Subject No.

48221 ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS Spring 2019

Instructions for the Group Project

You will be allocated to a group of up to 6 people from your tutorial classes. The focus of this
assignment is on group work in which students must learn to collaborate with each other to achieve the
tasks given. You will be provided with four activity sessions throughout the semester. These sessions
will give you an opportunity to meet up in an allocated time for you to carry out your group tasks. The
entire project is divided into two stages running through the semester with two corresponding
assessments. The key dates are given as follows:
Key Dates for Group Project
Mark Project task
Project tasks Submission deadline Peer-review deadline
distribution release
Stage 1 - Excel (15/30) 12:00 on Friday of 23:59 on Friday of
15/30 Week 4
(individual project) Week 7 week 8
Stage 2 - VBA (15/30) 23:59 on Friday of 23:59 on Friday of
15/30 Week 7
(Group project) Week 11 Week 12

Stage 1 is designed as individual work, each student needs to complete their own Stage 1 project and
submit it before due date. Peer review within each group is required after project submission. Each
student is required to review other group members work following the review criteria attached the end
of this instruction file.

Instructions for the Stage 1 Project (individual Work)

STAGE 1: EXCEL (15 marks /30 marks)
You are required to create an Excel sheet that will allow a user to calculate the deflection of a simply
supported beam based on the inputs given by the user. Formulae for beam deflection calculations
can be found online, no prior knowledge of mechanics of solid required.
For Stage 1 of the Project, it is a requirement that each student completes his/her version of the
project prior to attending the first activity session. In this activity session, each group will
discuss/modify each member’s individual work. After project submission, students are required to
submit peer reviews for other groups. Students who did not submit the review will get 2 marks
penalty.

STAGE 1 – PART 1
The initial part will require your Excel sheet to calculate of the cross sectional properties (i.e. Centroid,
2nd moment of area) of a beam based its sectional information (dimensions and shapes) and inputs from
a user. The user interface will allow the user to choose a type of cross sectional shape from a cell (it has
a drop down menu). Cross sectional shapes must include circle, rectangle, and tube. In addition, I-
section beam, T-section beam and more can be considered.

Once all the parameters of the cross section properties are entered, Excel will automatically calculate
all cross sectional properties including Centroid and 2nd moment of area, which will be used for the 2nd
part of this assignment.

STAGE 1 – PART 2
This part will require your Excel sheet to assign material attribute to the beam. The user interface
will allow the user to choose a type of material from a cell (it also has a drop down menu). Examples
Subject No. 48221 ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS Spring 2019

should include steel and concrete. Other user defined materials can be considered as well. The
material properties include density of material, modulus of elasticity, etc.

STAGE 1 – PART 3
This part of the assignment builds on the information obtained from part 1 and part 2. The user will be
given the option to choose the load configuration including:

 Uniformly distributed load

 Point load at any given location
The user will also be able to define the length of the beam and loading position through Excel. Once all
this information is entered, Excel will automatically compute the deflection along a catilever and present
the results of the beam’s deflection.
Hint: Formulae for beam deflection can be found online.

Submission of the stage 1 project

Students are required to submit their own individual work through UTSOnline before due date. The
project must use the provided template (download from UTSOnline)

Peer review of the group project

Each group member within the group are required to mark all other group members’ project by
following the attached marking criteria. Students who did not submit the review will get 2 marks
penalty.

Marking Criteria
Mark
Criteria Remark
distribution

Functionality 5/15 Correct results, workable, debugged, robust, crash-proof

Demonstration of applying skills/knowledge

Innovation 5/15
innovatively, additional features
Presentation 5/15 Logical, clear, concise and user friendly interface
Subject No. 48221 ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS Spring 2019

Instructions for the Stage 2 Project (Group Work)

STAGE 2: VISUAL BASIC (BASIC PROGRAMMING) (15 marks /30 marks)
Congratulations to you and your group for successfully completing Stage 1 of the group project.
However, your client soon came to realise that they want to continue the development work to create a
powerful and sophisticated Excel spreadsheet utilising VBA programing and Userforms to
accommodate the spreadsheet’s complicated and flexible configurations, allowing them to calculate the
deflection and bending moment of a simply supported beam and a cantilever beam.
As the client now wants more features from the spreadsheet, in addition to enhance the user interface,
you must use both VBA and Userforms (You cannot do calculations on the spreadsheets, i.e.
Calculations done within cells). Note, you can use WorksheetFunction in VBA.
Key Dates for Group Project

