Pub Date : 2023-05-09DOI: 10.1177/03064190231174438
Lisa Long, J. Wong
The ground effect is well known to pilots and aerodynamicists alike. However, the current explanations found in undergraduate (and pilot-focused) textbooks can be inconsistent, often attributing the phenomena to the interaction between tip vortices at the ground. Others invoke the method of images to show that, when the flow is forced to have a straight streamline on the ground, ground pressure must increase. These must prescriptively choose an airfoil circulation. Meanwhile, a simple panel code can be used to show both that the lift on an airfoil in ground effect is significantly two-dimensional, and that the circulation about an airfoil near the ground is not constant. In particular, circulation will be found to grow as altitude decreases, magnifying the ground effect. A simple graphical panel method solver is provided, such that this exercise is accessible to students without the longer task of writing a panel code for themselves. This exercise can provide students with greater insight into the Kutta condition, the method of images, and panel methods themselves. The resulting streamline pattern can also be used to explain the phenomenon to more general audiences, by observing the relationship between lift and streamline curvature.
{"title":"On the origin of the ground effect","authors":"Lisa Long, J. Wong","doi":"10.1177/03064190231174438","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03064190231174438","url":null,"abstract":"The ground effect is well known to pilots and aerodynamicists alike. However, the current explanations found in undergraduate (and pilot-focused) textbooks can be inconsistent, often attributing the phenomena to the interaction between tip vortices at the ground. Others invoke the method of images to show that, when the flow is forced to have a straight streamline on the ground, ground pressure must increase. These must prescriptively choose an airfoil circulation. Meanwhile, a simple panel code can be used to show both that the lift on an airfoil in ground effect is significantly two-dimensional, and that the circulation about an airfoil near the ground is not constant. In particular, circulation will be found to grow as altitude decreases, magnifying the ground effect. A simple graphical panel method solver is provided, such that this exercise is accessible to students without the longer task of writing a panel code for themselves. This exercise can provide students with greater insight into the Kutta condition, the method of images, and panel methods themselves. The resulting streamline pattern can also be used to explain the phenomenon to more general audiences, by observing the relationship between lift and streamline curvature.","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-05-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43492188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-30DOI: 10.14445/23488360/ijme-v10i4p103
Nallusamy S, Chakraborty P S, Punna Rao G V
{"title":"Reduction Analysis of Welding Defects using Lean Six Sigma and DMAIC Application – A Case Study","authors":"Nallusamy S, Chakraborty P S, Punna Rao G V","doi":"10.14445/23488360/ijme-v10i4p103","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.14445/23488360/ijme-v10i4p103","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"80090172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-12DOI: 10.1177/03064190231169129
P. Shekhar, Heydi Dominguez, Jin-woo Lee, Samantha Augustin
The process of opportunity recognition is pivotal to engineering design, fostering technological innovation and entrepreneurship. Although there are multiple studies conducted in the area of opportunity recognition studying the behaviors of entrepreneurs, examining engineering students’ approaches have been underexplored. There is a lack of research in regards to opportunity recognition processes among engineering students, particularly in the context of design education. The presented study addresses this gap by qualitatively examining approaches to opportunity recognition among mechanical engineering students enrolled in an engineering design course. Using a sample of 23 mechanical engineering students, the approaches to opportunity recognition were analyzed using students’ responses to open-ended survey questions and student group discussions. From the analysis of the qualitative data, four key themes emerged regarding the improvement of the device and process, user consideration, environmental sustainability, and information and resources accessed by students. The findings provide a deeper understanding that can be used to inform educational practices and further research in the area of opportunity recognition in engineering education settings.
