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Graduate Course Descriptions

ME EN 6005 Exploration of Complex Continuum Phenomena I (3).

Taught F. Lecture and group projects that apply new research advances in physical experimentation and computer simulation to the engineering exploration of continuum systems.

ME EN 6010 Principles of Manufacturing Processes (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 2000 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.*Application of fundamental theories in solid mechanics, heat transfer, chemistry and surface science in solving complex problems in material processes. Meets with ME EN 5010.

ME EN 6015 Exploration of Complex Continuum Phenomena II (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 6005. Taught S. Lecture and research/development group projects of phenomena relevant to engineering applications through integrated application of state-of-the-art computational and laboratory tools.

ME EN 6020 Computer-Aided Manufacturing (3)

Meets with ME EN 5020. Prerequisite: ME EN 2000 and Graduate status. Taught F of even years.*Principles and elements of computer-aided manufacturing: including numerical control, computer aided design, rapid prototyping, 'Just-In-Time Manufacturing,' and an introduction to 'Intelligent Manufacturing.'

ME EN 6030 Reliability Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 4050 and Graduate status. Taught S of odd years.* Application of statistical concepts for interpretation of component and system failures, redundancy, maintainability, exponential failure laws, and failure prediction techniques. Meets with ME EN 5030.

ME EN 6040 Quality Assurance Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 4050 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Acceptance sampling procedures, control charts for quality controls, military standards in controlling quality. Meets with ME EN 5040.

ME EN 6050 Fundamentals of Micromachining Processes (3)

Cross-listed with BIOEN 6421, ECE 6221, and MSE 6421. Prerequisite: graduate engineering status or instructor consent. Taught S. Introduction to the principles of micromachining technologies. Topics include photolithography, silicon etching, thin film deposition and etching, electroplating, polymer micromachining, and bonding techniques. A weekly lab and a review of micromachining applications are included. Meets with ME EN 5050 and ECE 5221.

ME EN 6100 Ergonomics (3)

Meets with ME EN 5100. Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status, or instructor consent. Taught F. Introduction to study of humans at work; disability and accident prevention, and productivity improvement. Human musculoskeletal system as mechanical structure. Recognition, evaluation, and control of ergonomic stresses in occupational environment.

ME EN 6110 Introduction to Industrial Safety (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status or instructor consent. Taught S. Introduction to modern hazard control. Objectives and operation of occupational safety and health program. Requirements of the OSHA Act. Recognition and control of physical hazards in work environment through safety engineering. Psychological and ergonomic aspects of worker safety and health. Meets with ME EN 5110.

ME EN 6120 Human Factors in Engineering Design (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate or upper division undergraduate status in engineering. Taught F. An introduction to the discipline of Human Factors Engineering. HFE is the science of designing for human use. Course will focus on information processing and the cognitive aspects of ergonomics design. Students will gain insight into effects of various environments (heat, cold, noise, information overload, etc.) on humans and human performance. Physical ergonomics (cumulative trauma disorders and biomechanics) will be addressed briefly. These topics are covered in more depth in ME EN 6100 Ergonomics and ME EN 7100 Advanced Ergonomics. Meets with ME EN 5120.

ME EN 6130 Design Implications for Human-Machine Systems (3)

Prerequisite: graduate status in engineering. Taught F. Human Factors Engineering (HFE) aspects of design and implications on system performance. Various aspects of human interaction with systems, both simple (hand tool) and complex (piloting an aircraft) will be addressed. Course emphasizes HFE principles and the often catastrophic results of poor design with respect to humans in the system. Physical ergonomics (cumulative trauma disorders and biomechanics) will be addressed briefly. Meets with ME EN 5130.

ME EN 6200 Advanced Modeling and Control (3)

Meets with ME EN 5200. Prerequisite: ME EN 3210 and ME EN Graduate status. Taught F. Students learn modeling in the frequency domain, time domain, and sampled data domain. The theory and application of techniques and tools used for the design of feedback control systems, including root locus, Bode and Nyquist techniques are discussed for continuous and sampled systems.

ME EN 6210 State Space Methods (3)

Prerequisite: CHFEN 4203 or ME EN 3210 or equivalent and graduate status. Taught S. Control system analysis techniques are applied to the design or error-based and feedback-based compensators. Both continuous and sampled data compensators are discussed using state-space techniques. Meets with ME EN 5210, CHFEN 5203, and CHFEN 6203.

