25.353 - Computer Aided Engineering Design and Analysis
Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering
The University of Manitoba
Spring 2005
Introduction
This course provides an introduction to the state-of-the art techniques commonly used in mechanical design and analysis of structural systems. Students will learn basics of computer graphics, 2-D and 3-D geometric modeling, and fundamentals of finite element analysis. Upon completion of this courser, the students are expected to understand the fundamental technologies of computer aided design (CAD) and analysis, and be proficient with a state-of-the-art CAD and CAE software tool.
Instructor: Prof. Gary Wang
Office: Room 455B, Eng. Bldg.
E-mail:
Schedule: Lecture: L01, Term 2, Slot 14 (Tuesday and Thursday 2:30 -3:45 p.m.)
Labs: Slot 20, 22, 24, 26 (8:30 ~11:30 a.m. Mon.-Thurs.)
Class Location: Room 207, Buller Bldg.
Laboratory Location: Room 217, Eng. Bldg.
Lab Manager: Kim Majury (, 474-7044, Room 332A, Eng. Bldg.)
Credit Hours: 3
Office Hours: Tuesday and Thursday mornings 9:30 – 12:00 p.m.
TAs: Fang Li (, Room 413, Eng. Bldg.)
Xiaoyun Liao ( , Room 426, Eng. Bldg.)
Dapeng Wang (, Room 413, Eng. Bldg.)
Panita Pirompak (, Room 413, Eng. Bldg.)
Tingting Li (, Room 215, Eng. Bldg.)
Course Notes:
Wang, G., 025.353 Computer Aided Design and Analysis Course Notes, UM bookstore, October 2002.
Lab Manual:
Wang, G., Tutorials for Matlab and Pro/Engineer Wildfire 2.0: 025.353 Computer Aided Design and Analysis Laboratory Manuals:, UM bookstore, December 2004.
References in the Engineering Library:
1. Zeid, I., CAD/CAM Theory and Practice, McGraw-Hill, Inc., 1991.
2. Adams, V., and Askenazi, A., Building Better Products with Finite Element Analysis, Onword Press, 1999.
Other references:
3. Lee, K., Principles of CAD/CAM/CAE Systems, Addision Wesley, 1999.
4. Singh, N., System Approach to Computer-Integrated Design and Manufacturing, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1996.
5. Logan, Daryl L. A First Course in The Finite Element Method, 2nd edition, PWS-KENT Publishing Company, 1993.
Course Web: http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/engineering/mech_and_ind/prof/wang/index_files/25.353/index.html
Expected Learning Outcomes
- An understanding of the three basic Computer Aided Design (CAD) technologies
§ Geometric transformation and projection
§ Geometric entity generation
§ Solid modeling
- The ability of modeling mechanical components using Pro/Engineer
- An understanding of the finite element analysis (FEA)
- The ability of using Pro/Mechanica to perform structural analyses
- Increased ability of self-learning — so that you can continuously learn new things in your life
- Improved ability to define and solve an engineering problem individually as well as in a team setting
- Increased skills to communicate technical information orally and in writing
- Satisfaction and enjoyment through struggling, cooperation and assistance
Why I hope you will value these outcomes
025.353 is a course designed to allow you intelligently use Computer Aided Design (CAD) and analysis (CAE) tools to help solving engineering problems. It becomes a common practice of using these tools in today’s manufacturing industries, simply because these tools allow companies deliver higher quality products to customers (Better), in a much shortened time (Quicker) and at a lower cost (Cheaper).
Besides the software training, the CAD theories will
· Distinguish you, an engineer, from a software operator, when it comes to challenging design issues or interaction with other functional departments such as manufacturing.
· Help you intelligently model/modify a product.
· Enable you choose the right software tool for your employer, and make the most use of the tool for your company.
Even though a non-engineer can use a CAD tool to create good pictures, the Finite Element Analysis (FEA) demands sufficient engineering training and expertise. A good finite element analyst has to be an engineer! In this course, theory is interlaced with practice. Gaining the understanding and a certain degree of proficiency with the CAD and FEA tools, namely in this course Pro/Engineer and Pro/Mechanica, you will have an edge of being employed right after your school!
