Graduate Courses | Mechanical Engineering

The importance of materials science and engineering and material needs. The relation between structure, properties, and performance of materials' atomic structure, interatomic bonding, crystal structures, and imperfections in solids. Diffusion in solids. Mechanical properties, strengthening mechanisms and failure of materials. Phase diagrams, phase transformations and heat treatment processes. Materials selection and environmental issues.

The design process in the broad context of engineering enterprise, conceptual design including visualization, problem definition, information search, and project planning, intermediate design including modeling and simple analysis, decision making concepts, design documentation, teamwork and communication, use of computer tools in engineering design, case studies and examples from industry, engineering ethics.

Graphical, analytical and computer aided analysis and synthesis of basic mechanism, cam design, analysis and design of gears, gear trains.

Introduction to system concepts, modeling of lumped elements, free response of first and second order systems, forced response of first and second order systems, electrical/electromechanical and fluid systems, frequency response.

Integrated use of mechanical, electrical and computer systems for information processing and control of machines and devices, system modeling, electromechanics, sensors and actuators, signal processing and conditioning.

Second Law analysis of engineering systems, gas power cycles, Vapor and Combined power cycles, Refrigeration cycles, thermodynamic property relations, gas mixtures, gas vapor mixtures and air conditioning, chemical reactions.

Introduction to environmental issues related to engineering. Review of selected multilateral agreements and, in particular, review of the Montreal Protocol and Kigali Amendment with emphasis on compliance strategies and discussion of current status of Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS). Current and future cooling technologies. Green, clean, efficient and climate friendly sustainable cooling. Management of ODS programs, good practices and safety issues.

Fluid Statics, introduction to fluid dynamics, conservation laws, Bernoulli equations, dimensional analysis and similitude, internal viscous flows, introduction to external flows.

Review of the fundamentals of engineering materials including ferrous alloys, nonferrous alloys and super alloys, ceramic materials (structure, applications and processing), composites (divisions, processing, strengthening mechanisms and properties), corrosion and degradation of materials, electrical properties of materials, thermal properties of materials, magnetic properties of materials, optical properties of materials, materials selection and design considerations, economic, environmental, and societal issues in materials science and engineering.

Meaning of design, design considerations, codes and standards, economics, safety, professional ethics, stresses due to Torsion, bending and shear forces (review), stress concentration, beams with asymmetrical sections, stresses in cylinders, press and shrink fits, curved members in flexure, contact stresses, deflection and stiffness (curved members, Castigliano's theorem), buckling, statistical considerations in design, limits and fits, selection of materials in design, fracture and propagation of cracks, design with steady loading (failure criteria), design with variable loading (fatigue and endurance limit, cumulative fatigue damage).

Principles of manufacturing processes including casting, metal forming, material removal, and joining, engineering and economic analysis of manufacturing processes.

Planning, scheduling, and control of projects using project management techniques including PERT and Gantt representations, management of organizations, goal setting, performance review and appraisals, budgeting, leadership and engineering project team building, computer applications of project management software.

Training on the use of computer in preparation of reports and graphs. Theory and Practice of Measurement and Experimental Data Collection. Laboratory Evaluation and Demonstration of Components of the Generalized Measurement Systems and their Effects on the Final Results. Applications of Basic Methods of Data Analysis as well as Basic Instrumentation for Sensing, Conditioning and Displaying Experimental Measurements. Basic Measurements of Physical and Mechanical Properties and Basic Experiments on Motion and on Material Testing.

Review of Newtonian Mechanics in plane motion, motion of rigid bodies in three dimensions, gyroscopic effects, principle of virtual work, D'Alembert's principle, Lagrange's equations of motion, case of impulsive forces, conservation laws, Lagrange's multipliers, variational calculus, Hamilton's principle, Hamilton's equations, Canonical transformations, The Hamilton-Jacobi equation.

Fundamentals of vibratory linear and torsional systems, harmonically excited systems, balancing, whirling of shafts, vibration measuring instruments, transient response of dynamic systems, two degree-of-freedom systems, multi degree-of-freedom systems, introduction to continuous systems, approximate methods, vibration control.

Sound levels, effects of noise, noise control criteria, instrumentation, sources of noise, room acoustics, enclosures and barriers, acoustical materials, vibration control, malfunction diagnosis.

