Aerodynamic Approach

by Jessica Pacheco on 20 Aug 2007

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Human powered vehicles are similar to a bike, except for the fact that the driver is surrounded by an aerodynamic frame for protection.

Some vehicles have clocked over 30 mph, according to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. At last year's competition, one of the University of Nevada, Reno's drivers clocked in at 44 mph. The vehicles are supposed to be designed to serve as safe, aerodynamic and functional forms of transportation that a person could use to get around town.

UNR's mechanical engineering team competed in the West Coast Human Powered Vehicle Competition on April 13-15 in Mountain View, Calif. at the NASA Ames Research Center.

Last year, a chain snapped during the competition and forced them to disqualify.

This year, the team attempted a newer, more aerodynamic body, but wasn't able to finish building it due to lack of time. Instead, the body from last year's competition was used again. The team made the necessary repairs on the body, and although they tried to fix the chain, it proved to be more difficult than they expected.

"Next year we're going to have an amazing chain," said Colleen Yeskovich, an 18-year-old civil engineering major. "It will be like a chain of gold."

Day 1:

8 a.m.

Kevin Tibbs, a 24-year-old mechanical engineering major, was looking for his first driver, Blanca Miller. In less than 10 minutes the team had their first driver's meeting.

"Does anyone know where Blanca is?" Tibbs said.

He bent down to examine the bike frame, which his team spent the last year perfecting for the Human Powered Vehicle Competition.

Tibbs helped other team members such as Bryan Young, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering major, and Cole Johnson, a 23-year-old mechanical engineering major, put the carbon fiber frame over the bike. Miller was nowhere to be found so Anthony Frabbiele, a mechanical engineering student, took a test ride instead.

"She needs to get back here and test this out," Tibbs said. "It's a different kind of animal."

As Frabbiele pulled out, the sleek frame scraped lightly against the pavement, but the students seemed unconcerned.

"At this point, we aren't too worried about it," said Jason Ross, a 22-year-old mechanical engineering major. "We are smoothing it out. We just want the bike to stay together."

8:14 a.m.

"We lost a chain," Frabbiele said, as he pedaled back toward the van.

Half of the team crowded around the bike, hunched down to see the damage and immediately called out orders for the other team members to fix the vehicle. Johnson and Will Temple, a 45-year-old mechanical engineering major, called out for different parts. The team had less than 15 minutes before their first run in the sprint competition.

"This is way too tight," Cole said, as he pulled at the front chain.

Even though they had limited time to fix a potentially disastrous problem, most of the engineers stayed calm.

Joe Johnston, a 24-year-old mechanical engineering major, walked behind them and stared intently at what they were doing.

"Ten minutes, you guys," said Katheline Buxton, a 20-year-old mechanical engineering major. A decision was made and Yeskovich, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering major, was put into the driver's seat. She seemed very nervous and was hesitant.

"You're going to drive," Johnston said. "Just take that other bike and start warming up."

8:30 a.m.

All of the vehicles lined up at the starting line. Each vehicle makes a timed run to the finish line, which was almost 100 feet away. At the end of the runway, most of the UNR team stood waiting for the race to start.

"Blanca says she is ready," Johnston said.

The timed runs started and a silver car flew past the team. It's Chico State. They immediately looked at the speedometer. The vehicle was going 31.95 mph.

Immediately everyone peered down to see the bullet shaped, dark blue UNR vehicle make its way down the runway. Some UNR team members looked confused.

"It looks somewhat wobbly," Buxton said.

The vehicle slowly made its way down the track and barely made it past the finish line. The speedometer read 14 mph.

"Eh, that's embarrassing," Johnston said. "I guess she wasn't ready."

There were a couple groans as Kieth Lauher, a 23-year-old mechanical engineering major, pedaled up on a bike.

"She was in first gear the whole time. She didn't know to switch them."

9:00 a.m.

James "Cheese" Pettit, a 23-year-old mechanical engineering major, was up next. His run clocked in at 35 mph.

"That is pretty good," Buxton said. "It's the second best time besides Cal Poly."

The team felt more relieved with a better score, but Pettit wasn't satisfied.

"I started way too early and then I got tired," he said. "But I'm just warming up."

Just then, Johnston received a call from Yeskovich.

"Colleen says she is ready," he said. "Hopefully she knows how to shift gears."

They watched Yeskovich start to accelerate and began to cheer.

For being so nervous, Yeskovich surprised everyone by clocking in at 28 mph.

"So, I'm thinking Colleen should ride again," Johnston said.

Pettit ran again, hoping to do better but only received a 33 mph.

9:52 A.M.

"Look out! Get out of the way!" a bystander yelled out.

Seconds after the crowd moved hastily to the side, the human powered vehicle from Missouri-Rolla University swerved and nearly side-swiped some bystanders before it swerved back onto the course and skidded on its side. Missouri team members ran to the vehicle and helped turn it back over.

"He is okay, just a small fall," a team member said.

UNR clocked in at 28 mph during their run. Soon after, it started to rain.

"I don't think we'll do much better with this rain," Johnston said.

Almost half-an-hour later, an announcement was made that the races were cancelled due to the weather.

7:00 p.m.

The bike was laying in pieces in the parking lot of the Days Inn, where the team was staying. The team took shifts watching the bike while Tom Kerr, an 18-year-old mechanical engineering major, sat watching the sky.

"The chain broke earlier, so we had to send some people to the hardware store to get some bolts to attach the gears," he said.

Kerr wouldn't say that it broke, but more or less twisted and snapped.

"It won't take that long to fix and then we'll be ready for tomorrow."

Day 2:

8:15 a.m.

"Tell Colleen to move it. Driver's meeting," Tibbs said.

Yeskovich pedaled a bike over to the driver's meeting with confidence.

The judges stood on haystacks and yelled out the rules to the various riders. The driver's position today, which will be in a race against other bikes, is much more dangerous than the previous races.

Soon the cars were all lined up at the starting line. Colleen was strapped in with a big smile on her face as she listened to her iPod. When asked what she was listening to, she cheered out, "Black Eyed Peas!"

The judge waved the white flag and they were off.

During the next couple of hours, the team was required to finish 26 laps. Whichever team finished it first won first place. The hours were filled with cheers, groans and the scrapping of metal as vehicles flipped on their sides and slid down the road. Instantly, all the team members jumped up and ran full speed to help it back up.

"Warn the other bikes!" a man said.

The shriek of the metal against the pavement made bystanders uneasy.

"My heart stops whenever I hear that sound," a woman said, as UR fell again.

Slowly, drivers switched in and out. Yeskovich, Ian Chase, Will Temple, and so on. Everything seemed to be going smoothly until the final three rounds.

10:55 a.m.

The whole UNR team jumped up as they heard that the vehicle went down.

"Where is it?" Johnston said.

Another team pointed around the corner and half the UNR team sprinted there. As the UNR vehicle was being pushed by a team member, their faces turned bitter.

"The chain broke," Johnston said.

Five minutes later, UMR crossed the finish line. As they cheered, UNR pushed the remains of their damaged vehicle back to their camp.

"We finished 20 laps," Yeskovich said. "For what it's worth, we did very well."

In the background, the winning teams posed triumphantly.

Everyone returned back to work.

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