MAE 151 Vivian Tseng

03/31/2017 81215349
Concrete Canoe Failure

Figure 1. Full Concrete Canoe

The concrete canoe shown in Figure 1 is a part of a student project and is raced at a conference against
other schools in 5 different races. It is transported from UCI to the location of the conference. After the
races, the cracks shown in Figures 2 and 3 were visible. The cracks were present at about 4 feet from
either end of the canoe. They started at the top of the canoe and spread to the bottom. The canoe is
made from a concrete mixture and reinforced with carbon fiber reinforcement. The concrete mixture has a
tensile strength of 470 psi and a compressive strength of 3,800 psi. The tensile strength of the carbon
fiber reinforcement is 100,000 psi.

Figure 2. Crack in Canoe Figure 3. Crack in Canoe

MAE 151 Vivian Tseng
03/31/2017 81215349
Simplified Analysis
The most critical case of loading for the canoe is shown in Figure 4. This can be modeled as a beam with
two concentrated loads and a distributed load, as shown in Figure 5. The cross section was simplified to a
U shape then converted to a T shape, as shown in Figure 6, for ease of analysis. The moment of inertia
for this cross section was calculated by separately taking the moments of inertia of the flange and the
web in Figure 6 and adding them together. This resulted in a moment of inertia of 474.2 in 4. The shear
and moment diagrams are shown in Figure 7. From this analysis, it was shown that the maximum
moment is 38,576 lb-ft, or 462.912 kip-in.
For the cross section, the distance from the center of mass to the top of the cross section is 9.86 inches
and to the bottom is 3.54 inches. The maximum stress on the canoe can be found using this information
and the following equation, where M is the moment, c is the distance from the center of mass to the edge
being analyzed, and I is the moment of inertia.

=

250 lb 250 lb
4 12 4
10 lb/ft

= 52.5 0.525( 10)2 [ ]

Figure 4. Most critical loading case Figure 5. Simplified loading diagram

Figure 6. Simplified Cross Section

Figure 7. Shear and Moment Diagrams

The maximum stress at the top of the cross section is found to be 9,625 psi. The maximum stress at the
bottom of the cross section is found to be 3,456 psi.
The failure is due to the concretes inability to withstand a tensile stressof 9,625 psi. While the intention of
the carbon fiber reinforcement is to take the tensile stress, depending on the craftsmanship of the canoe
and the consistency of the concrete placement, this is not always the case. In the case of this canoe, it
seems that the concrete was not adequate in withstanding the stress that was transferred to that section
of the canoe from the carbon fiber. Predictably, the canoe failed at places where the change in shear was
most significant.