ME EN 6220 Robotics (3)

Cross-listed as CP SC 6310. Meets with CP SC 5310, CP SC 6310, ME EN 5220. Prerequisite: CP SC 1000 and MATH 2250 and Graduate status. Taught F. The mechanics of robots, comprising kinematics, dynamics, and trajectories. Planar, spherical, and spatial transformations and displacements. Representing orientation: Euler angles, angle-axis, and quaternions. Velocity and acceleration: the Jacobian and screw theory. Inverse kinematics: solvability and singularities. Trajectory planning: joint interpolation and Cartesian trajectories. Statics of serial chain mechanisms. Inertial parameters, Newton-Euler equations, D'Alembert's principle. Recursive forward and inverse dynamics. Graduate students only. Extra work required.

ME EN 6300 Advanced Strength of Materials (3)

Meets with ME EN 5300, ME EN 5300. Discussion, Lecture. Prerequisite: ME EN 3300 and MATH 2210 and MATH 2250 and Graduate status. Taught F. Strength of materials approach to advanced problems in stress analysis of structural members, and prediction of their failure; advanced topics in beam bending; torsion of noncircular cross-sections, and thin-walled tubes; inelastic bending, and torsion; energy methods; elastic instability.

ME EN 6400 Vibrations (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 2400 and MATH 2210 and 2250 and Graduate status. Taught S. Free and forced vibrations of discrete linear systems with and without damping; matrix methods for multiple-degree-of-freedom systems; isolation of shock and vibration; and applications. Meets with ME EN 5400.

ME EN 6410 Intermediate Dynamics (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 2400 and MATH 2210 and 2250 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Review of basic dynamics, transformation of coordinate systems, rotating coordinate systems, LaGrange methods, Euler's equations, and dynamics of machinery. Meets with ME EN 5410.

ME EN 6500 Engineering Elasticity (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3300 and MATH 3150 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.* Practical, applied approach to elasticity; physical meaning of governing equations, and solutions of problems of practical importance; stresses, strains, and Hooke's law; equations of equilibrium, and compatibility; problems in plane stress and plane strain, torsion, and bending, and introduction to three-dimensional problems. Meets with ME EN 5500.

ME EN 6510 Introduction to Finite Elements (3)

Meets with ME EN 5510. Prerequisite: ME EN 1300 and MATH 2210 and 2250 and Graduate status. Taught F. Practical approach to finite-element analysis of solid mechanics, diffusion, and fluid mechanics problems. Introduction to use of commercial finite element programs. Introduction to theoretical basis; simple elements, element stiffness, boundary conditions, and modeling considerations.

ME EN 6520 Mechanics of Composite Materials (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3300 and MATH 2210 and Graduate status. Taught S. Introduction to modern fiber composite materials; design and analysis for structural applications. Material types, and manufacturing techniques. Anisotropic stress-strain response, and implications for design. Lamination theory, and computer codes for lamination analysis. Strengths of laminates. Examples and projects for design of structural members of advanced composite materials. Meets with ME EN 5520.

ME EN 6600 Statistical Thermodynamics (3)

Meets with ME EN 5600. Prerequisite: MATH 2210 and 2250 and Graduate status and either ME EN 2600 or CH FEN 2853. Taught S of even years.* Thermodynamic probability, statistical mechanics for systems of independent particles, the partition function, macroscopic thermodynamic properties for gases and solids from basic particle behavior.

ME EN 6610 Modern Physics in Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: MATH 2250 and Graduate status and either ME EN 2600 or CHFEN 2853. Taught S of odd years.* Application of modern physics developments to engineering disciplines: quantum mechanics, nanotechnology, molecular mechanics, atomic force and scanning tunneling microscopes, and other recent developments. Meets with ME EN 5610.

