In the time since my last post, I have been working with my sub-team on team organization and planning. We created a sub-team blog and added a link to our Gantt Chart, so that other sub-teams are able to view our progress. We presented to the entire Superway team our research, goals, and other pertinent information for the torsion test we will need to conduct later in the year. During presentations, we were also able to gather information and understand the progress of the other teams and noted what aspects we needed to collaborate on, such as the track design.
I researched various rail transit systems that seemed appropriate to compare to the Spartan Superway project. Most notably, the NASA Skytran is a Personal Rapid Transit concept that has been proposed for installation in the Silicon Valley area. We could learn a lot from the Skytran, although I noted that their current design does not seem friendly towards people with physical disabilities. Some other notable projects included the SIPEM H-Bahn (a top-mounted rail system in Dortmund), and the ULTra (a successful PRT Installation done at the Heathrow Airport in London).
I downloaded ANSYS on my desktop for use later this semester, and have been familiarizing myself with its tools using videos that one of my sub-team members, Ivan Tapia, has sent the group. Ivan has also scheduled an ANSYS training program on October 14th, which I plan to attend.