Components of control circuits, feedback, operation, stability, and performance characteristics, cascade and feedback compensation, pole-zero assignment, sensitivity and state- variable feedback, applications in thermal, fluid, air conditioning, automotive and machine tool systems.

Special topics to be selected by the department to reflect interests in special areas of mechanical engineering.

Analysis and performance characteristics of energy conversion systems, based on thermodynamics and fluid flow, fossil fuels, thermodynamics limitations, electrical energy from fossil fuels, thermodynamics limitations, electrical energy from fossil fuels, nuclear energy: fission, solar energy (collectors, photo voltaic solar cells, applications), water, wind and geothermal power (electrodynamic generators), magnetohydrodynamics.

Basic concepts of conduction, convection, and radiation, steady state, one and two dimensional heat conduction, heat transfer from extended surfaces, transient conduction, natural and forced convection with applications for external and internal flows, heat exchangers, black and gray body radiation, shape factors and radiation exchange between surfaces.

Engine overview, two and four strokes engines cycles, fuels and combustion thermochemistry, knocking, spark and compression ignition engines, turbocharging and supercharging, performance and testing, alternative fuels and fuel cells, after-treatment systems, emissions and safety, lubrication, assessments (optimization of fuel economy, energy, friction, etc.), maintenance and reliability, design of thermal systems.

Classification of partial differential equations, numerical techniques for solving fluid dynamics and heat transfer problems, finite difference, finite element, boundary element, and finite control volume methods, numerical solutions of parabolic, elliptic, and hyperbolic equations in fluid dynamics and heat transfer.

Analysis of vapor compression refrigeration systems, air conditioning systems, moist air properties and psychrometric processes, solar radiation, cooling load, space air distribution, fans selection and air duct design.

Mechanical vapor compression refrigeration cycle (single-stage and multi-stage), compressors, condensers, evaporators and metering devices, selection and balancing equipment, absorption refrigeration systems, refrigeration of foods, cold store construction and refrigeration load, refrigeration systems.

Energy conservation measures and energy auditing, energy analysis tools, indoor air quality, building envelope, efficient lighting, fenestration and shading devices, efficient HVAC systems, heat recovery systems, thermal energy storage systems, cogeneration systems, compressed air systems, water management, building energy code.

Nature and availability of solar energy, spectral distribution of solar radiation, solar angles and solar radiation on horizontal and tilted surfaces, transmission through transparent media and absorption by opaque surfaces, flat plate collectors, solar concentrates, solar water heating systems (design using f-chart method), solar cooling systems, energy storage systems, other applications.

The application of the principles of thermodynamics and transport phenomena to the analysis of power plants systems and its component: Special emphasis on the conventional steam power plants, gas turbines power plants, and co-generation power desalting plants used in Kuwait.

The application of the principles of thermodynamics and transport phenomena to the analysis of Desalination systems by distillation (evaporation and condensations) and by membrane processes with special emphasis on the Multi Stage Flash (MSF), and Reserve Osmosis Desalting methods to desalt seawater in combination, conventional steam power plants, gas turbines power plants, and co-generation Power desalting plants used in Kuwait.

Compressible Flow. Unsteady-flow problems. Kinematics of fluid flow. Boundary layer flows. Turbomachines. Fluid Power control

An introduction to chemical thermodynamics, chemical kinetics, reacting systems, detonation and deflagration, laminar and diffusion flames, droplet evaporation and burning, combustor applications and design considerations, pollutant emissions and control.

Propulsion. Elements of Airplane Performance and Design.

Jet Propulsion: Compressible Flow, Shock wave, Sonic, Subsonic and Supersonic speed, Rayleigh and Fanno flow. Jet Engine Components (diffuser, compressor, combustor, turbine and nozzle). Jet Engine performance: Energy and Exergy. Ramjet, turbojet, turbofan and rocket.

Review of properties of engineering materials. Structure and Deformation. Stress-strain relationships. Principles of elasticity, plasticity and viscoelasticity. Failure criteria. Fracture, fatigue and creep. Failure of machine elements.

Principles of reinforcement and matrix materials, mechanics and mechanical properties. failure analysis and strength, design with composites.

corrosion fatigue. Methods of corrosion testing.

