Last modified: 31 Jul 2023 11:19
This course is one of the key courses for the MSc Advanced Structural Engineering. The aim of this course is to provide students with knowledge and skills of analysis and design of lightweight structures for mechanical, civil, aerospace, automotive and wind energy applications.
| Study Type | Postgraduate | Level | 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Term | Second Term | Credit Points | 15 credits (7.5 ECTS credits) |
| Campus | Aberdeen | Sustained Study | No |
| Co-ordinators |
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Lightweight structures are made of advanced materials and are highly optimised for their performance. Efficient and sustainable building solutions, cheaper and safer air travel, fuel-efficient cars and competitive wind energy are some examples of the impact of recent advances in lightweight structures on our daily life. The course covers the following main topics:
A combination of hands on design and analysis workshops and lectures provide students with an opportunity to put their knowledge and skills into practice and analyse and design a variety of lightweight structures such as airframes, automotive chassis, crash-resisting elements, space structures, fixed and rotary wings and wind turbine blades.
Lightweight structures have applications in a wide range of industries, and analysis and design of these structures require a wide range of skills. A coursework assignment will assess all of the intended learning outcomes. This assignment is carefully designed to include a wide range of lightweight structures and components (design cases) from different engineering sectors. Students will select a design case relevant to their field of study and investigate both the current design and manufacturing practice and the state-of-the-art-of research relating to that component/structure. The objective of the assignment is to develop solutions superior to the current practice or to have some original contributions leading to the development of superior solution in future works. Each design case is accompanied with a list of recently published papers relevant to that case. As a starting point, students need to read these papers as part of their tutor guided independent learning activities, and then spend the entire of independent learning activities and the workshops contact hours towards achieving the objective of the assignment.
Students will be also assessed informally for learning during the workshop sessions. Discussion with tutor and reflection on their performance will allow them to continuously monitor their performance and feed this forward for improvement.
Information on contact teaching time is available from the course guide.
1 Individual design report (50%)
1 Group design report (50%)
Resit
Resit of failed component; the workload of the group project will be adjusted for individual delivery
There are no assessments for this course.
| Knowledge Level | Thinking Skill | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Procedural | Apply | Students will be able to demonstrate critical knowledge of advanced materials used in lightweight structures and the skill of selection of the right material based on a multi-criteria assessment. |
| Conceptual | Understand | Appraise key features of lightweight structures and their applications |
| Procedural | Create | Students will be able to identify design drivers and quality measures and formulate for a given lightweight structure design problem the corresponding optimisation problem towards optimised solutions |
| Reflection | Analyse | Students will be able to identify the best applicable analysis method for a given problem and conduct analytical and numerical analysis as required. |
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