CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING 413
MODERN EXPERIMENTAL MECHANICS

Catalog description

This course covers the principles and application of experimental methods for measurement and determination of deformation, stresses, and failure of materials and structures. Methods discussed include strain gages, photoelasticity, moiré, interferometry, fiberoptic methods, and digital image correlation. Laboratory experiments accompany the lectures.

Prerequites: CEE 216, CEE 415 (desirable)

Who takes it

This course is an important complement to other courses dealing with analytical and numerical methods. Students in Civil and Environmental, Mechanical, and Biomedical Engineering, as well as Materilas Science and Engineering take this course.

What it is about

Learn the underlying principles and application of experimental methods for measuring deformation, determining stresses, and characterizing failure of materials and structures.

Course Outline:

• Introduction
  • Basic elasticity
  • Elementary fracture mechanics
  • Measurement of fracture toughness
• Strain Gage Methods
  • Strain gage circuits
  • Strain gage instrumentation
  • Application to determination of residual stresses
• Basic Optics; Photoelasticity
  • Stress-optic law
  • Two-dimensional photoelasticity
  • Birefringent coatings
• Moiré Methods
  • Geometric moiré
  • Applications
• Diffraction Theory: Interferometry
  • Fourier processing
  • Moiré interferometry
  • Holography
  • Speckle interferometry
• Digital Image Correlation

Assessment/Evaluation:

Regular homework assignments and laboratory reports. A mid-term exam. Term project presentation.

Contact:

Professor: Isaac M. Daniel
e-mail: imdaniel@northwestern.edu
Phone: 847-491-5649
Fax: 847-491-5227