Mechanical Engineering
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Mechanical engineering is one of the largest and most diverse engineering disciplines, with applications in virtually every field and industry. Mechanical engineers are involved in the design and construction of everything from spacecraft to aircraft carriers to household appliances to heart-lung machines to microscopic nanomachines. WPI's Mechanical Engineering graduate courses cover fundamental engineering sciences, and special topic courses expose students to state-of-the-art research topics.
Research in the Department of Mechanical Engineering is diverse and students are directly exposed to the multidisciplinary nature of modern mechanical engineering. Current graduate coursework and research activities include theoretical, numerical, and experimental work in rarefied gas and plasma dynamics, electric propulsion, multiphase flows, turbulent flows, fluid-structure interactions, structural analysis, nonlinear dynamics and control, random vibrations, biomechanics, microgravity combustion, materials processing, mechanics of granular materials, laser holography, MEMS, and engineering design. This gives WPI the breadth and depth to provide corporations with educational solutions that meet their specific technical development needs.
This program can be delivered at your corporate site in the New England area, at our Worcester campus, or through a blended delivery which includes some distance learning options.
Mechanical Engineering Graduate Certificate
18 credits (transfer to degree)
- Mechanical Vibrations
- Dynamics
- Applied Elasticity
- Finite Element
- Design for Manufacturing
- Computer-Aided Design
Course Descriptions
ME 522. Mechanical Vibrations
Vibration analysis for both discrete and continuous linear systems. Start with an enhanced review of the fundamentals of single-degree-of-freedom vibration analysis. Both Newton-D'Alembert's vectorial approach and Lagrangian equations are discussed. General properties of related stiffness, mass and damping matrices are addressed. Modal analysis for linear systems is emphasized. Computational methods in vibration analysis are introduced. Applications include vehicles traveling on a rough surface, multistory buildings subjected to seismic and wind loading, and vibration analysis of bars, beams and plates.
ME 527. Dynamics
Basic concepts and general principles of classical kinematics and dynamics of particles, system of particles, and rigid and deformable bodies are presented. Particle motion along arbitrary trajectories is discussed in general coordinate systems. The governing equations of motion are derived by both Newton-D'Alembert's vectorial approach and Lagrange-Hamiltonšs variational approach. Applications include central-force orbital motion, binary collisions, motion in noninertial reference frames, rigid body motion, vibration of continuous systems and dynamic stability.
ME 531. Applied Elasticity
This course is intended for students with undergraduate backgrounds in mechanics of materials. It includes two- and threedimensional states of stress, linear and nonlinear measures of strain, and generalized Hookešs Law. Also covered are exact solutions for bending and torsion: thick-walled pressure vessels, rotating disks, stress functions for two- and threedimensional problems and bending and torsion of asymmetric beams.
ME 533/CE 524. Finite Element Method and Applications
This course serves as an introduction to the basic theory of the finite element method. Topics covered include matrix structural analysis variation form of differential equations, Ritz and weighted residual approximations, and development of the discretized domain solution. Techniques are developed in detail for the one- and two-dimensional equilibrium problem. Examples focus on elasticity and heat flow with reference to broader applications. Students are supplied microcomputer programs and gain experience in solving real problems. (Prerequisites: Elementary differential equations, solid mechanics and heat flow.)
ME 5340MTES 540. Analytical Methods in Materials Engineering
Heat transfer and diffusion kinetics are applied to the solution of materials engineering problems. Mathematical and numerical methods for the solutions to Fourier's and Pickšs laws for a variety of boundary conditions will be presented and discussed. The primary emphasis is given heat treatment and surface modification processes. Topics to be covered include solutionizing, quenching, and carburization heat treatment. (Prerequisites: ME 4840 or MTE 510 or equivalent.)
ME 545S. Computer-Aided Design and Geometric Modeling
This course covers topics in computer-aided geometric design and applications in mechanical engineering. The objectives of the course are to familiarize the students with complex geometric modeling and analytical techniques used in contemporary computer-aided design systems. Topics to be covered may include complex curve and surface generation, Boolean algebra and solid modeling, transformations, computational and analytic geometry, automatic mesh generation, tool path generation, offsets and intersections of complex shapes, graphics standards and data transfer, rendering techniques, parametric design and geometric optimization, numerical methods for geometric analysis and graphics design programming. (Prerequisites: calculus, linear algebra, computer programming, and some familiarity with a CAD system.)
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