Title Page The Title Page must contain the project name, the names of the students submitting the report, the course number and section, the course title, the instructor's name, and the date.

Executive Summary The Executive Summary should be a clear and concise summary of the report which briefly describes the problem and highlights the most important conclusions. The executive summary should be as clear, specific, and quantitative as possible. No more than 1/2 to 1 page.  For example, "A fifty pound load was applied to a cantilever beam in increments of five pounds resulting in deflections ranging from 0.05 inches to 0.5 inches. The measured deflection was linearly proportional to the applied loading as . . . ". Be quantitative and direct, and avoid referring to the experiments as an exercise that is required for ENGR 220. 

Design Objectives: Introduce the design problem and state the constraints (listing of the types and amounts of materials permitted, span, loading location, etc), the objectives to be achieved, and any optimizations used to achieve the objectives. This section should take no more than one page. 

Material Properties:  State all material properties used in the design calculations, and reference their source(s).

Design Alternatives Considered:  Provide sketches of all truss alternatives considered and the reasons for rejection of those not analyzed in detail.

Design Calculations:  Embed your design analysis in a text based format that refers to the plots and other figures that summarize the results of the calculations.  Provide a sample calculation for each type of calculation performed (reactions, member force, member stress and buckling), and refer to the remaining calculations in the Appendices.  The details for all members should be included in a single table which summarizes the calculations.  The required format for the table is given here. 

This section should also include a dimensioned sketch of the truss.  The members in compression should be colored blue, the members in tension should be colored red, and the zero force members should be colored yellow.  All joints on the truss should be labeled with letters (A, B, C, . . .), and these letters should correspond to the member designations used in the discussion and in the table required above.

Predicted Failure Load:  Analysis of the failure load should be completed in this section, and the calculations should be summarized in a table whose format is given here.  The estimated failure load should be provided, and the joint(s) or member(s) which will fail first should be identified.  You should discuss the calculations that led to your answer. 

References List the references in the order used.  Use a standard format to list the references such as:

Hall, David E., "Course Notes for Engineering 220," Louisiana Tech University, College of Engineering and Science, Fall 2009.

Apendices In Appendix 1, provide all calculations for the final design done by the method of joints and/or the method of sections.  A sketch of your truss with all member dimensions should be provided with the calculations. Appendix 2 should provide all calculations for the stress and buckling load in each member (buckling load is only required for members in compression). Other supporting material may be provided in Appendix 3 and so on. Appendices may be hand written; the use of Mathcad is encouraged.