Mechanical Engineering Course Research Articles

Experiment Study on Elastic Indicator of Thermal Shock Ceramic Materials——Implementation of Students’ Innovative Research Project of Shandong University of Science and Technology

In order to improve the quality of undergraduate education and combine theory and practice, Shandong University of science and technology organized innovative research activities project for undergraduates. Combined with the characteristics of engineering mechanics course, teachers of engineering mechanics teaching and research section guided students to take an active part in scientific research and innovation practice teaching, which has obtained a good teaching effect. This paper introduces the concrete implement process of the college students’ innovative scientific research project “Experiment Study on Elastic Indicator of Thermal Shock Ceramic Materials”, which measures elastic indicator of ceramics using the ultrasonic method. This paper studies elastic indicator change rule of the mullite ceramic samples under different factors such as temperature difference, thermal shock times and so on. Studies have shown that in the condition of air-cooling, with the increase of thermal shock temperature difference and thermal shock times, the elastic modulus value, shear modulus and Poisson’s ratio are in a falling trend. The project implementation have proved that implement undergraduate innovation research projects could effectively arouse students’ learning enthusiasm, cultivate students’ scientific research innovation and analytical abilities to solve practical scientific research problems.

Tinkering to Fabricating - Developing Basic Skills of Fabrication in Freshmen

Developing the basic skills of fabrication and its knowledge is an important part of engineering curriculum. An immediate necessity could be during student project activities. Students, sometimes irrespective of different streams of engineering, will develop a prototype or Proof of Concept of a system as their Project. This involves invariably usage of different tools at workshop like Files, Drilling Machine, Bench Vice, Hack Saw Blade, etc. Developing these basic fabrication skills has been done through various methods in different universities. One such experiment was conducted in the name of for freshmen at KLE Tech, Hubballi. The prime objective of this work was to check the effectiveness of learning on various basic fabrication skills through Design Project. In this work, effort has been made to introduce workshop as a tutorial component of Basic Mechanical Engineering (BME) Course Curriculum. This course is of 3 credits, out of which 2 are for class room sessions and 1 for tutorial session. Demonstration on usage of tools was given to students during tutorials. To check effectiveness of tutorial component, design project was introduced. After the completion of the course, an anonymous feedback taken by the students revealed that BME curriculum and design project were enjoyable learning processes. 50% of the students agreed that Design Project was the most wonderful project experience. 90% of the students agreed that BME curriculum was exciting. 81% of them agreed that they were able to use different workshop tools for Design Project comfortably. Based on the results of the work, it appears that Design Project along with BME curriculum with Workshop content as Tutorial component could be significantly beneficial. This article showcases the benefits of present model along with BME curriculum with tutorial component, conduct of design project, its assessment and review of feedback taken by the students.

3G12 機構玩具を用いた機械系学生のためのアクティブラーニング((14)工学教育に関するグッドプラクティス-II,口頭発表)

3G12 機構玩具を用いた機械系学生のためのアクティブラーニング((14)工学教育に関するグッドプラクティス-II,口頭発表)

Development of an Information Quality Framework for Mechanical Engineering Modules with Enhanced Treatment for Pedagogical Content

The technology based learning systems have capability to comply with diverse requirements of all the stakeholders in the modern education system. In technology based modules, such as those taught in Mechanical Engineering courses, the psychomotor content takes precedence over other domains of teaching and learning. Effective integration of pedagogical content within the Mechanical Engineering modules is of utmost importance for effectiveness in teaching and learning processes in these modules. Published literature is limited in this regard, and hence, the present study focuses on developing a novel an information quality framework for Mechanical Engineering modules, through which an enhanced treatment has been provided to the pedagogical content, in order to meet the educational goals and the industrial requirements worldwide. The novel information quality framework developed in the present study can be used as a guideline for measuring the effectiveness of Mechanical Engineering modules.

