1. MAE 311 Group Project
Castillo, Gifford, McKeone, Warshel, Zhang, Zhang
Project Overview
This project shows our evaluation and redesign of the kindling splitter (Fig. 1). The goal of this
project is to analyze the kindling splitter and to redesign it to provide a greater efficiency and
safety rating without changing the applied loads.
Fig. 1: The kindling splitter showing how kindling might
be mounted
Each component first will have a load estimation performed, based on the assumption that the
average user would apply 120 pounds of force to the handle, and that the force required to split
the wood would be 268.6 pounds. With these assumed loads that would be present during use,
we will find the stresses and perform the static and fatigue failure analyses to determine if or
when the splitter will fail.
Based on our findings, as well as a demonstration video regarding the use of the splitter, we will
determine what components may need to be redesigned or removed to improve the design and
performance, and then the stress analysis and static and fatigue failure analyses will be done on
the modified system, with the same loads and material properties used in the original design in
order to verify the effects of the modifications.
Fig. 2: A kindling splitter similar to our redesigned
splitter, showing how kindling might be mounted