2014/2015 Nautilus Engineering Design Challenge ROV HARD ROCK SAMPLING TOOL DESIGN

Overview The aim of the Ocean Exploration Trust’s (OET) Engineering Design Challenge (EDC) is to encourage undergraduate students studying engineering to creatively design solutions to current ocean engineering problems. The EDC consists of a specific technical challenge posed by OET in early Fall 2014 that allows for more efficient remotely operated vehicle (ROV) operations to be conducted onboard OET’s Exploration Vessel (E/V) Nautilus. The 2014/2015 EDC focuses on the development of a new or improved sampling tool to be integrated into the ROV system.

Undergraduate student teams will spend the fall semester designing the tool to address the challenge and will submit a technical report and presentation to the EDC Judging Panel in early 2015. One design will be selected by the Judging Panel to be built by OET engineers during the spring semester. The winning team will have their tool incorporated onto ROV Hercules to be utilized during Nautilus’ 2015 Expedition. The EDC is a valuable opportunity for undergraduate engineering students to engage in active research that can produce tangible results. Professional engineers from OET and sponsoring organizations will be directly involved in advising student teams throughout the competition, allowing the final winning design to have a high likelihood of success once it is implemented, to be a valuable learning experience for students, and to be an asset to the Nautilus Exploration Program for future expeditions. Teams from the following institutions are involved in the 2014/2015 EDC:

• Texas A&M - Corpus Christi, TX, sponsored by Citgo Petroleum Corporation

• McNeese State University - Lake Charles, LA, sponsored by Citgo Petroleum Corporation

• Virginia Tech - Blacksburg, VA, sponsored by Bechtel • University of Tennessee - Knoxville, TN, sponsored by Bechtel • Stanford University - Palo Alto, CA, sponsored by Bechtel

Challenge Description Many of the samples that are collected by the Nautilus Exploration Program are from volcanic formations on the seafloor. Outcrops of these formations can vary significantly in shape, degree of fracturing, and strength and have proven difficult to sample with current ROV tools. The strongest material likely to be encountered would be that of a massive lava flow of basaltic composition. Such material has the following properties: tensile strength ~4,300 psi, shear strength ~8,700 psi, and compressive strength ~36,000 psi. Because sampling hard, firmly attached substrate has always been a challenge to ROVs and submersibles, any advancement in such regard will present a benefit to the Nautilus Exploration Program and other ROVs working within the scientific community. Examples of possible sample goals include:

• A “break or crush” tool that can break off small chunks of hard rock from an outcrop and retain them onboard the ROV

• A “spreader” tool that can wedge into a crack to break off a small chunk of rock

• A drilling tool that can penetrate rock ~10cm and produce an intact core Each design team should choose one method/sampling goal for the design phase, or come up with their own solution. The McNeese State University design team is comprised of the following mechanical engineering students: Nathan Stratton, Spencer Thorn, Sandesh Thapa, , Pawan Yadav, , Garrett Soileau, and Daniel Decorcaux. The faculty advisor is Dr. Ning Zhang assisted by Dr. Matthew Aghili and Dr. Zhuang Li.