Sagittarius(2014-2015)

As a freshman, I joined the Rice Concrete Canoe Team. I learned how to mix concrete and use concrete aggregate to create a material that was both buoyant and could withstand compressive stress. I also learned to combine carbon fiber with concrete to create a composite material that would withstand the tensile stress. Using both of these properties, I learned how a canoe made out of concrete could both be light enough to be buoyant (for a prescribed volume), and also strong enough to withstand the internal stresses of use.

The team, a club part of the American Society of Civil Engineers(ASCE), spent the year designing and building a 20-foot long canoe made out of concrete. At the end of the year, the team presented on the canoe’s design and raced the canoe against other schools at Lamar University.

The team finished 7th out of 17 teams at the competition.
The design paper for the project can be read here: Sagittarius Design Paper

This project can also be read about here: https://ceve.rice.edu/news/concrete-canoes-team-places-7th

[I would have posted some pictures of the canoe, but I forgot to take any pictures of it when I was working on the project.]