Winter 2011 Engineering Analysis II

Design Review for the Centennial Solar Panel System

Contents
Project Description Page 1-2
Part A: Analysis of NSU Design Page 3-4
Part B: Design Proposal Page 5-6
Expectations and Grading Criteria Page 7
Collaboration and Plagiarism Guidelines, Submission Requirements Page 8
CSPS Information Page 8
NSU Proposal (Separate Document) Blackboard
Writing a Bid (Separate Document) Blackboard
Project Description:
Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW) is a Northwestern student group that engages in sustainable
engineering projects on campus and internationally. ESW is working with the Northwestern
Sustainability Fund, a rotating fund for sustainable projects at Northwestern, to install the Centennial
Solar Panel System (CSPS), a 17kW solar photovoltaic array on top of the Ford Design Center.

Figure 1 3D Solid model of a row of 4 Solar Panels mounted on a Truss Support

After raising the funds for the project, ESW and NU Facilities Management issued a request for
proposals for the design of CSPS. The cheapest proposal from several solar design companies was
Northshore Solar Union (NSU). Figure 1 shows a set of 4 panels, and NSU’s proposed truss supports.
The request for proposals and the NSU bid are in the document “NSU Proposal” found on Blackboard.
After receiving the proposal, CSPS project manager, Josh brought the design to the next ESW exec
meeting, because the design was over $5,000 cheaper than anticipated. ESW Finance Chair Ankur
decided that this CSPS proposal should be reviewed for safety before the check is written. Sasha and
Will, ESW co-presidents, then added, “The EA-2 students are learning about truss structures and this
analysis would be perfect to get them involved with ESW!”

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After glancing over the design Dave, ESW’s project manager for the Portobelo, Panama Wastewater
Treatment Project, asked, “I don’t remember 3-D trusses from EA-2, can they solve them?” One of
Dave’s team members, Hugh, responded, “Remember from fluid mechanics, the highest aerodynamic
force (and highest force on the truss), will be a straight headwind. So, since the design is based on 3 2D
trusses and a set of cross members, if we analyze based on that worst case (a straight headwind) then we
can ignore the cross members (members with a component in the z direction.) We can always review
those later if necessary.”

Next, ESW Publicity Chair, Sloane, chipped in, remembering from her civil and environmental
engineering classes, that all structures have a built in safety factor. Sam, the project manager for ESW
GRIN (Green It Now), the building audits project, suggested a safety factor of 1.5, which is standard for
this type of structure. Sam also added that Aluminum 6063-T52 (used for this truss) was being used on
the Nicaragua Wind Turbine Project, and Scott, the project manager and material science and
engineering major, just used his course work to check the turbine’s safety factor before heading to
Nicaragua to install it. Scott supplied Josh with the information in Table 1 and the associated equations
on page 3.

Josh called over his co-project manager for ESW’s NU Clean Energy Plan (see page 8), Brooke, whose
ESW summer fellowship focused on wind turbines for NU. On a hunch, Josh asked Brooke if NSU’s
predication of 10 mph max winds was a too low, to which she responded, “OH MY GOSH! That is way
too low! On the top of a 60ft Evanston building, you need to design for at least 100 mph gusts!”

At that point, Andrea, the program coordinator for ESW University, ESW’s educational curriculum
spoke up. “You realize that the EAII students probably could have designed a better system then NSU.
Maybe you should see what they can come up with. It will probably be better and cheaper anyway.” To
that, Anthony an Econ major and the other project manager for CSPS added, “But we will need to see
some financial documentation to see if their designs are better.” To that Andrea responded, “You are
underestimating our engineers, they can do it.”

