MEE 390: EXPERIMENTAL METHODS IN MECHANICAL ENGINEERING I
Homework/Project Assignments (also see PDF file) * Class Picture * St * 350
Blackboard Domain* 

Course/Catalog Description:
MEE 390: Experimental Methods in Mechanical Engineering I. Credit 3. Basic concepts of measurement methods and planning and documenting experiments. Typical sensors, transducers, and measurements system behavior. Data sampling and computerized data acquisition systems. Statistical methods and uncertainty analysis applied to data reduction. Laboratory experiments with measurement of selected material properties and solid mechanical and fluid/thermal quantities. A writing-intensive course. CRQ: ELE 215, MEE 212, MEE 340, and MEE 350 and STAT 350 or IENG 335.

Class schedule: Mo,We & Fr 10-10:50 AM,  in EB 221;  Labs etc. TBA in EB 254
Lab sessions will be scheduled separately for each group at designated and additional times if needed.

Textbook: R.S. Figliola, and D.E. Beasley, Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements - 3rd Edition, Wiley, 2000,

References:
R.H. Bishop, Learning with LabVIEW, Addison Wesley, 1999
A.J. Wheeler and A.R. Ganji, Introduction to Engineering Experimenntation, Prentice Hall, 1996
E.O. Doebelin, Measurement Systems - Application and Design, 4th Edition, McGraw-Hill, 1990
J.P. Holman, Experimental Methods for Engineers, 5th Edition, McGraw­Hill, 1984.
J. W. Dally, W. F. Riley, and K. G. McConnell, Instrumentation for Engineering Measurements, John Wiley & Sons, 1984.
*** Additional references will be given during the lectures along with handouts.

Class/Homework/Lab/Exam/Grading Policy:
See: University Learning, Ethics and Professionalism; Class, HW, and Exam Policies
See:  Lab Safety Rules
Grading: Labs and HomeWorks - 20%, Individual Lab project/poster - 25%, Midterm(s) - 20%, and Final - 35%. If any item is not required/graded for the whole class, the other items are prorated proportionally. Final Exam is comprehensive and its passing grade is required to pass the course.

Goals:
This course in Experimental Methods is aimed to provide students with theory and hands-on laboratory experience, including simple and more complex experiments and computerized data acquisition. Strong emphasis is placed on problem solving, professional judgment, and the importance of accuracy, error, and uncertainty analysis. After completing the course, students are expected to be aware of experimental complexity, different instrumentation, and be able to apply knowledge from their science courses in order to design experiments and judge quality and precision of their measurements.

Laboratory projects -tentative:
(not limited to but including major items of equipment and instrumentation used):

1. Lab Safety Rules and Demonstration of different bench-top measuring instruments.
   Click Q & A for Experimental Tips, Questions and Answers.
2. Introduction to Oscilloscope and Vibration Measurement of a Cantilever Beam
3. Calibration of and Measurement with Strain Gages
4. Thermocouple calibration
5. Experimental verification of Bernoulli equation
6. LabVIEW and Data Acquisition (DAQ)
7. Dynamic response of a thermocouple sensor
8. Measurements of flow rate and specific heat of air
9. Thermal conductivity measurements
10. Measurement of Motor-Flywheel Load and Dynamic Characteristics

Note: Special handouts about the above Lab Assignments are available. Teaching assistant will organize lab groups and supervise your laboratory assignments. Students are involved in actual measurements, data reduction and analysis, and reports writing.

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