Computer Aided Instruction Of Fundamental Mechanics Courses Using Matlab

Fundamental mechanics courses including statics, dynamics, strength of materials, and design of machine elements are typically taught for engineering students in lecture and discussion format using traditional techniques. These fundamental mechanics courses are mostly involved with many time-intensive engineering calculations and analysis procedures, eliciting tedium, complexity, and computational burden. A couple of MATLAB toolboxes have been developed over many years for these courses. They include Equilibrium Toolbox (EQT) for 2D & 3D vector and equilibrium analysis of particles, rigid bodies and structures, and Mechanical Design Toolbox (MDT) for stress analysis and design of various mechanical components. The toolboxes are written in MATLAB by taking advantage of its user-friendly interactive graphic user interface, multiple document interface and compilation capabilities into windows application programs for easy deployment with four rationales in mind − simplicity, computational efficiency, flexibility, and convenience. They are not just intended to replace hand calculations like some textbook specific programs but to learn various analysis procedures in step-by-step interactive tutorial fashion and to conduct large-scale design simulations for openended design problems. A couple of pilot studies were conducted with students at various levels to test the effectiveness of the toolboxes in teaching and learning the fundamental mechanics courses. It is suggested that use of such toolboxes in laboratory setting would be most effective. This paper will present experiences how the toolboxes have been developed and how they are efficiently used in teaching and learning the fundamental mechanics courses.