized mirror drag and eliminated side mirror blind spots by using a camera system. The final design was produced by an automated optimization of solid models. First Runner Up: Motorcycle Safety - Mechanical Engineering - This project produced a design for an aerodynamic braking solution for motorcycles. Computational analysis and virtual prototyping was used extensively to evaluate the performance of design concepts. Second Runner Up: Total Recall - Systems Design Engineering - This project designed an automated system for consumer protection agencies to perform early detection of recall-worthy products. The analysis performed involved training a model to classify consumer reviews as "recalled" or "not recalled".

Year

Winning Teams

2019

First Prize: Model Creation adn Validation of a Pulp and Paper Oven Process with Convection and Heat Exchange - Chemical Engineering

First Runner Up: WatFly Urban Air Mobility Solution - Mechanical Engineering

Second Runner Up: Process Design of Synthetic Fuel from Landfill Gas - Chemical Engineering

2018

First Prize: Hybrid Rocket Engine - Mechanical Engineering -
The project objective was to design, built, and test a hybrid rocket engine that will provide thrust for a rocket with a target apogee of 30,000 ft.

The winner's presentation can be read in full here: Hybrid Rocket Engine Analysis Presentation (pdf).

First Runner Up: Optimal Surgical Operating Hours - Management Engineering - Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Department of Surgery comprises over 100 surgeons and 39 operating rooms (ORs). This project analyzed historical usage data to improve the manual process of scheduling the operating hours for the 39 ORs.

Second Runner Up: Portable Photocatalytic Water Treatment - Chemical Engineering

2017

First Prize: GYB (Got your Back) - Mechanical Engineering - Conventional automotive side mirrors account for up to 7% of a vehicle's total drag, and produce blind spots leading to more than 840 000 accidents per year in the US. This project minimized mirror drag and eliminated side mirror blind spots by using a camera system. The final design was produced by an automated optimization of solid models.

First Runner Up: Motorcycle Safety - Mechanical Engineering - This project produced a design for an aerodynamic braking solution for motorcycles. Computational analysis and virtual prototyping was used extensively to evaluate the performance of design concepts.

Second Runner Up: Total Recall - Systems Design Engineering - This project designed an automated system for consumer protection agencies to perform early detection of recall-worthy products. The analysis performed involved training a model to classify consumer reviews as "recalled" or "not recalled".

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