Welcome to Diane Peters' website
Statics deals with systems that don't accelerate. In this case, Newton's second law - F = ma - means that the sum of all forces on a body is zero. Likewise, when you leave particles and go into rigid bodies, the sum of all moments (torques) is zero. These simple concepts can be used to calculate forces in some very complex structures and machines. They can also be used to calculate internal forces in components such as beams, which is useful when moving on to solid mechanics.
In DS1, students learn more about modeling and vibrations of dynamic systems. The modeling part of the class includes the use of bond graphs, and in the vibrations portion, they learn about undamped, underdamped, critically damped, and overdamped systems.
The DS1 lab focuses on Matlab and Simulink. In this lab, students learn to work with these industry-standard programs and how to use them to model and study dynamic systems and their behavior.
In DS2, students learn more about dynamic systems, and go beyond merely understanding their behavior and into the control of these systems. Some of the topics covered include frequency response, standard PID controllers, and root-locus.
In the DS2 lab, students get hands-on experience with a physical system. Part of the lab experience includes the use of the Quanser Qube, a system which is controlled using LabVIEW.
In this special topics course, students learn how to apply their MECH 430 knowledge to automotive control systems. Some of the topics covered include driver modeling, cruise control, spark timing, air/fuel ratio control, and other topics relevant to the controls in a modern automobile.
For official course descriptions, see the current course catalog.