| Mechanical Engineering

 
ME 416/516

Instructor

Nader D. Ebrahimi (please follow this link for my contact information)

Schedule

UNM is offering this course as an "online" course. As such, except for three (3) semester exams, there are no live (synchronous), required class meetings.

Office Hours and  Appointments

Since this course is offered through the Extended University, traditional office hours are not set. I may be contacted by e-mail, however. Additionally, students who may have questions on the homeworks are offered a "Flipped Classroom" session on most Friday afternoons (12:00-1:00 PM) throughout the semester.

Announcements

Course updates, announcements, etc. will be sent to your primary UNM e-mail address. For this reason, it is important that you check your UNM e-mail Inbox on a very regular basis.

Assignments

Assignments will be given regularly.

Important note: Working diligently on assignments constitutes the best path toward doing well in exams (and, therefore, receiving a good grade in the course). It is the responsibility of the students to make sure that they gain a high level of competency with the subject through the homeworks.

Prerequisites
UNM Catalog Page:

http://catalog.unm.edu/catalogs/2019-2020/courses/ME/416-516.html

A basic knowledge of Matrix Operations and elementary Linear Algebra is expected. Students who have never taken Linear Algebra are strongly encouraged to first complete MATH 314 or 321 before taking ME 416/516. Both of these Math courses can count as acceptable graduate courses for the MSME or as a Math Elective towards the BSME. The knowledge of this subject is necessary in a large majority of graduate and upper level undergraduate ME courses.

Topical prerequisites: Undergraduate Dynamics (ME 306 @ UNM) and Vibrations (ME 357 @ UNM); Ordinary Differential Equations (MATH 316 @ UNM).

A high level of proficiency is required in the above subjects. Students who feel deficient should review their previous (undergraduate) Dynamics, Vibrations, & Ordinary Differential Equations courses.
Additional Information Regarding Prerequisites: Students who have received their BSME degree at UNM automatically satisfy all three of the prerequisites mentioned above (ME 306, 357, MATH 316), since all three of these courses are required for the BSME.

UNM Registrar's Office, however, does not check/enforce the prerequisites for graduate courses (such as ME 516); the registered graduate students are held responsible for self-enforcement of the prerequisites.

If, at any point, it is discovered that a student does not have the correct prerequisites, the instructor reserves the right to dis-enroll the student from the class. (This is a campus-wide academic policy/practice.)

Exams

 Logistics

  1. Nature of exams: quantitative and concept-type
  2. Range of coverage: all home works (and their supporting material) that are due before the day of exam
  3. Closed-book, closed-notes
  4. One sheet of notes (8.5 × 11.0 in., only one side) and calculators are allowed
  5. Cell phones, laptops, tablets, smart watches, and all other similar electronic communication devices are not allowed

Point Accumulation and Grades

Percent contributions of semester exams and homeworks towards the total grade:

  •      15%: Home-works (subject to availability of funds and qualified personnel for grading)
  •       85%: Three (3) Semester Exams (equally weighted)

Grades will be curved.

Note to ME 416 students: this course is one of the options of the ME Graduate Core courses at UNM. As such, it is intended mainly as a Graduate course. Undergraduate students who choose to take this course are treated the same way as graduate students.

Textbook

Your textbook will be available through the UNM Bookstore or online booksellers, such as Amazon (usually at a reduced cost).

Textbook Specs

Principles of Dynamics, Second Edition
Author: Donald T. Greenwood

ISBN-10: 0137099819
ISBN-13:  9780137099818

Publisher: Prentice-Hall (Pearson)
Copyright: 1987

Lecture slides will also be made available (in electronic form) to all registered students. 

Computational Software

It is very appropriate (and in many cases, necessary) to make use of your scientific calculator and/or commercially available software (such as Matlab) in carrying out complex or tedious calculations. Examples of this type of calculations include (but not limited to): Plots, Eigen-problems, Matrix Inversions, Systems of Algebraic Equations, Differential Equations, Integration, Symbolic Manipulation, etc. Matlab is available to all registered students at UNM. For a tutorial on Matlab, please visit The MathWorks. Similarly, for a tutorial on Mathematica please CLICK HERE. The UNM Mathematics and Statistics Department has also produced a tutorial that may be useful.

Web-based Instructional Support

This resource is available only to registered students; access will be provided at the beginning of the semester (see your UNM e-mail “Inbox” when the semester starts). You will be provided with course e-handouts as well as supplemental material.

Outline of Contents
  1. Introductory Concepts
  2. Kinematics of A Particle
  3. Dynamics of A Particle
  4. Dynamics of A System of Particles
  5. Lagrange's Equations





Learn about UNM Learn		 Activities of this class will be conducted via the UNM Learning Management System (LMS) referred to as "UNM Learn."

Extensive information about how to use the Learn system is available to you through the following page:

http://online.unm.edu/help/learn/students/

Please make sure that you are familiar with this system before starting your actual (academic) course activities.