Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding: Advanced mechanical engineering requires knowledge and understanding of the methods of modeling of mechanical systems behavior, as well as skills in modeling of interactions between elements of such systems and between system in consideration and external media. Students are presented with the historical aspects of the development of general mechanics, its goals and objectives, the object and subject of study, the system of fundamental laws and theorems, problems and typical problems, the developed mathematical apparatus, some analytical and numerical methods for solving typical and applied problems.
The student, therefore, at the end of the course will know the basic types of modeling of mechanical forces and interactions. As a result of studying the course, the student will also know the basic concepts, postulates, laws and theorems of general mechanics, the basic provisions of the theory of stability of equilibrium of mechanical systems and be able to describe and model mechanical processes occurring in the material world, draw up differential equations describing the motion of mechanical systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom, integrate these equations for fairly simple systems.
Applying knowledge and understanding: The student will be able to build the most suitable finite-dimensional mathematical model of the considered mechanical system. Then the student can find the equilibrium positions and steady-state modes of the corresponding dynamic system and assess the stability of these equilibriums.
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have prior knowledge of mathematics through standard university courses in Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra. In the process of presenting the material, information from the course "Ordinary Differential Equations" is also used.
Course unit content
The aim of the course is to provide the students with a general overview of the methods of modeling of mechanical systems behavior. The content of the first part of lectures concerns explanations of approaches of modeling in mechanics. The second part of the course is related with fundamental aspects of the general mechanics and control theory. The third part is dedicated to various examples of contemporary modeling of behavior of mechanical systems. The theoretical contents presented during the course is further illustrated and developed during seminars, where the students can apply the acquired knowledge for solving practical problems.
Full programme
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Bibliography
The slides of the course (not protected by copyright) in PDF format, and the material used during the lectures and exercises are shared and made available to the student through the ELLY teaching platform. In addition, the student can refer to the following texts for the exam preparation:
L.N. Hand, J.D. Finch: "Analytical Mechanics", Cambridge University Press
Teaching methods
Students are expected to have prior knowledge of mathematics through standard university courses in Mathematical Analysis, Linear Algebra. In the process of presenting the material, information from the course "Ordinary Differential Equations" is also used.
The course counts 6 CFUs (one CFU, University Credit equals one ECTS credit and represents the workload of a student during educational activities aimed at passing the exams), which corresponds to 48 hours of lectures and exercises. The teaching method consists of lectures, self-works and exercises including home works. During the lectures, the theory will be presented and discussed in order to support a deep understanding of the subjects. During the exercises, using also computers and educational or commercial software, students will be required to apply the theory to an exercise, a real case study, or a project developed according to the methodological criteria illustrated during lectures. The slides and notes used during the lectures and lab are uploaded on the Elly platform during the course continuation. Non-attending students are reminded to check the available teaching material and the instructions provided by the teacher through the Elly platform, which is the only communication tool used for direct contact between teacher and students. On this platform, day by day, the topics discussed in class are indicated. All students obtain home tasks by personal emails. These must be considered as the contents that must be used for the preparation of the final exam.
Assessment methods and criteria
The exam is performed online using Zoom communication program. The exam consists of the oral interview and discussion of problems of modeling behavior of mechanical systems. If needed, some practical problem can be suggested. The maximum score is 30/30. The exam is passed if the student reaches the sufficiency (equal or higher than 18 points over 30). If the exam is passed, the final grade will be given by the average of the marks obtained in the two.
In the event of a full vote (30/30), the examination committee may grant the honour (lode) by evaluating clarity and precision of the answers provided.
Other information
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