Enhancement of Mechanical Engineering Degree through student design competition as added value. Considerations and viability

ABSTRACTThis paper proposes using a student design competition as a learning tool in the Mechanical Engineering Degree for enhancing the general competences and motivation of the students, transferring theoretical knowledge to practical situations and bringing together all courses involved under a common framework. This constitutes an added value that the in-person universities should offer to their students as a consequence of the Bologna process and the raising of open online resources for self-learning. In order to assess the viability of this proposal, a pilot competition design activity (CDA) is presented using project-based learning methods during a Mechanism Theory course for sophomore students. Meanwhile, 27 participants of a 45-student course from a European university took part in the pilot CDA, which consisted of redesigning the motorbike rear suspension used in a student design competition. Participants also completed mid-term and final exams as well as a survey to get their perception of this activity. Based on the success of the pilot CDA, the authors are planning to implement the proposal, including similar CDAs in other Mechanical Engineering courses to use the competition as a link between them and to encourage students to participate on the competition.

Technology enabled learning of metal forming processes for engineering graduates using virtual simulation lab

Metal forming process is a widely used manufacturing process mainly for its economy, dimensional precision, and improved mechanical properties of the formed product. Real-time laboratory experiments are key to mechanical engineering course of metal forming. Lack of available capital in small engineering institutions constraints huge investments over machinery and necessary technologies. An interactive metal forming simulation lab is developed (i) having web-based global access to everyone (ii) with user friendly interface to move seamlessly and find topics (iii) enhancing learning by CAD simulations of metal forming processes (iv) to explore what-if situations experimenting over interactive simulation benches and (v) automatically scored e-quizzes for testing knowledge. This work helps amateur mechanical engineers and mechanical engineering undergraduate students of second, third, fourth, and fifth semesters, respectively, in learning and understanding of metal forming processes and concepts, allowing analysis and visualization of temperature changes, microstructure change, etc. This can be accessed through web address http://msvs-dei.vlabs.ac.in/ and contains over 200 modules. Each module is supported by adequate theory to reduce time and effort needed to understand different metal forming setups, various process parameters, materials, and equipments involved in the processes and provides interactive learning environment.

Integrating everyday examples in mechanical engineering courses for teaching enhancement

One critical measure of success in primarily undergraduate institutions is to achieve high retention rate. Retention rate is the number of students who continue as students at the same institution in the next year compared to the number of students in the current year. Teaching-focused institutions are generally regional, and students are highly diversified in terms of their academic backgrounds and interests. It tends to be a great challenge to retain a high percentage of engineering students at regional campuses. The purpose of the presented work is to integrate everyday examples in mechanical engineering courses to motivate students in completing their studies. This approach has proven very beneficial to both students and instructors. Students are highly motivated and inspired to apply their engineering knowledge directly to everyday, real-world applications; this results in a higher level of student engagement, which in turn, leads to opportunities to improve teaching performance for instructors.

Developing economic and managerial competencies of bachelors in mechanical engineering

The paper deals with the development problems of economic and managerial competencies of bachelors after graduating from higher schools to meet employers’ requirements, through implementing the Federal State Education Standards (FSES) of the third generation. The case study is conducted on the basis of training programs for the bachelor’s degree in Engineering at Yurga Institute of Technology (Affiliate) of National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University. The list of economic and managerial competencies for bachelors in mechanical is specified according to the third generation FSES, enlarged with new competences based on surveys and analyses after questioning employers. The criteria and indicators are described to identify maturity levels in terms of economic and managerial competencies for bachelors. A structural and functional model for training mechanical bachelors has been tested in the implementation of the bachelor’s degree courses in Mechanical engineering at Yurga Institute of Technology (Affiliate) of National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University, in the period from 2011 to 2015.

Implementation of a computational tool to study psychrometric processes in mechanical engineering courses

This paper explores the use of a computational tool developed in Microsoft Excel to enhance the students’ understanding of the different psychrometric processes of moist air in courses such as Thermodynamics and Air Conditioning. The proposed computational tool allows students to focus on more design-oriented problems. Furthermore, students will have the ability to see immediate results to variations of the design conditions as well as different parameters that would affect the different psychrometric processes. The proposed tool also gives students a quick visualization of the evaluated psychrometric process in the psychrometric chart as well as the ability to quickly determine psychrometric properties of moist air. Feedback from students and class instructors proves that the use of the proposed tool significantly enhances the student learning experience in these two courses, make the course more dynamic, and motivate the students to learn the material.

