Conference Session

Teaching Dynamics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Sherrill Biggers, Clemson University; Marisa Orr, Clemson University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

Clemson and the University of Kentucky. He has been active in curriculum and course development over the past 20 years. He received his BS in Civil Engineering from NC State University and his MS and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Duke University.Marisa Orr, Clemson University Marisa K. Orr is a doctoral candidate in the Mechanical Engineering program at Clemson University. She is a research assistant in the Department of Engineering and Science Education and is a member of the inaugural class of the Engineering and Science Education Certificate at Clemson University. As an Endowed Teaching Fellow, she received the Departmental Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award for teaching Integrated

Conference Session

Mechanics Division Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Thomas Rockaway, University of Louisville; D. Joseph Hagerty, University of Louisville

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

AC 2010-480: QUALITY ENHANCEMENT IN STATICSThomas Rockaway, University of LouisvilleD. Joseph Hagerty, University of Louisville Page 15.1007.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010 Quality Enhancement in StaticsAbstractTo satisfy accreditation requirements the University of Louisville recently developed a QualityEnhancement Plan (QEP) to improve undergraduate instruction across all disciplines. Centralelements of the plan are: emphasis on critical thinking; integration of critical thinking throughoutthe curriculum; service learning for undergraduates; and a culminating experience. With theadoption of the QEP, instructors were asked to incorporate

Conference Session

Simple Classroom Demonstrations for Mechanics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Tanya Kunberger; Kristine Csavina; Robert O'Neill

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

interdisciplinary courses, the roster contains students in bioengineering, civil engineering,and environmental engineering. Topics in statics and dynamics are discipline specific in variouscourses offered in the curriculum at the junior and senior levels. The majority of engineeringcourses at Florida Gulf Coast University are offered in the integrated lecture-lab format. Thismeans that for a four credit course, class meets twice a week for 2 ¾ hours each time. Becauseof the extended class period, presenting the necessary material in an engaging format and notoverloading students on new concepts requires additional considerations over what might occurin a course that has 50-minute sessions three times a week.Dynamics accounts for approximately 40% of the

Conference Session

Simple Classroom Demonstrations for Mechanics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Scott Kiefer, Michigan State University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

engineering principles. In an attempt to boost retention by better connecting with today’s engineering students,eight universities participated in a National Science Foundation sponsored project to change theundergraduate Mechanical Engineering Curriculum to make it more attractive to a diversecommunity of students.4 One of the efforts of this project was to develop application-basedlesson plans that would use real life examples to demonstrate basic engineering concepts.Specifically, Eann Patterson developed a set of example problems that could be used in anintroductory solid mechanics course.5 This paper provides an instructor review of five of these

Conference Session

Mechanics Division Poster Session

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Mysore Narayanan, Miami University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

incorporating writing assignments that enhance students’ critical thinking capabilities. Page 15.214.1© American Society for Engineering Education, 2010Assessment of Boussinesq Approximation in a Fluid Mechanics CourseAbstract There is an absolute need for an in-depth coverage of certain important topics in anundergraduate engineering curriculum especially in the area of Thermodynamics and FluidMechanics. This need arises basically from the feedback received from the alumni and alsofrom some members of the Industrial Advisory Board. A small group of employers has alsoindicated that there is a need for increasing the academic rigor

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanics of Materials & General Mechanics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Robert Freeman, University of Texas, Pan American; Horacio Vasquez, University of Texas, Pan American; Martin Knecht, South Texas College; Taylor Martin, Univ of Texas at Austin; Arturo Fuentes, University of Texas, Pan American; Joan Walker, Long Island University; Araceli Ortiz, Tufts University

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

integral calculus to determine at which value of an independent variable afunction has maximum values. a. Which orientation(s) σ of horizontal wind force leads to the most severe cable loads? How did you determine these orientation(s)? Take one of the following two approaches: Iterative approach: à Use h = 6 meters and Fwind= 20 kN. Choose two different reasonable values of R. Work keeping one of those values of R constant and find the forces in the cables for different values of σ; determine at what angle σ the tension in the cable(s) is maximum. You need to plot each force FAC and FAD versus the angle for σ from 0″ to 120″ (consider that your plotting software might work in

Conference Session

Teaching Dynamics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

J. Shelley, United States Air Force

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

enabled troubleshooting of bimodal grade distributions in classeswith poorly prepared students. Employing the DCI as a CPI tool has created anenvironment in which distractions from the dynamics material, like the broadcastenvironment and textbook selection, can be minimized while effective demonstrationsand class discussions can be developed. This paper discusses the results of employingthe DCI as a CPI tool along with changes made to curriculum delivery. The nextincrement of changes to content delivery is also discussed.Introduction Continuous Process Improvement, CPI, is an established industry practice withthe goals of reducing variability in a product, eliminating non-value added steps fromprocesses, and improving customer

Conference Session

Teaching Mechanics of Materials & General Mechanics

Collection

2010 Annual Conference & Exposition

Authors

Ganapathy Narayanan, The University of Toledo

Tagged Divisions

Mechanics

4initially for a new learner to appreciate the difficult random concepts, but whenthe student comes in touch with randomness in other aspects of life, the studentwould be prepared well to deal with the randomness issue in solving theengineering problem rather than brush it aside, due to ignorance, by not dealingwith randomness in any quantity or with any random analysis.For completeness, an attempt is made to discuss briefly the subject materials thatwould be appropriate as an extension to the Probability and Statistics taught in theundergraduate curriculum. Of course, the author tries to be coherent in thepresentation. More details of these random topics in this paper can be found inmany references2,6-8.This paper discusses first the basic