- Analyse the problem by identifying the governing parameters and to perform a dimension analysis.
- Describe the position of a point mass in various coordinate systems and obtain expressions for the velocities and accelerations in multiple directions
- Draw a free body diagram, to identify the forces acting on a body, and to derive the governing differential equations by application of Newton’s second law
- Solve different equations and verify the solutions by checking its dimentions and behaviour, by checking he boundary conditions and by sketching the solution
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This is a part of Semester 1 of the Bachelor Mechanical Engineering (UT-VU) See here for the compete description of this semester.
TIME: (TWENTE’S) INTRODUCTION TO MECHANICAL ENGINEERING is an introductory stand-alone course.
TIME has been developed to let first year Mechanical Engineering students experience how engineering problems can be solved in a systematic way, and how mathematics plays a major role in this process. Although applied mathematics has primarily evolved from the need to solve problems in physics and engineering, students have a difficulty in actually recognizing this role of mathematics: ’What can you do with it?’ It appears again and again that when mathematics is presented in an engineering context, students do much more enjoy and appreciate mathematics. This contributes to their level of self-confidence and to their engineering capabilities. In the first week of the bachelor program in Mechanical Engineering, we explain how the period of a pendulum is computed. Students are familiar with the answer from high-school but do not know where it comes from. The pendulum problem is an excellent showcase of how engineering problems can be solved in a systematic way. It also greatly exemplifies the role of mathematics in this process since it is related to several mathematical concepts and theorems such as differentiation, linear differential equations, Taylor series approximation, and so forth. We expect that TIME contributes to the improvement of the students appreciation of engineering and mathematics.
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