ME EN 6620 Fundamentals of Microscale Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate status in engineering. Taught F. Introduction to microscale and nanoscale engineering. Topics include scaling laws, metrology methods, and mircofabrication technologies such as photolithography sputtering, ion-beam etching, chemical vapor deposition, bulk micromachining, surface micromachining, LIGA, laser ablation, and micromilling. Microscale thermal fluid phenomena, such as slip flow, temperature jump, viscosity variation, surface tension effects and conduction in thin films, are introduced. MEMS and microfluidic applications, such as sensors actuators, micro total analysis systems, and electronic cooling are presented. Meets with ME EN 5620.

ME EN 6710 Aerodynamics (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 2400 and 3700 and Graduate status. Taught S of odd years.* Flow around bodies, inviscid flow, airfoil theory, lift and drag for lifting bodies, compressible aerodynamics, boundary layers, and aircraft preliminary design. Meets with ME EN 5710.

ME EN 6800 Energy Conversion (3)

Prerequisite: MATH 2250 and Graduate status and either ME EN 2600 or CHFEN 2853. Taught F of odd years.* Conversion of chemical and nuclear fuels to satisfy specific energy needs. Solar, MHD, synthetic fuels, biomass, fission, fusion, geothermal, and direct energy conversion. Meets with ME EN 5800.

ME EN 6810 Thermal System Design (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3600 and 3650 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.* Design of steam-power plants, feed-water heater systems, pumping systems, compressor blades, turbine blades, and heat exchangers. Equation fitting and economic analysis as basis of design decisions. Optimization of thermal systems using LaGrange multipliers, search methods, dynamic programming, geometric programming, and linear programming. Probabilistic approaches to design. Meets with ME EN 5810.

ME EN 6820 Thermal Environmental Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3600 and 3650 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Principles of design of systems for heating and cooling of buildings. Heat-load calculations, psychrometrics, thermodynamic systems, and solar-energy concepts. Meets with ME EN 5820.

ME EN 6830 Aerospace Propulsion (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3600 and 3700 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Analysis and design of propulsion systems for aerospace vehicles: solid and liquid chemical rocket systems, nuclear rocket engines, electrical rocket engines, nozzle theory, jet engine component analysis, turboprop engines, turbojet engines, ramjet engines, and turbofan engines. Meets with ME EN 5830.

ME EN 6950 Independent Study (1 to 3)

Independent Study.
Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught F, S, Sum.

ME EN 6955 Master of Engineering Project (1 to 4)

Thesis Research. Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught F, S, Sum.

ME EN 6960 Special Topics (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught as needed. Contemporary problems in Mechanical Engineering.

ME EN 6975 Research and Thesis: Master of Science (1 to 4)

Thesis Research. Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status. Taught F, S, Sum.

ME EN 6980 Faculty Consultation: Master of Science (1 to 3)

Independent Study. Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status. Taught F, S, Sum.

ME EN 7000 Optimal Design (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught S of odd years.* Explores optimization theory and practice as it applies to engineering design. Topics include monotonicity analysis, numerical methods in continuous design spaces and techniques for discrete optimization. Students will learn these are through analytical and computer-based assignments and design exercises.

ME EN 7010 Computer-Aided Engineering (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught F of odd years.* Explores technology behind current topics in computer-aided engineering. Topics have included: network-based computer-aided design, expert systems, and constraint propagation, pattern recognition, etc. This is NOT a course in learning how to use any commercial CAD program, but rather a course in learning the basis for developing new tools. Students learn these topics through extensive programming projects.

ME EN 7040 Advanced Computer-Aided Manufacturing (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 5020 or 6020 and Graduate status. Taught S. Advanced topics in computer-aided manufacturing. Applications of computers to planning and control of manufacturing systems.

ME EN 7060 Fatigue and Creep Considerations in Design (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught F of even years.* Failure modes of fatigue and creep, statistics, and probabilistic modeling. Design of metals, alloys, polymers, ceramics, and composites; mechanical and structural component analysis using safe-life, fail-safe, damage-tolerant, and residual-life concepts. Design methods.

ME EN 7070 Tribology and Corrosion Considerations in Design (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Tribology and corrosion considerations for improved mechanical/structural design; surface topography, friction of metals, polymers, ceramics, and composites; wear and abrasion; kinetics of corrosion processes and design considerations.

