Future Engineer Discovers FEA in the 12th Grade

FUTURE ENGINEER DISCOVERS FEA IN THE 12TH GRADE

William Clarke is shown here with his prize-winning science fair project which utilized Algor FEA in the analysis of a robotic hand.

Five years ago, William Clarke, of Brazoria, Texas, was a typical eighth grade student in search of an idea for a science fair project. The idea William came up with was anything but typical, and the effect his project would have on his future educational and career plans, was much greater than he ever imagined.

The Idea

William's idea was to create a robotic hand to help people with impaired mobility perform routine daily activities, such as holding a glass of water. It was with this idea that William began a five year project that would immerse him in the world of engineering, build relationships with several professionals and introduce him to finite element analysis at the age of 16.

The first of William's five science fair projects explored various methods of applying squeeze loading. The next year he focused on the use of foil strain gages to measure gripping forces, so that the robotic hand could use a gentle squeeze for objects such as light bulbs and a firm grip for items such as tools. William used raw eggs and baseballs to demonstrate his work in his science fair project.

Houston Fair Leads to Offer

His project was selected for the Science Engineering Fair of Houston, a large competition which includes winning projects from 13 counties. The South Texas Section of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) participates in the fair as a special awarding agency. William was presented with an ASME award for his use of strain gages.

After the awards ceremony, Richard Boswell, a Principal of the Houston-based engineering consulting firm Stress Engineering Services (SES), offered to assist William if he was interested in continuing his project for the next year. According to Mr. Boswell, he was as impressed with William himself, as he was with his work. "Here was a teenager in his prime, flirting with all the girls, indestructible and an ace on every computer game available, who was also pursuing an honor curriculum in school," says Mr. Boswell. "he even built an 8086 computer from surplus parts."

William discussed Mr. Boswell's offer with his parents, Bill Clarke, a Chemical Engineer with DOW Chemical, and Sandra Clarke, an intermediate school teacher. Everyone agreed that this was an outstanding opportunity and Mrs. Clarke offered to drive William to the SES offices North of Houston for meetings with Mr. Boswell, because William was still not old enough for a driver's license.

William visited the SES offices many times in preparation for the next Science Engineering Fair. Under Mr. Boswell's guidance, and with the help of his father and a local machine shop, William built several more versions of his robotic hand. His efforts, at this point, were strictly trial-and-effort, including experiments on different types of instrumentation, the number and alignment of the "fingers" and many other factors.

His design won numerous awards in his local science fair and won the top ASME award at the next Engineering Fair in Houston. That Summer, William worked in a nearby Sears hardware department, saving money for more computer and car stereo equipment.

FEA Suggested

In preparation for the next fair, Mr. Boswell suggested to William that a finite element analysis (FEA) would minimize development time and produce a better finger design. William accepted this new challenge as he had the previous ones, with enthusiasm.

"I gave William a copy of Algor's Demonstration/Tutorial program to get him started." says Mr. Boswell. "Donnie Curington, an analyst with SES, has been using Algor since his undergraduate days and was, at that time, using the software to complete his Master's thesis. His interest and enthusiasm for students, experimental mechanics and FEA made him the perfect choice as an additional mentor for William.

"Meanwhile," continues Mr. Boswell, "William had built a new 386 computer and was ready to learn the finite element method. After a few hours of instructional help at SES, William was building, analyzing and animating the first of his Algor models using 3-D brick elements. With that, he took his computer home, removed the games and began the process of improving his design."

Fast Learner

To say that William took to the Algor FEA system would be an understatement. In just a few weeks, he had developed and analyzed 10 more variations of his design. "At the same time," says Mr. Curington, "William was learning the basics of beam theory. Because his robotic finger performed mainly by capturing induced bending strains, he performed a finite element test analysis with a cantilever beam. He compared the results he obtained using a model that incorporated 8-node "brick" elements with his calculations and found only a 0.002% difference between the analytical and theoretical displacements at the end of the beam. This lead to confidence in both the software and William's modeling techniques."

This Algor FEA stress contour was one of the many visualizations that William used to create a dramatic animation sequence for his science fair project.

Top Honors

William's project was completed just in time for the 1992 Science Engineering Fair of Houston. Without the benefit of "shakedown" entries in local fairs, William was a bit nervous. There was no need. William's project, which included a Supercap animation of several of his designs, won the ASME award for the best overall design project. William was interviewed on Houston's evening news and received an internship at NASA.

In Mr. Curington's words, "The award culminated with a demonstration of his project at the annual ASME award banquet and a presentation of the award with William and his proud parents as guests of honor. Many attending engineers were impressed to see that, with Algor, even an up-and-coming high school student could perform three dimensional finite element analysis."

On to NASA and College

William is now at NASA where he is using Algor FEA to design and analyze static, thermal and dynamic models of Spacelab payloads. He intends to pursue a career in mechanical engineering and will enter Louisiana Tech University in the Fall.

In recognition of his extraordinary talents and high level of effort, Algor has awarded William a scholarship to attend an upcoming Algor FEA education seminar.