The increased ability of self-learning, problem solving, team working, and communication will be gained mainly from the labs and the course project. These abilities have long term values to any person, especially important to engineers. Knowledge will update but abilities last forever.
Last but not the least, I hope you will gain satisfaction and enjoyment from this course. Struggling is almost certain; but I and my TAs are here to help you. Perseverance will lead you to success!
Teaching philosophy
Respect means that we should hold one another in high regard simply because we are all unique. It means that I will respect your questions, use your time as well as I can in the class, and respect your right to live outside the class. In turn I will expect you to treat me and one another with respect. We might disagree and argue; but respect for one another must always underlie the disagreement. Our purpose here is to help one another to learn, and not to take out our frustrations or dump on one another if we’ve had a bad day. Respect is promoted by reminding oneself to enter the classroom after first checking any negative mental baggage at the door.
Responsibility means that I have responsibility to provide solid content, good learning exercise, to nurture a healthy learning atmosphere, and to provide what you need to succeed. There are no dumb questions. You are encouraged to ask questions as often as necessary during lectures, labs, and office hours. Responsibility is also a two-way street. It means that you need to attend classes as faithful as possible, do assigned work as well as possible, read as carefully as possible, be an active participant in nurturing a good learning atmosphere, and to ask for what you need. There is such a thing as “good teaching practice,” but none of the teaching methods produces learning. Students taking ultimate responsibilities for their own motivation and actions are what produces learning.
Participation means that you have to “do” or “play with” it. The education study shows that in good-faith attempts to learn we generally obtain 10% of what we read, 70% of what we say, and 90% of what we teach or do (R. Pike, Creative training techniques handbook, tips, tactics and how-to’s for delivering effective training, Lakewood Books, Minneapolis, 1989). You are encouraged to participate actively in class and be playful in the lab. For instance in the lab, after you model a part following the instruction of the tutorial, try to play with modeling the same part or a similar part without looking at the tutorial. You learn a lot from playing and from your mistakes.
Assessment
We will assess this course based on meeting clear outcomes — as given in this syllabus. The final grade will break down as follows (Lab descriptions are in the course Laboratory Manual. (Which option you prefer, A, B, or C?)
A B C
Four Assignments and Lab 1 (Using Matlab to generate an engineering drawing) 10 15 15
Lab 2 , Lab 3 (Modeling, Drawing, Assembly), and Lab 4 (FEA) 5 10 5
Midterm 10 0 0
Participation (attendance and class participation) 5 5 5
Project[1] Product modeling and analysis using Pro/Engineer 30 30 25
Final Examination[2] 40 40 50
Assignments/Labs
The students will be required to complete all assignments and labs on time. Assignments are normally due in a week. The due date for the labs is, respectively, at the end of the last lab session dedicated for that lab. Specific due date for each assignment or lab will be announced in the class and posted in the course web-page. Late submission will subject to a penalty of 20% reduction per day (including weekend) of the total assignment mark. Under extreme situations with convincing proofs, the penalty will be waived.
Marking
Normally assignments and labs will be marked by TAs. Among the labs, a report for Lab 1 is to be submitted and be marked according to the lab report format described in the Lab Manual. Necessary Pro/Engineering models, drawings, and other graphical outputs will be checked by TAs on computer in the laboratory sessions. No report is required for other labs. The marking done by TAs will be randomly checked in seek of teaching feedback. Project reports and the formal exams will be marked by the instructor.
For the project alone, 30% goes to the oral presentation and 70% to the final report. The oral presentation will be marked by professional engineers from the industry.
In general, I consider my role as a teacher is to help you learn and improve rather than to simply judge your work. This philosophy can be well manifested by the evaluation of the labs and the project. For the labs, TAs will make sure that you grasp the lab before they give you credits for the lab. Thus everybody is expected to get a full mark for the labs 2-5.
