Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Effects Of Computer Simulation And Animation (Csa) On Students’ Problem Solving In Engineering Dynamics: What And How, Seyed Mohammad Tajvidi

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Previous studies have shown that in many fields, computer simulation and animation (CSA) improve students’ learning and problem solving. However, despite the massive body of research on the role of computers in education, little research has been conducted to qualitatively examine how they affect the learning of engineering students. The purpose of this study was to explore how learning and problem solving were affected by computer modules and what similarities and differences existed between computer representations and paper-based examples.

An analysis of collected data, observations of participants’ problem-solving activities, and interviews revealed that computers can enhance students’ analytical thinking, organizing, …

Dnad, A Simple Tool For Automatic Differentiation Of Fortran Codes Using Dual Numbers, Wenbin Yu, Maxwell Blair

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Faculty Publications

DNAD (dual number automatic differentiation) is a simple, general-purpose tool to automatically differentiate Fortran codes written in modern Fortran (F90/95/2003) or legacy codes written in previous version of the Fortran language. It implements the forward mode of automatic differentiation using the arithmetic of dual numbers and the operator overloading feature of F90/95/2003. Very minimum changes of the source codes are needed to compute the first derivatives of Fortran programs. The advantages of DNAD in comparison to other existing similar computer codes are its programming simplicity, extensibility, and computational efficiency. Specifically, DNAD is more accurate and efficient than the popular complex-step …