Prototypes and the politics of the artefact: visual explorations of design interactions in teaching spaces

This study investigates how design artefacts shape interactions among student designers and design reviewers to mediate design and design learning. By analysing data collected from two design courses in mechanical engineering and industrial design courses, this study draws on Winner’s concept of politics of the artefact and Gee’s discourse analysis to explore the ways in which design artefacts help structure social relationships and power dynamics between reviewers and students in design learning settings. We use this exploration to examine how student designers work with reviewers to negotiate meaning as they shift from student to collaborator. Our results indicate that functional and well-developed design artefacts allowed students to position themselves as experts of their designs; engage in collaborative, innovative discussion with design reviewers; and elicit constructive feedback from reviewers. In contrast, students who developed incomplete or inaccurate design artefacts experienced limited dialogue with reviewers and reinforced the power distance between them.

Spatial Ability in Learning Engineering Mechanics: Critical Review

AbstractEngineering mechanics (EM) is considered one of the most difficult introductory courses in undergraduate education in civil engineering, mechanical engineering, aerospace engineering, and material science and engineering. Built on the foundation and framework of mathematics and physics, the course requires students to have not only strong abstract thinking and reasoning skills, but also solid spatial abilities. However, the role of spatial ability in learning engineering mechanics has not been investigated adequately in the literature. This paper serves four purposes. First, it presents a critical analysis of findings from an extensive literature review regarding the role of spatial ability in solving physics problems and makes connections to relevant problems of engineering mechanics. Second, this paper applies theories from cognition science and psychology to interpret the role of spatial ability in learning abstract concepts and complex motions in an engineering mechanics course. Third, this pa...

Impact of additive manufacturing on engineering education – evidence from Italy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the direct access to additive manufacturing (AM) systems impacts on education of future mechanical engineers, within a Master’s program at a top Italian University. Design/methodology/approach – A survey is specifically designed to assess the relevance of entry-level AM within the learning environment, as a tool for project development. The survey is distributed anonymously to three consecutive cohorts of students who attended the course of “computer-aided production (CAP)”, within the Master of Science Degree in Mechanical Engineering at Politecnico di Torino. The course includes a practical project, consisting in the design of a polymeric product with multiple components and ending with the production of an assembled prototype. The working assembly is fabricated by the students themselves, who operate a fused deposition modelling (FDM) machine, finish the parts and evaluate assemblability and functionality. The post-course survey covers diverse aspects of the learning process, such as: motivation, knowledge acquisition, new abilities and team-working skills. Responses are analyzed to evaluate students’ perception of the usefulness of additive technologies in learning product design and development. Among the projects, one representative case study is selected and discussed. Findings – Results of the research affirm a positive relationship of access to AM devices to perceived interest, motivation and ease of learning of mechanical engineering. Entry-level additive technologies offer a hands-on experience within academia, fostering the acquisition of technical knowledge. Research limitations/implications – The survey is distributed to more than 200 students to cover the full population of the CAP course over three academic years. The year the students participated in the CAP course is not tracked because the instructor was the same and there were no administrative differences. For this reason, the survey administration might be a limitation of the current study. In addition to this, no gender distinction is made because historically, the percentage of female students in Mechanical Engineering courses is about 10 per cent or lower. Although the answers to the survey are anonymous, only 37 per cent of the students gave a feedback. Thus, on the one hand, impact assessment is limited to a sample of about one-third of the complete population, but, on the other hand, the anonymity ensures randomization in the sample selection. Practical implications – Early exposure of forthcoming designers to AM tools can turn into a “think-additive” approach to product design, that is a groundbreaking conception of geometries and product functionalities, leading to the full exploitation of the possibilities offered by additive technologies. Social implications – Shared knowledge can act as a springboard for mass adoption of AM processes. Originality/value – The advantages of adopting AM technologies at different levels of education, for diverse educational purposes and disciplines, are well assessed in the literature. The innovative aspect of this paper is that the impact of AM is evaluated through a feedback coming directly from mechanical engineering students.

