ENG486 Mechanical Design Assignment S118

Outline Brief

Ship Lift Facility for Vessels up to 100m and 2,500 tonnes

You are a junior Engineer in your company and your immediate supervisor has given you a press
clipping outlining a proposed ship lift facility. Refer press clipping attached elsewhere. Your urgent
task is to do a quick feasibility study and come up with a project plan ( Assignment 1), to see if this
potential is worth your company spending more time and money pursuing this further and
submitting a detailed design proposal for tender. This facility is to be able to handle vessels up to
100m long and of up to 2,500 tonnes. This project has an approximate budget of $500 million . Your
project plan will be a technical report of up to 500 words and include sketches as appendices. No
detail is required at this stage. Points to consider would be

1. How does the ship get lifted ?

2. How does it get moved to allow maintenance to be done?
3. How many ships can the facility handle?
4. How much land will such a facility need?

Above all does your company have the capacity to handle this project and if not what other
resources are required?

The Design project

You, as the designer are required to come up with a feasible means of removing such a vessel from
the water and placing it such that it can be moved to a suitable “parking place” for further
maintenance work. You must include in your design all the machine elements that we will study this
semester as well as basic structures from previous knowledge in “Statics” and “Strength of
Materials”. You will also your knowledge of “Dynamics “ to include dynamic loads as part of your
design theory. Your design must include the lift structure, the longitudinal drive, the transverse drive
and all the components within the drive except the drive motor. You may specify an off the shelf
electric/pneumatic motor/s. The main lift mechanism may consist of a primary drive motor, a
gearbox, gearbox housing and a winch. You may also select suitable wire rope/s from a supplier’s
catalogue. You must justify your choices. You must also design all the structural elements of the lift,
as well as the wheels, axles, bearings, keys, keyways, shafts, gears, welds etc. Your design must also
specify the manufacturing methods to be used, the quality standards you expect and the tolerances
allowed as well as the method of erection. You must also prepare a Bill of Materials which includes
everything needed to fabricate this lift. You will need to design a suitable means of supporting and
moving the vessel into its parking area and back to the lift. At some point in your design I want to
see the design of a two stage gearbox, complete with housing , complete shaft mounts, bearings
welds threaded fasteners, lubrication and maintenance needs. You will also have a realistic cost
estimate to tell the client before approval is given to proceed with your detailed design. You will
need to research and comply with all the relevant Australian Standards for this project. You must
also list the Standards used and quote the appropriate section in your references. You should also
specify anticorrosion and surface finish treatment for the crane.

You must show ALL your calculations for each and every component in this project. Do not use any
form of spreadsheet or software to do this; I want you to do this by hand to demonstrate your
understanding of the theory. I want to see advanced analysis techniques covering all dynamic loads
and load combinations. Do not use a simple static stress approach. You must also use accepted
engineering conventions in your design approach. You must also show sketches and a short narrative
at all your design choice stages to explain your reasoning and choices. I have included a worksheet
template for your use.

This project is to be an individual effort and must be only your work although group discussion is
encouraged. You must also demonstrate your provision for maintenance and repair of your lift.

The final part of your assignment is to use your skills to provide a drawing, showing major detail only
ie you do not need show in your drawing things like nuts and bolts under 20mm in diameter, welds ,
electrical wiring etc.

You may specify hydraulic actuation where appropriate without designing the hydraulic system.

You may specify appropriate concrete footings, soil compaction and other civil works as well as
hardstands without designing them.

Where your design contains multiple, similar machine elements eg rolling bearings, gearboxes etc
you only need to design one gearbox and one rolling bearing. ( If you demonstrate you can
understand and apply the theory properly to a particular machine element, you only need to do it
once.)

You should also provide in your submission, detailed, 3 view sketches with dimensions to enable the
workshop to manufacture your lift and detailed specifications with part numbers to enable the
purchasing dept. to buy in your other requirements.

Design Tasks

At the start of each design stage you need to state the design approach eg fatigue; you will use
and justify your choice based upon the expected use of the individual components, the
anticipated failure mode and design life. Do not take short cuts and/or use a simplistic
approach.

1. Design the structural members of the lift and then specify the construction processes
including the welds and component sections.
2. Design a gearbox and gearbox housing which is used in your design, including the gear
ratios, gears, shafts, bearing and bearing mounts, keys, keyways, welds. Also specify how the
gears are to be maintained, assembled and lubricated while in service. In your gearbox
 housing design you must also specify how this hosing is mounted as well as provide detail of
how and where the drive motor is fitted and coupled to the gearbox.
3. Design a suitable winch to be used somewhere in the system, maybe coupled to the
gearbox. It is intended to release wire rope under controlled conditions and retrieve and
store it. The wire rope which could be attached to a main hook ( the hook and its connection
to the wire rope may be selected form a supplier’s catalogue; provide references.)
4. Design a longitudinal drive system to drive the crane assembly along the main rails. Include
in your design all machine components such as shafts, bearings, mounts, couplings, gears,
threaded fasteners etc. You may specify a suitable off the shelf, drive motor as the prime
mover for this system but give detail of how and where it would be mounted. The bearings
should be designed from first principles and then be selected from a catalogue. Suitable
bearing housings/mounts may also be selected. Provide part numbers and references.
5. Design a transverse drive system and similarly specify all components used.
6. At the start of each design stage you need to state the design approach you will use and
justify your choice based upon the expected use of the individual components.
7. Design a suitable winch, again including all components such as a drum, shaft, bearings and
mounts, couplings, threaded fasteners, welds etc.
8. At every stage of your design you must specify sufficient detail of materials, material grades,
part numbers of commercially available bearings, details of commercially available sections
chosen, details of commercially available wire rope used etc. This condition is to help you
avoid as far as possible custom made components.
9. Design the wheel and mount system which allows the lift or cradle to travel. Select suitable
wheel width clearance tolerances and explain your reasoning. Specify suitable stops and
impact shock absorbers to limit lift travel. Specify mounting details of the stops and shock
absorbers.