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Part A: Analysis of NSU Design [This part is to be turned in as a homework assignment]

1. TRUSS GEOMETRY AND SUPPORTS

Review the proposal from Northshore Solar Union (the document “NSU Proposal” found on
Blackboard). Each row of solar panels consists of 4 solar panel units mounted on a frame (Figure 1).
The frame consists of 3 identical 2D trusses mounted in the x-y plane (ADGH, BEIJ and CFKL),
and a set of cross members which are angled to these. Figure 2 shows one end truss (ADGH).
 The lowest point on the panel is 1ft above the roof.
 The panels make a 42° angle with the horizontal.
 There are three individual 2-D trusses in the x-y plane,
 The weight of the panels is 0.5 lb/ft2 of panel area.
 Each panel is 4ft x 6.5 ft, and the set of 4 attached to the support shown in Figure 1 is therefore
16ft x 6.5 ft.
 Points A, B, C, D, E, and F are 0.5’ from the top and bottom edge of the panel.
 Points A, C, D, and F are 1.0’ from the side edges of the side panels.
 The truss is supported by rollers at G,J and K and pins at H,I and L (see Figure 2).
 The panel is supported by pins at D,E and F, and sliders parallel to the panel (42° to the x axis) at
A,B and C.

2. LOAD CASE
Assume that wind causes a drag force acting parallel to the wind direction. The drag force, FD is
defined as:

And a downforce acting normal to the wind direction:

Where is air density (at Ford’s 60ft roof, ρ = 0.076 lb/ft3), v is wind speed in ft/s, A is the object’s
cross sectional area normal to the wind, and CD is the coefficient of drag (1.28 for rectangles). CL is
the coefficient of lift (For these wind speed assume CL=1.2 for rectangles).

3. AXIAL STRESS IN THE MEMBERS

Truss member failure results from a variety of mechanisms including excessive elastic deformation,
plastic deformation, buckling, and fracture. In order to account for uncertainties in design, such as
uncertainty in service loads, material properties, and environmental factors, a factor of safety has to
be accounted for. The factor of safety is defined as,

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 The failure stress in this case is either the yield strength or buckling load, and the allowable stress is
the working stress. Stress  is related to the axial force F on the truss member, and its cross-sectional
area by,

For the design problem, consider a factor of safety of 1.5.

The buckling stress is critical for the truss members in compression. The critical buckling force Fmax,
is given by,

Where E is Young’s Modulus, is the moment of inertia, and D is the diameter of the truss
member, assuming the trusses have circular cross-sections.
The trusses are made from Aluminum 6063 T52 (properties in Table 1).

Table 1: Mechanical Properties of Aluminum 6063 T52

Material Density (lb/in³) Young’s Modulus (psi) Tensile Yield Strength (psi)
Aluminum 6063 T52 0.097 10×106 21,000

4. WIND LOADING EFFECT ON THE TRUSS MEMBERS

a) Calculate the wind loading on the panel for a wind speed of 10mph. Use this to calculate the support
reactions for the panel at the attachment points A,B,C,D,E and F (See assumptions below).
Use the loads calculated to find the member tensions in all the truss members for each of the 3
trusses.
Assumptions:
 The total drag force, downforce, and panel weight act through the center of the panels, and are
applied to the trusses at the contact points A,B,C,D,E and F. The middle truss supports 6/14th of
the total load, and each end truss supports 4/14th of the total load. The relationship between the
loading points in each truss can be found by treating the panel loading as a 2D equilibrium
problem.
 Weight of the truss system is negligible
 Any member not in the wind’s direction (any member having a non-zero z component) is only
used to deal with cross wind (i.e. ignore them in all force calculations).
 The panels do not deform or break.
b) Determine if any truss members in the NSU system exceed the safety factor, if so which ones?
c) Make a plot of the force in each member verses wind speed, iterating the wind speed from 10 mph to
100 mph, using the same directional heading and assumptions as above. Use one plot, and if multiple
members display the exact same relationship (same exact line), only display one line (and document
the similarity below). Do any of these members ever exceed safety factor? If so mark the highest
wind speed the system can take before failing the safety factor. What is the failure wind speed? Is
the failure due to tension or compression? Which member fails first?
Write the results in the form of a short report.