{"title":"Investigating mechanical engineering students’ approaches to opportunity recognition process","authors":"P. Shekhar, Heydi Dominguez, Jin-woo Lee, Samantha Augustin","doi":"10.1177/03064190231169129","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03064190231169129","url":null,"abstract":"The process of opportunity recognition is pivotal to engineering design, fostering technological innovation and entrepreneurship. Although there are multiple studies conducted in the area of opportunity recognition studying the behaviors of entrepreneurs, examining engineering students’ approaches have been underexplored. There is a lack of research in regards to opportunity recognition processes among engineering students, particularly in the context of design education. The presented study addresses this gap by qualitatively examining approaches to opportunity recognition among mechanical engineering students enrolled in an engineering design course. Using a sample of 23 mechanical engineering students, the approaches to opportunity recognition were analyzed using students’ responses to open-ended survey questions and student group discussions. From the analysis of the qualitative data, four key themes emerged regarding the improvement of the device and process, user consideration, environmental sustainability, and information and resources accessed by students. The findings provide a deeper understanding that can be used to inform educational practices and further research in the area of opportunity recognition in engineering education settings.","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44880071","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-04-12DOI: 10.1177/03064190231169251
M. Muscat, P. Mollicone
This paper is concerned with the determination of the yield surface in a two-dimensional stress field within an undergraduate Mechanics of Materials student laboratory experiment. In this experiment, the two-dimensional stress field is obtained by subjecting a steel specimen to a combined bending and torsion load. The motivation for the paper was the lack of correlation between the von Mises and Tresca yield criteria and the principal stresses calculated at the load at which students were predicting material yielding. The latter yield loci were based on the uniaxial 0.2% proof stress. The lack of correlation was creating a lot of frustration amongst students. This is undesirable, especially within an undergraduate student experiment. Two hypotheses for the lack of agreement were considered. The first hypothesis was the uncertainty involved in the method that the students were using to predict the onset of material yielding. The second hypothesis was that the specimens being used for the experiment had anisotropic properties, given that little information on their manufacture was provided. The need for determining accurate yield stress values and on methodologies found in literature that are used to determine the material proof stress or lower yield stress in a uniaxial tensile test are discussed. Four methods taken from literature are used and adapted to detect the first yield of the specimen under a combined bending and torsional load. The resulting experimentally yield loci are compared with the theoretical von Mises and Tresca isotropic yield loci over half of the second quadrant of the two-dimensional principal stress field plot. Correlation between the four methods was quite good but not so when compared with the von Mises and Tresca’ loci. A lack of correlation occurred for an increasing torsional load indicating a possible anisotropy in the material properties. These results hinted towards the second hypothesis. A number of tensile test specimens were hence heat treated so as to induce isotropy in the material properties. The combined loading experiments were repeated using the heat-treated samples. A very good correlation was obtained between the experimental yield points for the two-dimensional stress field and the von Mises and Tresca yield loci. This good correlation for the heat-treated specimens confirmed the authors’ second hypothesis on the anisotropic properties in the as-received state and, therefore, the requirement to heat treat the specimens for a meaningful student undergraduate laboratory activity.
{"title":"Predicting the yield surface in a two-dimensional stress system: A student's laboratory experiment","authors":"M. Muscat, P. Mollicone","doi":"10.1177/03064190231169251","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03064190231169251","url":null,"abstract":"This paper is concerned with the determination of the yield surface in a two-dimensional stress field within an undergraduate Mechanics of Materials student laboratory experiment. In this experiment, the two-dimensional stress field is obtained by subjecting a steel specimen to a combined bending and torsion load. The motivation for the paper was the lack of correlation between the von Mises and Tresca yield criteria and the principal stresses calculated at the load at which students were predicting material yielding. The latter yield loci were based on the uniaxial 0.2% proof stress. The lack of correlation was creating a lot of frustration amongst students. This is undesirable, especially within an undergraduate student experiment. Two hypotheses for the lack of agreement were considered. The first hypothesis was the uncertainty involved in the method that the students were using to predict the onset of material yielding. The second hypothesis was that the specimens being used for the experiment had anisotropic properties, given that little information on their manufacture was provided. The need for determining accurate yield stress values and on methodologies found in literature that are used to determine the material proof stress or lower yield stress in a uniaxial tensile test are discussed. Four methods taken from literature are used and adapted to detect the first yield of the specimen under a combined bending and torsional load. The resulting experimentally yield loci are compared with the theoretical von Mises and Tresca isotropic yield loci over half of the second quadrant of the two-dimensional principal stress field plot. Correlation between the four methods was quite good but not so when compared with the von Mises and Tresca’ loci. A lack of correlation occurred for an increasing torsional load indicating a possible anisotropy in the material properties. These results hinted towards the second hypothesis. A number of tensile test specimens were hence heat treated so as to induce isotropy in the material properties. The combined loading experiments were repeated using the heat-treated samples. A very good correlation was obtained between the experimental yield points for the two-dimensional stress field and the von Mises and Tresca yield loci. This good correlation for the heat-treated specimens confirmed the authors’ second hypothesis on the anisotropic properties in the as-received state and, therefore, the requirement to heat treat the specimens for a meaningful student undergraduate laboratory activity.","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46444728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Dual-Axis Solar Tracking Systems for Improved Solar Power Generation Efficiency","authors":"","doi":"10.56452/2023-04/001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.56452/2023-04/001","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"81065704","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-30DOI: 10.1177/03064190231166323
Valerie Vanessa Bracho Perez, Alexandra Coso Strong
Within a mechanical engineering curriculum, Statics is often a barrier course for students, as their performance in Statics can impact their overall academic success. Recent efforts to enhance students’ learning in fundamental engineering courses have included integrating learning assistants (LAs), undergraduate peers who have previously excelled in the course, into the course's instructional team. The purpose of this study is to explore one enactment of a Statics classroom with LAs, the interactions that characterize it, and the impact it has on the students and instructional teams. A qualitative case study of a statics course with LAs was conducted leveraging Kranzfelder and colleagues’ teaching discourse moves framework to deductively and inductively analyze the data collected. The value of having LAs within Statics was prevalent throughout the interactions and from the perspective of the LAs, instructors, and students. However, the LAs remained an untapped resources for many in the course. The results of this study have implications for mechanical engineering departments, Statics instructors and LAs, and research.
