Less Weight = GO FAST

On November 7th 2019 The SAWE San Diego Chapter partnered with San Diego State University’s Formula SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers) team Aztec Racing to host an university outreach event. SAWE San Diego President Brian Wang gave a presentation on an overview of mass properties engineering and the SAWE while students were treated to pizza and refreshments provided by the chapter. The event was a huge success and was received well by a packed room of enthusiastic engineers that are pursuing degrees ranging from mechanical, aerospace, electrical, biomedical, and many more! After the presentation a Q&A session was held where students and chapter members were heavily engaged discussing topics ranging from career experience to how can Aztec Racing be more weight conscience in their 2020 design. Following, SAWE San Diego presented Aztec Racing with a hard copy of The SAWE Weight Engineers Handbook to add to their library and also encouraged students to join SAWE to receive the many benefits provided for free! Finally a generous tour of Aztec Racing’s garage shop was conducted by President Dani Phan and Chief Engineer Austin Hoang. Many questions were asked from how can the team validate the 2020 car’s weight, CG and inertia while chapter members were able to discuss possible solutions. The SAWE San Diego Chapter is currently in discussions on formally supporting Aztec Racing in an advisory role.

Aztec Racing Formula SAE Team is a 501(c)3 non-profit student-run organization at San Diego State University.  Formula SAE is an international collegiate design competition focused on a student designed and manufactured open wheel race car. Every year the team is tasked with raising funds to design, build, test, and compete nationally against competing collegiate teams.

From Left: Aztec Racing Chief Engineer: Austin Hoang, SAWE San Diego Member: Tracy Strand, SAWE San Diego VP: Buda Kasthuri, SAWE San Diego Treasure: Alan Perez, SAWE San Diego President: Brian Wang, SAWE San Diego Director: Jared Turnak, SAWE San Diego Member: Doug Fisher, Aztec Racing President: Dani Phan

LA Chapter Meeting & SAWE Training Success Story

On October 23rd, the LA chapter met at Don Ramon’s In Huntington Beach to hear Doug Fisher give an encore presentation of his SAWE international talk of paper #3729, Application of SAWE Course “Developing Basic Parametric Methods” To Nacelle Weight Estimating. After enjoying the delicious Mexican food and some business about how great the upcoming conference will be (but, hey, that’s another blog post), Doug started his presentation after some minor technical difficulties.

Doug began by explaining what his approach to weight estimating before he took Andy Walker’s Developing Basic Parametric Methods class. He would plot his variables, he would get his equations, but he would not know how realistic or precise the information is. Andy’s parametric class gave Doug the knowledge to not only find a parametric relationship between variables, but the statistical tools to extract whether a relationship is real or coincidence and the uncertainty in his mass estimates. As Doug explained in his paper, “Providing a weight number is not enough. A justification of the weight estimate, backed up by a sound methodology that created that estimate, is critical in the understanding of risks associated with committing to the weight estimate.” Now Doug has the numbers and backup he can take to management. As Andy Walker remarked about Doug’s experiences, “it (SAWE training classes) means we’re having a direct, measurable, and positive impact on the decision-making process.”

Do you have a SAWE training success story? Tell us in the comments below.

Doug Fisher giving an encore presentation of his SAWE international talk of paper #3729, Application of SAWE Course “Developing Basic Parametric Methods” To Nacelle Weight Estimating

Happy Veteran’s Day!

Today is Veterans Day in the US.  Every Veterans Day I call my brother and tell him he’s still my favorite veteran.  He served as a US Navy pilot for many years, flying the Lockheed P-3C Orion all around the world, mostly out over the ocean on long endurance missions.  His interest in aviation is a big reason for my interest in it as well.

On behalf of SAWE, I want to thank all former and current military personnel for serving your country.

This special group of patriots to their country are high end users that push products we support to their limits while putting their lives on the line.  Mass properties engineers’ humble role in ensuring safe, efficient, and reliable operations of these products helps them do their job. Whether military or commercial, this role applies to all products we support throughout industries worldwide.  

SAWE has a continuing responsibility to a worldwide community of end users to ensure mass properties engineering has the best resources available to do their jobs.

John Hargrave

SAWE President

SAWE Houston Offshore Workshop 2020

The Houston chapter of SAWE and the Offshore Industry Committee invite you to attend HOW 2020. The Houston Offshore Workshop will focus on maturing working drafts of two SAWE Recommended Practices on Weight Reporting and In-Service Weight Control, Mass Properties Engineering Handbook chapter for the Offshore and the critical concepts needed to be a Certified Offshore Mass Properties Engineer by SAWE. The event will be held at Fluor conference facilities at their corporate offices in Sugar Land (20 miles Southwest of Houston), Texas, in March. We invite all Weight or Mass Properties Engineers, Students, Exhibitors, Class Societies, Government regulators to attend the meeting. The meeting fees will just cover meals and will be free to University students, since we appreciate the time you will spend supporting our development efforts. We welcome volunteers to help with the technical content and planning the work shop. Contact a Houston chapter officer or the Offshore Industry Committee chair. Further details will follow on the SAWE.org webpage and through this Blog system.