MAE 4140 - Mechanics of Lightweight Vehicles

Fall. 3 credits.

Prerequisites: MAE 2120, MAE 3250, and MAE 3272 or equivalent; senior standing in MAE. Co-meets with MAE 4141.

Staff.

Covers fundamentals of vehicle mechanics for several classes of vehicles (bicycles, light cars, airframes). Topics include types of vehicle structures; pertinent aspects of mechanical behavior including elastic and inelastic responses; static and dynamic behavior of vehicles under elastic loading; and mechanics of crashworthiness. Lectures cover essential background material for understanding of vehicle mechanics. Labs provide hands-on experiences in the major components of the course.

Outcome 1: Perform analyses of the mechanical responses of tubular and semimonocoque vehicle structures under static and dynamic loadings.

Outcome 2: Perform bound analyses of the inelastic collapse behavior of vehicle structures associated with crashworthiness.

Outcome 3: Conduct experiments to measure the collapse of vehicle structures, the mechanical response of vehicle structures under static and oscillatory loading, and the mechanical properties of materials used to build vehicle structures.