Mechanical Engineering Commons^™

Cad For College: Switching To Onshape For Engineering Design Tools, Kate N. Leipold

Presentations and other scholarship

Engineering Design Tools aims to teach students to use industry standard CAD tools in the context of a design and build course. Previous versions of the course have been taught utilizing Creo Parametric. To alleviate install concerns, distributed team work, and the challenges of learning Creo in a short time frame, the class transitioned to utilizing Onshape. To quote the Onshape website - “Onshape is the first CAD system built for teams. Students can work in groups and edit models together simultaneously. Teachers can distribute assignments, review work and give feedback with ease. Additionally, Onshape keeps a complete history of …

Finding Balance In Generative Product Design, Alex Lobos

Presentations and other scholarship

Generative design develops complex forms and structures similar to those found in nature, taking advantage of automated tasks and high-scale computing power. This approach benefits designers in the creation systems that are efficient, resilient and visually engaging. These systems follow specific rules for form generation and meet clear design goals in terms of shape, strength, mass, and other physical attributes.

There is a large number of methods for creating generative systems, based on establishing desired outcomes and behaviors for how components relate to each other. Examples of methods include L-Systems, Shape Grammars, Swarm Intelligence, Form Optimization, Lattice Design, and many …

Efforts To Improve Free Body Diagrams, Kate N. Leipold, Sarilyn R. Ivancic

Presentations and other scholarship

It is frequently noted within the mechanical engineering department that students in Statics, and in following courses, are underperforming in their ability to create well-crafted free body diagrams (FBDs). The instructional faculty were charged to identify pedagogical methods to improve student performance in Statics and the retention of key concepts.

Two novel approaches were implemented over the 2016 academic year.

A pneumonic device to remember the key components of free body diagrams was developed and demonstrated consistently in class. The device is referred to as “The ABC’s of FBD’s”. The first four letters of the alphabet identify an item that …