This project was completed as part of my dynamics and vibrations course, where our team was challenged to design and build an optimized projectile launcher capable of hitting the ceiling of the engineering building. The launcher consisted of three stacked masses and springs along a central pole, converting gravitational potential energy into kinetic energy upon release.

Using MATLAB's fmincon optimization function, we determined the ideal mass and spring configurations to maximize the launch velocity of the top mass, arriving at spring constants of 897, 118, and 15 lb/in paired with masses of 5.84, 0.81, and 0.11 lbs. For this project, I applied skills in constrained optimization, ODE integration, and experimental video analysis, using the central difference formula to extract real-world velocity data from recorded footage.

Our final build achieved a measured launch velocity of 41.89 ft/s: 91.63% of our theoretical prediction and successfully hit the ceiling on our third attempt, with a measured energy efficiency of 28.40%.