Mark Project task

Project tasks Submission deadline Peer-review deadline
distribution release
Stage 2 - VBA (15/30) 23:59 on Friday of 23:59 on Friday of
15/30 Week 7
(Group project) Week 11 Week 12

For the stage 2 project, you must complete an individual peer review where you will decide your
contribution as well as the contribution of other members of your group, to the project especially
contribute to your final project mark.

STAGE 2 – PART 1
As a group of engineers with basic Visual Basic skills, you are asked to provide your client with a user-
friendly macro-enabled Excel spreadsheet that can be used to calculate the deflection and bending
moment of a simply supported beam and a cantilever beam. The spreadsheet will provide a user-friendly
interface to allow the client to:
i) define the type of beam (i.e. a simply supported beam or a cantilever beam);
ii) define cross sectional properties of a given beam structure;
iii) define structural parameters and materials. e.g. a main page will allow for a user friendly
interface that lists all the individual regular shapes that form a complex shape with options
to add more regular shapes to the composition via a button etc. This could lead to another
interface that will allow the client to define the parameters of each individual shape
(preferably in another sheet). Once the parameters are entered the client will be returned to
the main sheet where the details of the newly defined shape will automatically be added to
the list of shapes.
Once the entire cross-section has been defined, the Excel spreadsheet will calculate the overall second
moment of inertia via a button.
Challenges (Optional):

 An image will automatically be produced when the various shapes are added.
 More than one material can be added to the shape in this Excel sheet.

STAGE 2 – PART 2 (Maximum Bending Moment and Deflection)

Similar to Stage 1 of the group project, this part builds on the information obtained from part 1. Your
clients are bridge engineers who want to calculate the deflection and bending moment of their beams.
Subject No. 48221 ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS Spring 2019

A button on the main page will allow the users to open a new interface to define the load and properties
of the beam so that they can calculate the deflection and bending moment of the beam. The user will be
given the option to choose any of the following load configurations on the beam.

 Concentrated point load

 Uniformly distributed load
 Uniformly varying load
Once all this information is entered, Excel will automatically compute and present the results of the
beam’s deflection and bending moment.
Hint: Formulae for simply supported beam and cantilever beam can be found online.
Challenge (Optional): Plot the shear force diagram and the bending moment diagram.

STAGE 2 – PART 3 (Report)

Once the cross section and the maximum bending moment and deflection of beam have been defined,
the user will be given the choice to press a button to automatically generate an A4 printable report based
on the input and calculations produced in this Excel sheet. This report will summarise the parameters
that the user has put into Excel and display the results in a way that is simple for the client to interpret.

Limitations
You must not use the excel spreadsheet (i.e. any cells on the spreadsheet) to do any of the calculations
(i.e. no formulas in cells).

Submission of the group project

At the end of Stage 2 a project group needs to submit a project report for assessment. Each group
submits only one report (softcopy) at each stage of the project through UTSOnline. A report template
(in Excel format) is provided (downloadable from UTSOnline) and must be used for the report
submission (or the submission is invalid). Individual peer review within each group must be
completed by all group members.

Assessment of the group project Stage 2

1. Teaching academics will assess the group project and give a group mark.
2. Mark of an individual member is to be decided by their own group mark and the contribution
factor derived from peer review system.
3. All individuals in a group must assess their group members. Within a group, student who did
not complete individual peer review will get 20% of penalty for stage 2, and, all other
members will only get 85% of the group mark for their individual mark.
Subject No. 48221 ENGINEERING COMPUTATIONS Spring 2019

Marking Criteria

Mark
Criteria Remark
distribution

Functionality 5/10 Correct results, workable, debugged, robust, crash-proof

Demonstration of applying skills/knowledge

Innovation 5/10
innovatively, additional features
Presentation 5/10 Logical, clear, concise and user friendly interface