Integrating Model Validation and Uncertainty Analysis Into an Undergraduate Engineering Laboratory

Abstract

In undergraduate engineering education, a commonly used teaching method for an experimental methods course would be to compare an engineering calculation with an experimental result. A fundamental question for the students is “Do the theoretical model predictions and the experimental data agree?” Sometimes uncertainty is assigned to the experimental data, but to answer the comparison question with validity, the uncertainty of the theoretical calculations must also be considered. In this paper, the concept and methodology of using experimental data and uncertainty analysis for the validation of theoretical predictions is described in the context of the application to an undergraduate engineering laboratory course at Mississippi State University (MSU).