ME EN 7100 Advanced Ergonomics: Occupational Biomechanics (3)

Instructor's consent. Prerequisite: Instructor consent or ME EN Graduate status. Recommended Prerequisite: ME EN 1300 and 2400 and one of 5100 or 6100. Taught S of odd years.* Application of engineering statics and dynamics in determining biomechanical stresses on humans in the work environment; anthropometric measurement methodologies; determination of physiological stresses during work.

ME EN 7105 Advanced Ergonomics: Occupational Biomechanics Laboratory (1)

Instructor's consent. Laboratory. Prerequisite: Instructor consent or ME EN graduate status. Recommended Prerequisite: ME EN 1300 and 2400 and one of 5100 or 6100. Taught S of odd years.* Empirical evaluation of biomechanical and physiological stresses on humans in the work environment.

ME EN 7110 System Safety (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN Graduate status or instructor consent. Recommended Prerequisite: ME EN 5110 or 6110. Taught S of even years.* Systems safety techniques for accident prevention and for quantification of hazards inherent in machines and person/machine systems. Preliminary hazard analysis, failure mode and effects analysis, fault tree analysis.

ME EN 7120 Musculoskeletal Functional Anatomy for Engineers (3)

Prerequisite: graduate status in engineering and instructor consent. Taught S of even years.* This course is intended to familiarize mechanical engineers and bioengineers with the structure and function of the human musculoskeletal system. Lectures are followed by laboratory cadaver dissection dealing with specific musculoskeletal structure discussed in the lecture. Topics include functional anatomy of the anterior abdominal wall, hip/upper leg, hand/wrist/elbow, shoulder/arm, ankle/foot, back, and knee. The class will also include general biomechanical modeling of some joints. Special emphasis will be placed on ergonomic concerns, particularly to the distal upper extremity, shoulder, and low back.

ME EN 7200 Nonlinear Controls (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 6210 or 5210 and ME EN Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* The modeling, analysis, and control of nonlinear systems are discussed.

ME EN 7210 Optimal Controls (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 6210 or 5210 and ME EN Graduate status. Taught F of even years.* Optimization of systems using variational calculus and simulation techniques is discussed.

ME EN 7220 Advanced Control Design (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 6210 or 5210 and ME EN Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.* Current topics in the area of control design are discussed. The subject areas depend on the interest of the instructor and students.

ME EN 7230 Advanced Robotics (3)

Cross-listed as CP SC 7310. Prerequisite: ME EN 6310 and either ME EN 6220 or 5220. Taught S of odd years.* Covers the kinematics, dynamics, and control of robotic manipulators. Projects controlling robots will be an integral part of the course.

ME EN 7400 Advanced Dynamics, Vibrations, and Wave Propagation (3)

Prerequisite: One of ME EN 5400 or 6400 and one of 5410 or 6410 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years. LaGrange methods and Euler's equations, Hamilton's principle. Free and forced vibration of single- and multi-degree of freedom systems. Free and forced vibration of strings, beams and membranes. Traveling and standing waves, reflection, and generation of waves.

ME EN 7500 Engineering Material Science: Fatigue and Creep (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3300 and Graduate status. Taught F of even years.* Mechanical properties of materials relating mechanical behavior. and atomic phenomena; topics in elasticity, plasticity, fatigue, and fracture in metals, glasses, polymers, and elastomers. Special problems in thermal, electrical, corrosive, and other material properties relevant to engineering design. Topics in fatigue and creep considerations in engineering materials.

ME EN 7510 Continuum Mechanics: Inelastic Behavior of Solids (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3300 and MATH 3150 and one of ME EN 5500 or 6500 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Introduction to Cartesian tensors, state of stress, kinematics of deformation. General principles of mechanics. Constitutive equations of elasticity, viscoelasticity, plasticity, and fluid mechanics.

ME EN 7520 Theory of Elasticity (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate status and either ME EN 5500 or 6500 or 7510. Taught S of odd years.* Advanced solution techniques to boundary-value problems in two and three-dimensional elasticity; applications to problems of practical importance.

ME EN 7530 Fundamentals of Fracture Mechanics (3)

Prerequisite: One of ME EN 5500 or 6500 or 7520, Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Theory and application of fracture mechanics to design against catastrophic failures in structures. Mechanisms of fracture, stress-intensity factors, elastic and elastoplastic design criteria, fracture toughness, crack propagation, and fatigue; fracture-control plans.