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Part B: Design Proposal [This part is to be handed in as a Design Proposal]
Develop a proposal to answer Facilities Management’s request for proposals (found on Blackboard as
the first page of the document “NSU Proposal”) by redesigning the rows of solar panels in the array
based off of the template in Figure 2. In your redesign you may alter the radius of the members, the
lengths of the members AP, DP, GP, and HP (and their corresponding members in trusses BEIJ and
CFKL), and the type of joints (pin or slider) at G, H, I, J, K, and L (as long as the trusses are statically
determinate).
Important note: The panel area, angle, and directional orientation must remain the same. Do not change
the number (4) of panels in a row or the total number of rows (20).

You are expected to do the following:

• Redesign the system in Figure 1 and 2 by y
moving point P, changing the member diameters x
and/or redistributing pin and slider joints.
• Follow the procedure used for part A to evaluate
the safety of your truss design for wind speeds
of up to 100 mph. Continue using the material
properties in Table 1. 5.01ft
• Evaluate the cost of your design according to
the criteria laid out in the budgeting section D
below. Keep in mind that the maximum budget
P
for the project is TBD. Exceeding this value will
result in point loss. 1.33ft
• Use your design analysis to create a bid
proposal to get a contract from Facilities
G
Management to build the Centennial Solar Panel 4.09ft
System.
Figure 2: 2D truss support ADGH
Redesigning
Redesign the system in Figure 1 and 2 by moving point P, changing the member diameters and/or
redistributing pin and slider joints. Decide any combination of the following to use:
 Moving point P in truss ADGH (Figure 2: 2D truss support ADGH) (and point Q in BEIJ, and R in
CFKL). This may require splitting members AG and DH in the current system into two members
(ex: AP and GP). Keep A, D, G, and H in their current location and move P, adjusting the angle
between those members and the axes. Repeat this for the center truss (BEIJ) and the end trusses
(CFKL) and (ADGH).
 Changing the member diameters of the Table 2: Price Per Foot for Aluminum 6063 T52
members (only use the diameters in Table 2) Diameter (in) Cost per Foot ($/ft)
 Switching the pin and slider joints, 0.89
providing that the system is statically ½ 1.51
determinate. ¾ 3.09
Create a drawing using the computer or by 1 5.08
hand (and scanned in) of your redesign Cost of buying 8-ft members of from McMaster-Carr

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Engineering Analysis
Evaluate your system for wind speeds between 10 mph and 100 mph. Create a plot containing the axial
loads in the truss members as a function of wind speed.

Budgeting
Evaluate the cost of the array assuming you use the same row design for all 20 rows and using the
parameters listed below. Each of these costs is associated with one line in the proposal budget:
a) Purchasing the Support Structure: Using Table 2: Price Per Foot for Aluminum 6063 T52,
find the cost per foot for buying the materials needed.
o Sum the total length of members in a single row for each diameter, and fill it into the Bill
of Materials. Complete the Bill of Materials for your total cost of materials.
o Add $150 per row of for bolts, screws, and ballast (pin and slider connections).
o Using different diameters: since using different diameters or materials make design
reviewing and construction more difficult, there is an additional labor fee (see c: Labor
below) associated with using additional materials or diameters.
o Do not forget about the members in the x direction (ignored in the force calculations).
 The size of these members may be changed, but their diameter cannot go below
70% of the smallest diameter used in the 2-D truss sections.
o The overall weight of your array (structure and panels) cannot exceed 15,000 lb.
b) Purchasing the Solar Equipment: This cost is $64,644 covering panels, inverters, and all
other non support structure materials.
c) Labor: Calculate a labor cost multiplier, based on your system to determine your labor costs
o Labor costs are associated with how much material you are using. The base of the
labor cost multiplier is 1.5.
o Add 0.05 to the labor cost multiplier for each member diameter used beyond the first.
o Multiply your total materials costs from a) by your labor cost multiplier to get your
labor subtotal.
o Add an additional $5000 of labor for the whole array for other labor (i.e. electrical,
safety checks, logistics….) to get your labor total cost.
d) Freight: $0.25 per pound of material purchased for your designed structure (whole array)
o Also add $1500 for other freight (solar panels, inverters, other equipment).
e) Permits: $1500 to the City of Evanston
f) Crane Rental: $1500
g) Sum all your costs in parts a-f. This is your subtotal.
h) Add a 2% contractor overhead to the subtotal cost
i) Add a 15% contingency fund on the total from h. This is your total cost.
Note: none of these costs per units are variable except for in part a. You should calculate most of your
costs by plugging in variables determined in your design.

