Project Description:

The goal of this project is to design a software system that uses various plasticity models to calculate and plot results from ratcheting. Ratcheting is the accumulation of plastic deformities every time a load is applied to a material, and has many applications in real-world applications. These applications vary from bridge structures, to buildings, and even to simple machinery components.Due to the nature of ratcheting, the smallest of errors can accumulate over time as well. Often times, these small errors will sum into a substantial error, which can lead to structural failure.

Requirements:

This project intends to help eliminate ratcheting calculation errors by providing a software system that meets the following requirements:

• Allow users to select from multiple plasticity models, materials and ratcheting experiments.
• Allow easy comparison between different result sets and different models.
• Allow for easy modification to current models, or allow new models to be added.
• Be written in MATLAB, a programming language used frequently by engineers.
• Be User friendly.
• Be efficient to allow for a relatively quick calculation times on personal PCs.

Tools:

This software product will be written using the MATLAB programming language. At this moment, all components, including the GUI, will be programmed using MATLAB.

Schedule:

The schedule for the project is subject to change, but for the moment, is as follows:

• Thursday, November 1st, 2012 - Tech Feasibility demo.
• Thursday, November 11th, 2012 - Requirements document draft due.
• Thursday, December 13th, 2012 - Requirements document final due, Prototype demo

High-Level Design