ME EN 7540 Advanced Finite Elements (3)

Prerequisite: Intermediate ME EN status and either ME EN 2600 or CHFEN 2853. Taught S of odd years.* Applications to problems from solid, heat transfer, and fluid mechanics, and advanced elements. Consideration of nonlinear and time-dependent problems.

ME EN 7550 Theory of Plates and Shells (3)

Prerequisite: Graduate status and either ME EN 5500 or 6500. Taught F of even years.* Basics equations of linear thin-plate and shell theory; solutions for plates of specific geometry. Membrane theory for shells of revolution. Shell ending theory, analysis of stresses and deformations.

ME EN 7600 Advanced Thermodynamics (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3600 and MATH 2210 and 2250 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.* Equilibrium thermodynamics, availability analysis, equations of state, thermodynamic property relations, mixtures, multiphase-multicomponent systems, combustion reactions and availability.

ME EN 7610 Nonequilibrium Thermodynamics (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 7600 and Graduate status. Taught F of even years.* Nonequilibrium thermodynamics, conservation laws, and balance equations; second law of thermodynamics and entropy balance; irreversible thermodynamics; review of stability theory; nonequilibrium thermodynamics and hydrodynamic stability; applications to thermodynamic and hydrodynamic processes.

ME EN 7650 Advanced Conduction Heat Transfer (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3650 and Graduate status. Taught F of odd years.* Fourier's law of conduction, heat diffusion equations, analytical and numerical solutions of multiple-dimensional, steady-and unsteady-conduction heat transfer, and approximate solutions of heat conduction problems.

ME EN 7660 Advanced Convection Heat Transfer (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3650 and Graduate status. Taught S. Analytical derivation of laws governing forced convection heat transfer. Laminar tube flows, laminar boundary layer flows, turbulent tube flows, turbulent boundary layers. Principal of superposition, and arbitrarily specified temperature and heat flux boundary conditions. Analytic integral boundary layer solutions. Numerical and analytic differential equation solutions. Natural and mixed convection. Variable properties. High-speed flows.

ME EN 7670 Advanced Radiation Heat Transfer (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3650
and Graduate status. Taught F of even years.* Fundamentals of thermal radiation, radiative properties of solids and gases, radiation exchange between surfaces, gas radiation, combined modes of heat transfer.

ME EN 7700 Fluid Mechanics I (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 3700 and Graduate status. Taught F.
Kinematics of flow, stress, strain rate, and vorticity. Derivation of the governing differential equations. Introduction to potential flows. Exact solutions to the Navier-Stokes equations, creeping flow, and laminar boundary layers.

ME EN 7710 Fluid Mechanics II (3)

Prerequisite: ME EN 7700 and Graduate status. Taught S of even years.* Introduction to the stability of viscous flows. Turbulent boundary layers, jets wakes, and mixing layers.

ME EN 7720 Turbulent Flows and Mixing (3)

Prerequisites: graduate level fluid mechanics or instructor consent. Taught S of odd years.* Course covers basic theory and description of turbulent flows and turbulent mixing processes: Statistical analysis, scaling analysis, and equilibrium range theories. Course covers modeling of turbulent flows, including k-e and Reynolds stress modeling, a variety of stochastic models for turbulent scalar mixing, and large eddy simulation. Physically based descriptions of turbulent flows from both experimental observation and direct numerical simulation are included.

ME EN 7800 Advanced Energy Systems I (3)

Prerequisite: Intermediate ME EN status and either ME EN 2600 or CHFEN 2853. Taught S of even years.* Introduction to advanced energy systems utilizing chemical and nuclear fuels and solar-based energy. Assessment of thermodynamic, chemical, and physical factors.

ME EN 7810 Advanced Energy Systems II (3)

Prerequisite: Intermediate ME EN status and either ME EN 2600 or CHFEN 2853. Taught S of odd years.* Recent developments in advanced energy systems with emphasis in fuel resources, environmental impacts, risk assessments, regulatory aspects, and economic issues.

ME EN 7960 Special Topics (1 to 3)

Special Topics. Prerequisite: Graduate standing required. Taught as needed. Contemporary problems in Mechanical Engineering.

ME EN 7970 Ph.D. Dissertation (1 to 6)