Computational simulation of chassis design and manufacturing

Australian Universities including Deakin University are entering the Formula One SAE car competition this year which was initialised in USA many years ago and has attracted many universities to participate all over the world. There are many categories to be competed for novelty of the design. To achieve optimised design of the car, computational techniques have widely been used in all aspects of the design and manufacturing of the car for the team at Deakin University. In this work, the design and manufacturing of the chassis was computationally simulated to optimise the structure for stress and natural frequencies. The chassis is designed using solid modelling code IDEAS with the geometry exported to ABAQUS, a FEM software, for optimisation.

Endogenous liberalization and within-country inequality

We model and empirically test the link between income inequality and trade liberalization. We consider a society in which a median voter (MV) will make the decision as to whether the country should switch from its current regime of import substitution (IS) (which protects agriculture) to export promotion (EP). Liberalization entails starting importing the agricultural good and specializing in and exporting the manufacturing good. This will require transferring labor to manufacturing. We find that if MV is a worker, the IS-EP switch will take place regardless. If MV is a farmer, the switch will take place given (1) the relative productivity of an ex-farmer and worker in manufacturing,ß is high, and (2) the society’s tastes for agricultural goods, α, are not as strong as those for manufacturing goods. We also find that, following a switch, the income distribution too will improve if α is low and ß is high. In our empirical analysis, we find the endogenous inflection points of α and ß in our sample, at which the direction of change in income distribution alters its sign. Our results also show in a very robust fashion that, EP regimes - on average and with the presence of certain control variables - have better income distributions than IS regimes. This implies that mostly “right” countries have made the switch.

Just do it? Branding, fashion and globalisation. A teaching and learning unit in global citizenship for the middle years

Presents to teaching guide on global citizenship for the middle years in Australian schools. Position of young people in consumerism; Impact of advertising on young consumers; Attitudes of students toward global branding.

MRP-production planning in agile manufacturing

Over the years many researchers have been investigating the area of MRP production planning and still is an area of high interest today. This paper look at production planning where there is unpredictable demands due to the type of product and market a company produces for. Production planning becomes difficult when demand fluctuates unpredictably, and hence a historical sales forecast is used as the initial data for production planning. The sales from previous years, especially in a seasonal market, don't necessarily correlate well to the current and future sales for the next year. A planner working in such environment would have himself frustrating to create a feasible production plan that not only needs to meet customer's demands but also to built up the 'correct' amount of stock for that peak sell season. To overcome some of these problems, This work describes a production planning methodology that can be implemented robustly and quickly. This paper has studied two multi-item lot-sizing problems. We detailed the development of the planning problem mathematically and highlight some solutions to initial problems investigated.

Manufacturing process effects on the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness and nanocreep properties of CFRP

Quickstep ™ is a fluid filled floating mould technology which was recently developed by an Australian company of the same name. The Quickstep and conventional autoclave manufacture of composites were compared by investigating the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness and nanocreep propeties of HexPly914 carbon epoxy composites. It was found that composites cured using the Quickstep technology had significantly higher fracture toughness (1.8 times) than the composites cured via autoclave for this system. DMTA (dynamic mechanical thermal analysis) results showed a higher Tg (glass transition temperature) for the material manufactured by the Quickstep than that cured by the autoclave. FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) spectra did not indicate any difference in cure chemistry between the two processes. Nanocreep experiments were performed to explore the viscoelastic properties of the epoxy matrix of composites. The KelvinVoigt three-element model was applied to analyse the indentation creep behaviour of both composites.

Modelling and simulation for manufacturing systems : challenges and benefits

Computer modelling and simulation is an indispensable tool of the information age, used extensively in design, analysis, operations, decision-making, optimization, and education and training. Manufacturing, production and design relies upon simulation to develop efficient production systems and factories that produce quality products. Computer simulation allows scientists and engineers to understand and predict three-dimensional and time-dependent phenomena in science and engineering discipline. This talk will focus on challenges associated with modelling and simulation in the manufacturing sector and through a number of case studies highlights the benefits gained through the use of such technologies.

Fit for intended use : a manufacturing metaphor applied to international business students and learning outcomes

It is no secret that contemporary tertiary education in Australia is significantly reliant on international student fee income in a competitive market. Accordingly, the need to attract fee paying students involves strategies for increasing competitive advantage, new course structures, flexible learning initiatives and marketing. However Jackling (1) has found that employers are reluctant to employ graduate international students in the accounting field as they consider them to lack the skills required to effectively meet employment needs. This paper seeks to focus the spotlight on the role of academics/universities in ensuring that graduates have the skills necessary for employment as part of the education process.