After doing your detailed design calculations ( by hand ), always select wherever possible, suitable
complying commercially available materials and components.

Summary

This major design assignment is designed to simulate a design project suitable for newly graduated
Mechanical Engineer. You will need to read and study the brief, carefully and be aware of the details
of the assessment thoroughly and produce your submissions which comply. You will need to do
extensive research, detailed planning and pay close attention to detail. Time spent in the beginning,
planning, assessing and researching is rarely wasted and will help you avoid making silly mistakes. I
strongly urge you to make full use of your tutorial time to help you with this. You should come to
each tutorial armed with questions; I am happy to extend the tutorial time should it prove
necessary.

This assignment will help develop your thinking, judgement, planning and by the end will improve
your confidence. This project is part of a realistic role playing scenario which simulates real life for a
practising Engineer.
You will need to start work early and devote at least 12 to 15 hours a week to this task for the whole
semester. Your submissions must be neat, legible and logically presented together with appropriate
sketches. Your calculations, in the appendices, must be complete and correct, showing all details
such fatigue calculations, bending moment and shear force diagrams, full references and correct use
of Standards. Your costing detail, also in the appendices, must be realistic, properly researched (with
references) and complete. Do not forget to include a contingency allowance as well as a profit
margin for your own company.

This must be your own work and not a group submission.

Assessment Detail and Report Format

Please first refer to the unit outline which gives the assessment requirements; the following will
explain in more detail. You should also read and be aware of the desired learning outcomes for this
unit. You must comply with the following details for each aspect of your assessment. Severe
penalties will apply for noncompliance or not meeting published deadlines.

Design Assignment Project Plan (Assignment 1)

This report must in Technical Report format and be a 500 word narrative, which will explain in broad
terms, your whole project. It will inform your immediate supervisor of your approach to this project
while demonstrating close adherence to the brief, good cost control and compliance with deadlines.
The complex technical analysis of various components will be in the Interim and Final Reports. You
may wish to include, as part of your appendices, such things as a P&ID diagram, nomination (
without design detail ) of major components, proposed construction methods as well as identify any
foreseeable projects constraints. Above all, use your powers of imagination and your knowledge of
theory and application to come up with an innovative but feasible solution. Your company’s future
depends on it!

Poster and Oral Presentation (Assignment 2)

This will be a large scale poster ( A1, (594mm x 841mm) ) and will support and illustrate your oral
presentation. Your oral presentation is a simulated promotion of your project to your company’s
senior management in order to authorize spending more time , resources and money to proceed
towards a tender to build this lift facility. ( You are very keen to win this work as your company has
no other work coming through at the moment and there is the possibility of other similar projects if
this one is successful. ) You should prepare and rehearse your presentation so that you can deliver it
without notes and in a confident, interesting and persuasive manner. You will have five minutes ( +/-
1 minute ) to get your message across. You should structure your poster in layout and format as if it
were to be displayed at an engineering expo promoting your company. This means you must get
your message across to people who may have some technical training but know very little about ship
lifts. Your accompanying 1,000 word report will be in technical report format and will build upon and
expand, ( but not repeat ) your Project Plan. You should by now have refined the Project Plan to give
more detail as well as some realistic costings of all major components for this project. Your costings
will also include the costs for labour and the cost of any external services.
Mid Semester Interim Report ( Assignment 3)

This is a 2,000 word narrative Technical Report with analytical work, such as stress analysis and
sketches of components, included in the appendices. The appendices will contain your detailed
analysis of the following components and use the methods outlined in lecture topics 1 to 7 of the
study program. You must apply the correct method of analysis and appropriate conventions to arrive
at your design choices. Do not use a simple static stress approach to your design work. The covering
report will be free of mathematics, photos and diagrams and concentrate on the descriptive aspect
as you explain your reasoning and choices for the following items,

1. Main structure of the lift

2. Wheels, bearings, axle shafts
3. Welds ( in the structural elements )
4. Threaded fasteners
5. Design of transport cradles which carry ships to the “park”. Also specify motive power and
design these systems.

Final Report

This is a 4,000 word technical report describing the next and final stage of this project. Similarly to
the Interim Report, this report will have the 4,000 word descriptive section followed by the detailed
analysis in your appendices. Do not include any analysis in your descriptive report.

You will use the analytical techniques outlined in lecture topics 8 to 12 of the study program.

This report will cover the following components/elements specifically (as well as any other
component not previously covered );

1. Motor(s) selection
2. Gear box design ( includes gears, shafts, bearings & mounts, gearbox housing, lubrication,
assembly and maintenance aspects )
3. Winch design ( includes winch drum, winch shaft and bearings, winch and motor mount,
threaded fasteners, welds.)
4. Wire rope selection
5. Brake design ( this is used to halt and lock the winch position whenever it is not being used
in raise or lower mode.)
6. Any other component which you have included in your overall design.
7. Surface treatment of the main structure.
8. Assembly of all the components and erection of the crane to the rails.
9. Specify any signage on the lift as well as indicate lift control method.
10. Specify and conduct any test or commissioning procedure ( refer Standards )
11. Hand over to client