CE 490 Midterm Fall 2021

Problem #1
Challenges presented by the design environment are to think of the 4 C’s of design. List the 4
C’s and describe in detail about the reasons for each of the 4 C’s.

Creativity: Requires creation of something that has not existed before or has not existed
in the designer’s mind before

Complexity: Requires decisions on many variables and parameters

Choice: Requires making choices between many possible solutions at all levels, from
basic concepts to the smallest detail of shape

Compromise: Requires balancing multiple and sometimes conflicting requirements

Ref: Textbook Chapter 1: Page 3

Problem #2
List the 5 stages of team development and describe in details about the associated team
dynamics for each stage of team development

Orientation(forming): The members are new to the team. This is a period of tentative
interactions and polite discourse, as the team members undergo orientation and acquire and
exchange information

Dissatisfaction(storming): Challenges of forming a cohesive team become real. Differences in

personalities, working and learning styles, cultural background, and available resources (time to
meet, access to and agreement on the meeting place, access to transportation.) begin to make
themselves known. Disagreement,even conflict, may break out in meetings. Meeting may be
characterized by criticism, interruptions, poor attendance, or even hostility

Resolution(norming): The dissatisfaction abates when team members establish group norms,
either spoken or unspoken, to guide the process, resolve conflicts,and focus on common goals.
The norms are given by rules of procedure and the establishment of comfortable roles and
relationships among team members. The arrival of the resolution stage is characterized by
greater consensus seeking, 1 and stronger commitment to help and support each other.

Production (performing): This is the stage of team development we have worked for. The
team is working cooperatively with few disruptions. People are excited and have pride in their
accomplishments, and team activities are fun. There is high orientation toward the task, and
demonstrable performance and productivity.
 Termination (adjourning): When the task is completed, the team prepares to disband. This is
the time for joint reflection on how well the team accomplished its task, and reflection on the
functioning of the team. In addition to a report to the team sponsor on results and
recommendations of the team, another report on team history and dynamics may be written to
capture the “lessons learned” to benefit future team leaders.

Ref: Textbook Chapter 4, Page 121-122

Problem #3
Explain the 2 chief aspects of designing with codes and standards.

1. It makes it the best practice available to everyone, thereby ensuring efficiency and
safety.

2. It promotes interchangeability and compatibilty.

Ref: Textbook Chapter 1, Page 24

Problem #4
Morris Asimow proposed 7 phases of morphology of design. List the first 3 phases of design
and describe in details about various activities associated with each phase of design

Phase I: Conceptual Design

Identification of customer needs : The goal of this activity is to completely understand the
customers’ needs and to communicate them to the design team.

Problem definition : The goal of this activity is to create a statement that describes what has to
be accomplished to satisfy the needs of the customer. This involves analysis of competitive
products, the establishment of target specifications, and the listing of constraints and trade-offs.
Quality function deployment (QFD) is a valuable tool for linking customer needs with design
requirements. A detailed listing of the product requirements is called a product design
specification (PDS).

Gathering information: Engineering design presents special requirements over engineering

research in the need to acquire a broad spectrum of information.

Conceptualization : Concept generation involves creating a broad set of concepts that

potentially satisfy the problem statement. Team-based creativity methods, combined with
efficient information gathering, are the key activities

Concept selection : Evaluation of the design concepts, modifying and evolving into a single
preferred concept, are the activities in this step
 Refinement of the PDS : The product design specification is revisited after the concept has
been selected. The design team must commit to achieving certain critical values of design
parameters, usually called critical-to-quality (CTQ) parameters, and to living with trade-offs
between cost and performance.

Design review : Before committing funds to move to the next design phase, a design review
will be held. The design review will assure that the design is physically realizable and that it is
economically worthwhile. It will also look at a detailed product-development schedule. This is
needed to devise a strategy to minimize product cycle time and to identify the resources in
people, equipment, and money needed to complete the project.

Phase II: Embodiment Design

Determining product architecture : Product architecture is concerned with dividing the overall
design system into subsystems or modules. In this step we decide how the physical
components of the design are to be arranged and combined to carry out the functional duties of
the design

Configuration design of parts and components : Parts are made up of features like holes,
ribs, splines, and curves. Configuring a part means to determine what features will be present
and how those features are to be arranged in space relative to each other. While modeling and
simulation may be performed in this stage to check out function and spatial constraints, only
approximate sizes are determined to assure that the part satisfies the PDS. Also, more
specificity about materials and manufacturing is given here. The generation of a physical model
of the part with rapid prototyping processes may be appropriate.

Parametric design of parts: Parametric design starts with information on the configuration of
the part and aims to establish its exact dimensions and tolerances. Final decisions on the
material and manufacturing processes are also established if this has not been done previously.
An important aspect of parametric design is to examine the part, assembly, and system for
design robustness. Robustness refers to how consistently a component performs under variable
conditions in its service environment.

Phase III: Detail Design

Detailed engineering drawings suitable for manufacturing. Routinely these are

computer-generated drawings, and they often include three-dimensional CAD models.

Verification testing of prototypes is successfully completed and verification data is submitted. All
critical-to-quality parameters are confirmed to be under control. Usually the building and testing
of several pre production versions of the product will be accomplished.