More details on writing a proposal can be found in the document “Writing a Bid” on Blackboard.

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Expectations and Grading Criteria
Your design project grade will depend not only on whether your analysis is correct and complete, but
also on the clarity of your write-up and on the neatness and professional appearance of your report.

Tips:
• All figures should be numbered and have a caption that describes exactly what is shown. The
caption should be placed below the figure. If the figure is a graph, it should have axis labels
(with units) and a legend when more than one curve is plotted on the same graph. All charts and
diagrams should be created so that they can be interpreted from a grayscale copy. You cannot
assume that all copies of your report will always be in color.
• MATLAB code must be provided in an appendix at the end of the report, and should be
sufficiently commented.
• For basic analysis methods you should describe the procedure that was followed in the text,
perhaps including sample calculations, equations, or diagrams. However, you should not include
every detail: all detailed cost calculations should not be shown, for example.
• Data such as truss forces should be reported neatly in tables. These should be numbered and have
captions like figures. Table titles should be placed above the table
• Whether applying for a bid for construction or writing a research grant proposal, following the
proscribed formatting requirements is crucial. Reviewers will not think twice about throwing out
million dollar grant requests because the abstract had one too many words or the margins were
0.01inches too narrow. That being said, the most efficient way to write the proposal for this
project is to follow the example in the NSU proposal (they might be questionable engineers, but
their proposal was correctly formatted (only exception is that italicized values are one which may
change based on your design, and need not be italicized in your proposal).
• Your electronic and paper versions must be identical.

Points will be assigned as follows:

Technical: 25 pts
(Correctness of your analysis method, MATLAB code, values, and plots.)
Incentives are available for proposal costs of safe systems below 2% of target budget.

Description: 7 pts.
(How well you describe in words what you did, how you did it, and what you found.)

Presentation: 8 pts.
(Neatness, clarity of the figures and tables, organization of the report, conciseness, etc.)

TOTAL: 40 pt

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Design Project Collaboration and Plagiarism Guidelines

Design projects are to be completed individually. It is acceptable for you to discuss ideas on setting up
and solving the design problem with other students, as well as with the course instructors and TA’s, but
you must complete your own analysis, MATLAB programming, and report. Copying or sharing of
calculations, code, results, or text is not allowed and will not be tolerated. All design projects will be
analyzed electronically for violations of the University's academic integrity policy and may also be
included in a database for the purpose of testing for plagiarized content.

Design Project Submission Guidelines

All design projects must be submitted both in paper form and electronically via the Blackboard website
for your section. The electronic and paper versions must be identical. The electronic version must be
submitted as two separate files. The main body of your design project must be submitted as a single file,
and this file must not contain your MATLAB code. The MATLAB code (which should be placed in an
Appendix to the report) must be submitted in a second file. These files must be in either Microsoft Word
format (.doc) or Adobe Acrobat format (.pdf). Equations and figures should be embedded in the
electronic submission of the project. Failure to comply with these instructions will result in a penalty.

CSPS Info
Named for McCormick’s centennial last year, the Centennial Solar Panel System is the pilot project of
ESW’s NU Clean Energy Plan, a project which works on reducing the campus’ use of non-renewable
energy sources and replacing them with renewable generation technologies. The Clean Energy Plan
team works on renewable energy installation projects for campus and developing the plan.

The CSPS budget is around $120,000, which was raised from donations and grants, the largest of which
came from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation. Other sponsors include the Initiative for
Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern (ISEN), the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied
Sciences and its departments, and other departments around Northwestern. This project is a partnership
between the students of ESW/NSF and NU Facilities Management.

Tip from ESW and NSF: Simple designs are often the best and most cost efficient!

ESW and NSF wish you luck on the problem, and if you are interested in getting involved with any of
the ESW or NSF projects, email cep.esw@gmail.com! Look for CSPS on the roof of Ford this spring!