Group report brief
Why are we doing this? - Just as important as conducting engineering analysis is being able to efficiently report both your methodology and findings. These are skills you will need to use often during your time at University, from unit courseworks, your group design task in Tb-2 and your summer research projects. This task provides you an opportunity to practise your skills in writing a report (indeed it’s one of the primary objectives of this entire task…); you will submit this in week 2, and will then discuss it with your tutors in week 4.
As a team, you are tasked with writing a technical memorandum (report) of your design process, alongside your parameter submission. Maximum 6 pages.
This report is as much about practising the structure of a technical report as it is about your specific results — the sections below map onto the standard structure you’ll be expected to use again in later coursework and lab reports.
Structure
Title Your team name/number and a descriptive title.
Abstract (Executive Summary) A few sentences summarising the whole report: what you did, how you approached it, and what you ended up choosing — written so someone who reads only this section still knows the headline outcome. Write this last, even though it appears first.
Introduction Briefly outline the task, assuming the reader is a competent engineer who has never seen this exercise before: what the challenge was (choose a front wing, rear wing and gear ratio to race over a full season), what you were free to change, and how the competition is scored. Don’t assume the reader has read any of the project’s own getting-started guides.
Methodology Briefly explain how the simulation tool works, enough for the reader to trust your results without having to read the code:
- How your team estimated Cl, Cd and aero balance from a wing choice (what tool, what you swept, what you found achievable).
- How lap time was estimated from a Cl/Cd/aeroBalance/gear-ratio combination (what the simulation does, at a level of detail appropriate for an engineer who won’t read the source).
- Any studies/DOE approach you used to search the parameter space.
Results Present how you arrived at your final parameter choice: the studies you ran, what they showed, and how they narrowed your options down. Use plots and tables rather than reams of text to help make your case. At the end of this section, state your final chosen parameters.
Limitations What are the limitations of your modelling technique?
Conclusions A short overview of what was achieved: your final parameter choice, how you expect it to perform, and (briefly) what you’d try next with more time.
A few notes
- Ensure figures and tables earn their place in your report. A good figure saves you having to write hundreds of words and genuinely helps the reader understand what you have done.
- Figures should look professional and be readable (text shouldn’t be too small), with the information of interest taking up most of the area (minimise unnecessary whitespace).
- Where you made an engineering trade-off (e.g. chose less peak downforce for a more consistent season), say so explicitly and justify it — that reasoning is worth more marks than the raw lap time.