Assembly drawings and assembly instructions also will be completed. The bill of materials for all
assemblies will be completed.
 A detailed product specification, updated with all the changes made since the conceptual
design phase, will be prepared.

Decisions on whether to make each part internally or to buy from an external supplier will be
made.

With the preceding information, a detailed cost estimate for the product will be carried out.

Finally, detailed design concludes with a design review before the decision is made to pass the
design information on to manufacturing.

Ref: Textbook Chapter 1: Page 14-17

Problem #5
Please describe/define Product Design Specification (PDS).

The PDS is the basic control and reference document for the design and manufacture of the
product. The PDS is a document that contains all of the facts related to the outcome of the
product development. It should avoid forcing the design direction toward a particular concept
and predicting the outcome, but it should also contain the realistic constraints.

Ref: Textbook Chapter 3: Page 111

Problem #6
1. Describe and define House of Quality (HOQ)
The House of Quality develops the relationships between what the customer
wants from a product and which of the product’s features and overall
performance parameters are most critical to fulfilling those wants. The House of
Quality translates customer requirements into quantifiable design variables,
called engineering characteristics.

Ref: Textbook Chapter 3: Page 100

2. Draw the complete configuration of HOQ in terms of Customer Requirements (CRs) and
Engineering Characteristics (ECs) and explain the usage and definition of each room of
HOQ in the configuration
 Room 3: Correlation Matrix
Improvement Direction
Units for ECs
Room 2: Engineering Characteristics (ECs) “Hows”
Room 1: Room 4: Relationship Matrix “Whats” related to “Hows” Room 5:
Room 5: Importance Ranking
Room 7: Technical Assessment
Room 8: Target Values

Ref: Textbook Chapter 3: Page 102: Figure 3.13

3. Interpret results of HOQ for the following 2 conditions
a. The highest-ranking ECs from HOQ
i. The highest-ranking ECs from the HOQ are either constraints or design
variable whose values can be used as decision-making criteria for
evaluating candidate designs
b. The lowest-ranking ECs from HOQ
i. The lowest-ranking ECs of the HOQ are not as critical to the success of
the design

Ref: Textbook Chapter 3 Section 3.3.3 : Page 111

Problem #7
A new product has the following cost structure over one month of operation. Determine the
break-new point.
G & A expenses: $1,400.00
Depreciation on equipment: $5,320.00
Factory expenses: $880.00
Sales & distribution overhead: $4,500.00
Profit: $5.00/unit
Labor cost: $6.50/unit
Material cost: $8.00/unit

Total variable cost: (v) = Labor cost + Material cost = 6.50 + 8.00 = 14.50 $/unit
Total fixed cost: (f) = G & A + Depreciation + Factory + Sales
f = 1,400 + 5,320 + 880 + 4,500 = $12,100
Sales price: (P) = Total variable cost + Profit = 14.50 + 5.00 = $19.50
𝑓 12,100 12,100
𝑄𝐵𝐸𝑃 = 𝑃−𝑣
= 19.50−14.50
= 5
= 2420 𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑠

Ref: Textbook Chapter 17: Page 779: Example 17.1

Problem #8
A reinforced concrete beam is shown below. Determine the total material cost for the beam.
Given:
Cross Section:
- Stirrups : #3 @ 6” o.c. = #3 @ 0.5 ft
- Concrete cover: 1.5 inch = 0.125 ft
- Steel Rebar #9: diameter: 1.128 inch = 0.094 ft
- Steel Rebar #3: diameter: 0.375 inch = 0.03125 ft

Weight
- Steel Rebar #9: 3.400 lb/ft (diameter: 1.128 inch)
- Steel Rebar #3: 0.376 lb/ft (diameter: 0.375 inch)
- Concrete weight: 150 lb per cubic ft

Material Cost
- Concrete : $0.20 per lb
- Rebars: $0.80 per lb
Concrete Calculations:
20 12 3
Volume of concrete = 40 𝑓𝑡 𝑥 12
𝑥 12
= 66. 8 𝑓𝑡
Volume of beam = 66.8 x 150 = 10,020 lbs
Cost of concrete = 10,020 x $0.20 = $2004

Steel Calculations
Total number #9 bar = top + bottom = 3 + 6 = 9
Total length = length of beam x 9 = 40 x 9 = 360
#9 weight = 3.400 lb/ft
Weight of steel = 3.400 x 360 = 1224 lbs

Length of single stirrups:

𝐿𝑠 = 20𝑖𝑛 + 20𝑖𝑛 + 12𝑖𝑛 + 12 𝑖𝑛 − 4(2. 5) + 2 = 56𝑖𝑛 = 4. 67𝑓𝑡
𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑚 40𝑓𝑡
Number of stirrups = 𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑟𝑢𝑝 𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑛𝑔
= 0.5 𝑓𝑡
+ 1 = 81 𝑝𝑖𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑠
Total length of #3 bars required = 81(4.67) = 378.27 ft
#3 weight = 0.376 lb/ft
Total weight = 378.27 x 0.376 = 142.23 lb
Total weight of steel bar = 1224 + 142.23 = 1366.23 lbs
Cost = weight x cost = 1366.23 x $0.80 = $1092.98

Total material cost = $2004 + $1092.98 = $3096.98