BAE Students Design and Test Trebuchets

December 14, 2007

On December 5 and 6, 2007, Biological Engineering 1250—Introduction to Engineering Methods (BE 1250)—students participated in a competition showcasing the trebuchets that they had designed in their class. To complete the project successfully, students had to design a device to launch water balloons, draw it in Autodesk Inventor, construct the device out of wood, and test and analyze the effectiveness of the device. This project exposed students to CAD applications, general computational problem solving (including Excel and programming logic), and the engineering method. Students completed this project in BE 1250, taught by Associate Professor Dr. Michael Mailander, PE, Assistant Professor Dr. Todd Monroe, PE, and Teaching Associate Anna Charron Dugas. The trebuchet project teaches students how to go about designing a solution to an open-ended problem.

Students were given several design constraints for their trebuchets. All structural members had to be made of wood, and the length of the catapult arm could be no longer than 6 feet. The catapult base could be no larger than 3 by 4 feet in size and the only materials provided were lumber, plywood, hardwood dowels, PVC piping, and hardware (such as screws, nails, and basic hinges). The cost of the catapult was limited to $25 per group.

The students participated in three different competitions. The first was the accuracy contest, in which targets were placed at 50 and 100 feet away from the trebuchets. The students had to adjust their catapults to launch their water balloons onto the targets. The next competition was the distance contest, in which students tried to launch their water balloons the furthest distance without breaking their catapults. The last competition was the war contest. The students formed 2 “armies,” lined up 75 feet apart, and tried to hit the opposing “army” with their water balloons. The instructor’s goal was to discover a way to showcase the students’ designs in a competitive and fun manner.

Article by Colette Burke for the College of Engineering, 225-578-5706, mlavall@lsu.edu