{"title":"Exploring the effects of learning assistants on instructional team–student interactions in statics","authors":"Valerie Vanessa Bracho Perez, Alexandra Coso Strong","doi":"10.1177/03064190231166323","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03064190231166323","url":null,"abstract":"Within a mechanical engineering curriculum, Statics is often a barrier course for students, as their performance in Statics can impact their overall academic success. Recent efforts to enhance students’ learning in fundamental engineering courses have included integrating learning assistants (LAs), undergraduate peers who have previously excelled in the course, into the course's instructional team. The purpose of this study is to explore one enactment of a Statics classroom with LAs, the interactions that characterize it, and the impact it has on the students and instructional teams. A qualitative case study of a statics course with LAs was conducted leveraging Kranzfelder and colleagues’ teaching discourse moves framework to deductively and inductively analyze the data collected. The value of having LAs within Statics was prevalent throughout the interactions and from the perspective of the LAs, instructors, and students. However, the LAs remained an untapped resources for many in the course. The results of this study have implications for mechanical engineering departments, Statics instructors and LAs, and research.","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42792939","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2023-03-27DOI: 10.1177/03064190231166665
Jonathan Lesage, R. Brennan, Sarah Elaine Eaton, B. Moya, B. McDermott, J. Wiens, Kai Herrero
In this paper, the authors review extant natural language processing models in the context of undergraduate mechanical engineering education. These models have advanced to a stage where it has become increasingly more difficult to discern computer vs. human-produced material, and as a result, have understandably raised questions about their impact on academic integrity. As part of our review, we perform two sets of tests with OpenAI's natural language processing model (1) using GPT-3 to generate text for a mechanical engineering laboratory report and (2) using Codex to generate code for an automation and control systems laboratory. Our results show that natural language processing is a potentially powerful assistive technology for engineering students. However, it is a technology that must be used with care, given its potential to enable cheating and plagiarism behaviours given how the technology challenges traditional assessment practices and traditional notions of authorship.
{"title":"Exploring natural language processing in mechanical engineering education: Implications for academic integrity","authors":"Jonathan Lesage, R. Brennan, Sarah Elaine Eaton, B. Moya, B. McDermott, J. Wiens, Kai Herrero","doi":"10.1177/03064190231166665","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/03064190231166665","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, the authors review extant natural language processing models in the context of undergraduate mechanical engineering education. These models have advanced to a stage where it has become increasingly more difficult to discern computer vs. human-produced material, and as a result, have understandably raised questions about their impact on academic integrity. As part of our review, we perform two sets of tests with OpenAI's natural language processing model (1) using GPT-3 to generate text for a mechanical engineering laboratory report and (2) using Codex to generate code for an automation and control systems laboratory. Our results show that natural language processing is a potentially powerful assistive technology for engineering students. However, it is a technology that must be used with care, given its potential to enable cheating and plagiarism behaviours given how the technology challenges traditional assessment practices and traditional notions of authorship.","PeriodicalId":39952,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Mechanical Engineering Education","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.4,"publicationDate":"2023-03-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48513839","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}