Abstract:

Mechanics of Materials includes subjects that are common to several engineering courses: mechanical, civil, materials, biomedical engineering amongst others. These subjects vary in complexity, from fundamental theory to advanced structural modelling. Common educational procedures are based on problem solving. However, there is the interest to strengthen higher levels of educational objectives, such as analysis, synthesis and evaluation. For that purpose a competitive design exercise was developed intended for support in the teaching of Mechanics of Materials. The tools presented are intended to be used with numerical analysis and experimental validation. The scope of areas covered includes: material testing and elastic properties; beam analysis and section design; stiffness analysis; and numerical simulation using finite element method. The competitive exercise consists on the design of a beam section within prescribed design parameters (global dimensions, material, span). The students work in groups designing and building the beams using additive manufacturing. The different specimens are then tested being defined parameters such as specific stiffness and specific strength for the definition of the best design. The implementation of the competitive exercise is still closely linked with the basic principles of Mechanics of Materials although numerical simulation tools are used for final validation. In this paper the exercise and associated tools are described and feedback from the students is presented.

Keywords:

Mechanics of Materials, Engineering Education.