The Puppy paradigm [computational structural engineering course]

Author

Gardner, Henry J.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., Australian Nat. Univ., Canberra, ACT, Australia

Volume

4

Issue

3

fYear

1997

Firstpage

4

Abstract

"Puppy" is a 12.5-m high flower sculpture in the shape of a White West Highland Terrier. The original Puppy support structure, which was made from wood, wilted with the passage of time, weather and irrigation, so a dismountable stainless steel support was commissioned. Because of its complicated nature and modeling history, the Puppy case study allowed the Australian National University\´s computational science and engineering (CSE) teaching laboratory to introduce the principles of beam structural analysis and plate analysis in its final-year, one-semester elective course for the Interdisciplinary Systems Engineering degree, and then to let students build a model composed of a combination of plates and beams. Its manifestly 3D geometry also led into the visualization segment of our course in a neat way.

Keywords

art; computer literacy; educational computing; educational courses; stainless steel; structural engineering computing; student experiments; systems engineering; 3D geometry; Australian National University; Puppy case study; White West Highland Terrier; art; beam structural analysis; computational engineering; data visualization; dismountable stainless steel support structure; flower sculpture; interdisciplinary systems engineering; model building; plate analysis; structural engineering course; teaching laboratory; Agricultural engineering; Education; Geometry; History; Irrigation; Laboratories; Shape; Steel; Structural engineering; Systems engineering and theory;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Computational Science & Engineering, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9924

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/99.615424

Filename

615424