Max Queenan 

2014

For Junior year Design I class, we were tasked with optimizing a planar, laser cut "coat hanger".  A prescribed load was applied by a small metal clip, and the hanger attached to a pegboard.  By weight, my design was in the top 20% in the class. 

 I started with a series of free body diagrams to fully understand the loading conditions.  Those served as inputs to an analytical optimization of the beam angles, using a volume-minimizing function.  After that, all modeling and FEA was done in Solidworks.