DEVELOPING A MODEL FOR INNOVATION IN UNDERGRADUATE ENGINEERING EDUCATION – THE SYSTEMATIC INTEGRATION OF HUMAN-CENTERED DESIGN

The goal of this project was to integratemore human factors and human centered design contentinto mechanical engineering courses. Using the Six Sigma(DMAIC) approach, we defined HF broadly as anycourse content aspects related to humans. We measuredthe HF content of courses based on interviews with 38instructors. All but six courses had less than 10 hours ofHF content and only one course taught students how touse HF aspects to improve design. Twelve courses weretargeted for improvement and of these, seven instructorsagreed to integrate HF content. The observed rate ofchange is modest and ongoing support would be neededto foster more substantial development. We recommend amore nuanced 4-level model for defining HF-relatedcoursework. We also discuss the barriers to integratingHF and suggest some countermeasures

Team-forming and its Impact in First Year Engineering

During the Fall 2014 term at theUniversity of Waterloo, the first-year MechanicalEngineering course was re-designed to implement teambasedlearning. In order to improve student's job searchchances, the method of team-forming was based upon theco-op hiring process. The first two weeks of tutorials weredesigned in a way that mirrored the co-op process andprepared students with resume writing and interviewingskills. This led to a significant increase in the number ofstudents who received interviews, were ranked, and werehired by mid-semester. Attendance at tutorials improved,and timely assignment submission in a parallel coursewas improved. All of these measures indicated greaterlevels of student engagement compared with precedingcohorts.

MTF database: A repository of students' academic performance measurements for the development of techniques for evaluating team functioning

AbstractThe Measurements for Team Functioning (MTF) database contains a series of student academic performance measurements obtained at a national university in Taiwan. The measurements are acquired from unit tests and homework tests performed during a core mechanical engineering course, and provide an objective means of assessing the functioning of cooperative learning teams and the fit of each member within the team. The database currently includes three datasets, where each dataset contains the performance measurements obtained over an 18‐week semester. The performance measurements within the database provide valuable insights into the team dynamics within a cooperative learning environment. The features, results, limitations and future development of the database are discussed.

A Flipped Classroom Approach to Teaching Engineering Mechanics Courses

A flipped classroom approach to teaching engineering mechanics courses taught in the 2nd and 3rd year of a typical undergraduate engineering education, is explained. A combination of few lectures supported by several problem solving recitation classes and continuous assessment, provides both the students and the instructional team an accurate, dynamic picture of the students' understanding and performance. Early use of computer code and openended projects strengthens the understanding of analysis and design techniques in the context of engineering analysis and design. Experience from teaching a 3rd year (junior level) structural analysis and design class for over two decades is shared to draw appropriate conclusions.

Reform of the Engineering Mechanics Course System

Effective and careful research has been performed by the Section of Mechanics Teaching and Re-search, Southwest Petroleum University on the content, status, student characteristics of the non-mechanical and non-civil-engineering engineering mechanics course system. Reform ideas and measures, which are also applicable to other common colleges, have been suggested in the course content and course system of engineering mechanics in Southwest Petroleum University. The effectiveness of the reform of the engineering mechanics course system has been validated by actual teaching practice of engineering mechanics in Southwest Petroleum University. Thus, the reform methodology is also applicable to other common colleges.

User Experience in Augmented Reality Applied to the Welding Education

Like any other new technology there are lots of constraints and limitations to augmented reality that need to be considered when designing the user experience. The purpose of this article is to report the user experience of AR technology in welding education for future studies and applications. AR technology of the welding process consists of indirect vision of welding helmet, called HMDs (Head Mounted Displays) coupled with the welding torch and the portable device containing peripherals and software for the simulation of welding source, positioning system and plate with the material base. The Welding simulation training was conducted for a group of 12 students of Welding discipline of Mechanical Engineering course at the Federal University of Paraná. The equipment used to conduct the study was the Soldamatic, in which we performed the welding simulations in embedded plates with augmented reality and software called “Teacher”. The simulator is equipped with a mask similar and SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) identical used in the actual welding torches MIG / MAG and TIG in real situations. The results of this study can help the teacher with relevant parameters for the organization of training, as it guides as in the present case study, the need to insert a phase perception of pre-training in AR. It also suggests further studies in order to compare the performance index of learning in simulated welding environment when associated with a previous training perception of AR.

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

Recent research in science teaching and learning.

"Theory of Machines and Mechanism" Teaching Reform to Inspire Mechanical Design Thinking

Theory of Machines and Mechanism as a major technology foundation course of mechanical engineering plays an important role in connecting professional education. From the perspective of inspiring mechanical design thinking, put forward the idea of classroom teaching reform for the curriculum. The knowledge of the curriculum is combed; the target ability of the curriculum is specified; the teaching plans are designed to inspire design thinking; the teaching mode is reformed, and the extracurricular learning mode is enhanced. This paper provides a reference for the classroom teaching reform in the other mechanical course.