Teamwork
Assignments should be done independently and submitted individually; labs normally should be performed and/or submitted by a group of two; projects should be done by a group of four. Lab teams are formed by yourselves before the end of Week 2, bearing in mind that all the team members should be able to attend the same lab session.
In principle, project teams are a combination of two lab teams who attend the same lab time slot. Detailed adjustments will be worked out by one of my TAs. If team members don’t get along well, you should report to the instructor as soon as possible after you have tried your best to compromise. Normally all the team members will get the same mark for the project. But if more than half of the team members propose to have a peer evaluation, such an evaluation will be done and the marks for team members will be prorated to individual contributions.
Participation
Class attendance is important as it is most likely a much more efficient way of learning than self-studying. A lot of information conveyed, or sometimes implied, by the instructor cannot be learned from the textbook. The level of interactions with the instructor and your classmates cannot be remedied otherwise. In addition, handouts, important announcements, and other activities can only be best done in class. I will pass around sign-up sheet for some lectures in random. According to the university calendar, if one misses more than 10% of all lectures, he/she may be excluded from the final examination. Participation does not only mean attendance. Moreover, it means your participation in class discussions and other activities, active thinking, asking thoughtful questions, and so on.
Exams
Exam questions will be based on materials presented during class sessions, assignments, and laboratories. There will be a review sheet distributed at the review session scheduled before each exam. There will be no “ambushes” in the exams.
Lab management
To ensure a safe and functioning CAD laboratory (Room 217), you are not allowed to delete any files without the permission of the instructor or the lab manager. You are only allowed to save your files under the directory C:\25.353. You should prepare a floppy disk; save all your work to the disk after each lab session since the C:\25.353 directory might be unintentionally erased. The file types that you need to save to your disk in this course are listed as follows: *.prt, *.drw, *.asm, *.mbk, *.mdb. The CAD laboratory is also a dedicated lab shared with other courses. To allow a maximum use of the CAD tools, any word processing work is not permitted in the lab. You are expected to use general purpose computer labs for report editing, presentation preparation, etc.
Coming to class late
I know you will sometimes be late even with your best intentions. In that case, you won’t receive sarcastic or humiliating comments when entering. When you do arrive late, enter quietly as possible and check with me after class for any handout or critical information you may have missed.
Absences and missed tests and quizzes
If you know that you will have to miss class, let me know as soon as possible. If your absence is unavoidable (documented illness, family emergency, etc.), call me first, then take the time you need, and do not worry. You will be helped and allowed to make up any missed tests or assignments.
If your absence is unexcused, I won’t help you with the missed material; that includes the fact that I will not produce make-up tests or assignments for an unexcused absence. This is not to “punish” those who choose not to attend class; it is a rule because it simply isn’t feasible to place any teacher on the schedule of their individual students and expect the teacher to succeed in their careers. Make the same commitment to your attendance that you expect from me.
Keeping informed of your grade
Before the final exam, I will post a printout from a spreadsheet at my office door that shows points acquired in each activity and total points accumulated to date. This ensures that your calculations of grades can be checked with what is in my own record (yes, professors can have typos in recording your grade). Keep all your returned graded exams, assignments, and lab files in a safe place. So you have a record that you can use to verify any problem in record keeping.
Miscellaneous
This syllabus is for student and instructional planning. It will be followed as closely as possible, but will only serve as a guideline.
If you are a student with proof of a documented disability please feel free to discuss this with me in confidence as soon as possible.
Students are responsible to know the university policies documented at the University of Manitoba. I refer to the UM Calendar for voluntary withdrawal and plagiarism and for other related regulations as well.
A Final WELCOME, and THANK YOU for choosing to join us! We’ll learn and have fun doing it!
6
[1] "Satisfactory" work can earn 80 percent of the grade. The rest 20 percent of the grade will be rewarded to creative work.
[2] Grades will be posted by student numbers. You may ask not to have your grade posted at the beginning of the course.