Aerospace Engineering

Units: 1 - 3

Offered as needed to present new or special MAE subject matter.

Units: 3

Classical thermodynamics of a general reactive system; conservation of energy and principles of increase of entropy; fundamental relation of thermodynamics; Legendre transformations; phase transitions and critical phenomena; equilibrium and stability criteria in different representation; irreversible thermodynamics. Introduction to statistical thermodynamics.

Offered in Spring Only

Units: 3

Gas-phase thermochemistry including chemical equilibrium and introductory chemical kinetics. Homogeneous reaction phenomena. Subsonic and supersonic combustion waves in premixed reactants [deflagration and detonation]. Effects of turbulence. Introduction to diffusion flame theory.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Development of basic equations for steady and transient heat and mass transfer processes. Emphasis on application of basic equations to engineering problems in areas of conduction, convection, mass transfer and thermal radiation.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Principles of structural vibration beginning from single and multi-degree of freedom systems and extending to distributed systems. Forced system response, vibration of strings, bars, shafts and beams and an introduction to approximate methods.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Nonlinear optimization techniques with applications in various aspects of engineering design. Terminology, problem formulation, single and multiple design variables, constraints, classical and heuristic approaches, single and multiobjective problems, response surface modeling, and tradeoffs in complex engineering systems. Numerical optimization algorithms and implementation of these optimization techniques. Graduate standing in engineering recommended.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Fundamental concepts of the finite element method for linear stress and deformation analysis of mechanical components. Development of truss, beam, frame, plane stress, plane strain, axisymmetric and solid elements. Isoparametric formulations. Introduction to structural dynamics. Practical modeling techniques and use of general-purpose codes for solving practical stress analysis problems.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

A practical introduction to electromechanical systems with emphasis on modeling, analysis, design, and control techniques. Provides theory and practical tools for the design of electric machines [standard motors, linear actuators, magnetic bearings, etc]. Involves some self-directed laboratory work and culuminates in an industrial design project. Topics include Maxwell's equations, electromechanical energy conversion, finite element analysis, design and control techniques.

Offered in Spring and Summer

Units: 3

Development of principles of advanced strength of materials and elasticity theory leading to solution of practical engineering problems concerned with stress and deformation analysis. Tensor analysis, coordinate transformations, alternative measures of strain, elastic constitutive equations, stress measures, formulation and solution of two and three dimensional elasticity problems. Examples include advanced beam theory for shear deformation and large deformation, contact mechanics, stress concentration, pressure vessels and compound cylinders, thermal stress analysis, and stresses in layered microelectronic devices.

Offered in Fall Only

Units: 3

Concept of elastic stress intensity factor, Griffith energy balance, determination of the elastic field at a sharp crack tip via eigenfunction expansion methods, J integrals analysis, experimental determination of fracture toughness, fatigue crack growth, elastic-plastic crack tip fields. Emphasis on modern numerical methods for determination of stress intensity factors, critical crack sizes and fatigue crack propagation rate predictions.

Offered in Spring and Summer

Units: 3

Review of basic thermodynamics pertinent to gas dynamics. Detailed development of general equations governing fluid motion in both differential and integral forms. Simplification of the equations to those for specialized flow regimes. Similarity parameters. Applications to simple problems in various flow regimes.

Offered in Fall and Summer

Units: 3

Development of fundamental aerodynamic theory. Emphasis upon mathematical analysis and derivation of equations of motion, airfoil theory and comparison with experimental results. Introduction to super sonic flow theory.

Units: 3

Discussion of inviscid flow fields over wings in subsonic flow. Vortex lattice methods, lifting surface theories and panel methods developed for wings with attached flow and leading-edge separation. Calculation of aerodynamic characteristics and determination of effects of planform and airfoil shapes.

Offered in Spring Only

YEAR: Offered Alternate Years

Units: 1 - 6

Individual or small group investigation of a problem stemming from a mutual student-faculty interest. Emphasis on providing a situation for exploiting student curiosity.

Offered in Fall Spring Summer

Units: 1 - 6

Faculty and student discussions of special topics in mechanical engineering.

Offered in Fall and Spring

Units: 1

For students in non-thesis master's programs who have completed all credit hour requirements for their degree but need to maintain half-time continuous registration to complete incomplete grades, projects, final master's exam, etc.

Offered in Summer