Formal Lab Report - Meas. Lab

Formal Lab Report Guidelines

The formal report should give the reader a concise description of the measurement you took, how you took it, what the result is and how certain you are that the result is accurate. They will not be graded by weight, so padding with extraneous information is not rewarded. Keep it simple but include all pertinent details. The objective is to provide enough information to allow someone else to independently verify your measurement.

All reports are to be typed, including equations, and computer-generated graphics must be used. This is the de-facto standard for all engineering reports and your future supervisors will expect nothing less. Microsoft Word should be used for reports. Handwritten calculations to support the remainder of the report are allowed only in the appendix. See the discussion below in the report template for more information.

Copying or sharing of information between students (other than raw data within a team) will not be tolerated.

Grading Guidelines

Overall readability - Others can understand your work including objective, neatness, presentation, grammar, spelling, figures, abstract and introduction / 15%
Theory - Development of theory needed to take the required measurement or to verify the value of measurements including equations / 15%
Experimental Procedure - Discussion of procedure followed in sufficient detail to allow
someone unfamiliar with the lab to reasonable reproduce the data / 10%
Data - Raw data is presented in readable format and is apparently correct / 5%
Data Analysis and Discussion - Required analysis is performed correctly in the notebook and the equations and results are presented in an appropriate format. / 40%
Conclusions - The results of the experiment and analysis are
succinctly summarized. The student provides some pertinent discussion
of the results, particularly ways in which the experimental results could
be improved if the experiment were performed again / 10%
Appendix shows all calculations / 5%

TEMPLATE FOR FORMAL LAB REPORT

Use this template for your formal lab report. Delete the explanatory text and reuse the report headings as shown in this template.

Title Page:

Include title, your name, group members, date of experiment

This is a separate page from the remainder of the report
Abstract

The abstract is a complete and concise summary of your report. It contains a brief introduction to the report’s subject, a statement of the problem and the research approach and a highlight of the results. Also any major conclusions, if any. It should be about 200 to 400 words long and self contained.

When writing an abstract, keep in mind that you try to communicate a concise summary of your work to potential readers.

Introduction

The introduction explains the objective of the report. It presents a clear motivation of the work and a literature review of related work. It also provides background information. The introduction sets the stage for the following sections and lays out the framework of the research paper. Figures may be used to support background information but no results should be presented.

Theory

The theory section presents the theory used in the report. First discuss the theory of the measured system. Theory provides a basis for what we expect the experimental measurement to be. Next, discuss the theory of the measurement device. All equations used to do the experiment and data analysis must be presented. The theory section doesn't need to be verbose but give enough to show you understand the system and measurement devices and especially any limitations (e.g. "the Bernoulli equation only applies if temperature is constant" or "strain gages must be compensated for temperature changes..").

Use computer generated equations (if you use MS Word, use Microsoft Equation Editor, in Word from the menu bar go to Insert|Object|Microsoft Equation 3.0). You may have to install MS Equation Editor from the MS Office CD, if it is not already on your computer.

Sample Equation:

Experimental Procedure

Describe the experimental procedure you followed. This does not need to be as detailed as in the manual (e.g. step 1-4 of the strain lab may be summarized as: "The strain gages were connected to the Wheatstone bridge and the amplifier gain was zeroed, with a final result of 0.0002 volts"). Again, just enough to ensure independent verification can be accomplished. Use full sentences not bullets, and don't reference the lab manual. Include the list of equipment used and a diagram of the experiment. The final results should provide enough information so that somebody could recreate your experiment based on the information given.

Experimental Data

Present data in this section in tabular or graphical form, and reference any attached data files. This is raw data - present the exact data you took before modifying them in any way. All data manipulation will take place in the data analysis section

Data Analysis And Discussion of Results

Perform and present all required data analysis including uncertainty analysis and comparison of the measurement to the theoretical behavior of the system. Give all equations used and the results with units. The numbers should be backed up by hand calculations given in an appendix. As an example, your appendix may have the following hand-written entry:

Where your report might show the typed entry:

Note the use of significant figures. Don't give an answer with more precision than the values used in the calculation. Put all figures of the analysis results in this section, not at the end of the report or in an appendix.

Discuss the results you find from the data analysis and compare it to your original objectives.

Tables should be numbered with a caption describing the contents of the table above the table. Tables should be referenced somewhere in the text.

Example: Table 1 shows the mean static pressure wrt. to the atmospheric pressure as a function of duct position.

Table 1 : Static Pressure versus duct position

Port / Distance from port 1 [in] / Static Pressure [inH2O]
1 / 0 / 2.1746
2 / 24 / 2.1806
3 / 48 / 2.1855
4 / 70.5 / -0.6467
5 / 94.5 / 0.0067
6 / 118.75 / 0.0175
7 / 142.75 / 0.0142
8 / 166.75 / 0.0106
9 / 190.75 / 0.0070

Figures should be numbered sequentially and have descriptive captions. The caption is located below the figure. They should be referenced and discussed in the text.

Example: Figure 1 shows the velocity in the duct at a cross section near the end of the duct downstream of the orifice. The flow is fully developed.

Figure 1 : Flow Velocity in the duct cross section downstream of the orifice

Conclusions and Recommendations

Give conclusions and recommendations including a final concise presentation of the reduced data (i.e. the E-modul with confidence interval) and any limitations or restrictions on the result. Discuss whether the measurement matched predictions and suggest reasons for any observed discrepancies. Describe how the statistical uncertainties and measurement errors could be reduced.

Appendix

Hand calculations for your data analysis will appear in the appendix. The calculations must be readable, not indecipherable spreadsheets, and may be neatly handwritten. If you use a spreadsheet, use sample hand calculations to verify that the spreadsheet is working correctly for each calculation, then present the spreadsheet results.

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