Introduction to applied elasticity, thermoelasticity, energy methods, torsion, unsymmetrical bending, failure criteria, shear center, curved beams, beams on elastic foundation, bending of plates and shells, elastic stability.

Material discontinuities, management and evaluation of non-destructive evaluation (NDE), visual inspection and basic test methods, vision and optical sensors, fundamental methods of NDE, liquid penetrant methods, magnetic particle tests, ultrasonic methods (immersion and contact), radiography inspection and other advanced methods of NDE.

A system engineering approach to robotic science and technology, fundamentals of manipulators, actuators, and end effectors, kinematics, control, and programming of manipulators, along with introduction to sensing, perception, pattern recognition and computer vision.

Flywheels.

Use of computers in modeling, simulation and design, introduction to finite element method, optimization techniques, applications in thermal, fluid and mechanical system design.

Fundamentals of industrial automation, numerical control (NC) systems, part programming, robotics in manufacturing, materials handling and automated storage systems, group technology, automated identification and inspection systems, flexible manufacturing systems.

Application of design process through a team project, teams of students experience mechanical engineering design through: problem definition, developing a project plan, gathering available information, generating and evaluating alternative solutions through design analysis and synthesis, prototype construction, testing, and refinement.

Types of maintenance management, planned and scheduled maintenance, maintenance by use of computer, maintenance cost measurement techniques, sensing devices for maintenance diagnoses.

Introduction to Computational Intelligence, types of knowledge-based systems, knowledge acquisition and representation, search strategies and inference process, expert systems, neural networks, and other implementation tools of Computational Intelligence, case studies of Computational Intelligence applications such as robotics, manufacturing, and thermal sciences.

A broad study of condition monitoring of rotating and reciprocating machinery, presenting condition monitoring techniques (vibration, oil, electrical current, thermal, corrosion, manual inspection), emphasis on vibration and signal analysis, data acquisition, recording, sensing, balancing, fault diagnosis and conditioning, case studies, and applications.

Use of simulation to build, analyze, improve, implement and test systems in the service and manufacturing industries, methods for using a simulation language, introduction to statistical aspects to simulation.

Introduction to the field of failure analysis including real-world practical investigations and solutions to actual failure problems with technical products, equipment and systems, product liability issues, failure prevention techniques, remedial design, engineering ethics, the engineer as an expert witness.

The quality function in computer integrated manufacturing, in-depth analysis of control charts and other statistical process control techniques, organization and managerial aspects of quality assurance, attributes and variable acceptance sampling plans.

Experiments, analysis, and writing reports, includes experiments covering the fields of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics and fluid machinery.

Experimental techniques in the study of mechanical vibrations and dynamics of machines, analysis and discussion of experimental results in formal reports.

Experiments, analysis, and writing reports, includes experiments covering the field of heat transfer and air conditioning.

Experimental methods for system identification, control design, and analysis of controlled systems, electrical, hydraulic and pneumatic systems are considered, calibration of sensors, analysis and discussion of experimental results in formal reports.

Vision systems, Image pre-processing, Segmentation, Shape representation and description, Object recognition, Image understanding, 3D vision, Images Transforms and Texture.

Special topics to be selected by the department to reflect interests in special areas in mechanical engineering.

Mechanisms of friction, wear, and lubrication that govern interfacial behavior, applications of basic theories to solutions of friction and wear problems

including bone, muscle, and connective tissues.

Workplace model of occupational safety, safety laws and regulations, definition of occupational injuries and diseases, measurement of hazard potential and safety performance, statistical analysis of safety, safety programs.

Nuclear fission, reactor criticality, reactor power and rating, fuel consumption and burn up, fuel cycles, reactor operation and radiation shielding, conversion, and breeding, fast reactors, nuclear power plants, power generation, heat transfer in nuclear reactors, thermodynamic power cycles, economics of nuclear power plants.

Modes of heat transfer, basic design methods of heat exchangers, classification of heat exchangers, heat transfer and flow friction characteristics, compact, shell-and-tube and plate-type heat exchangers performance analysis, fouling and its effect on the life cycle analysis, maintenance methodology, flow-induced vibration and noise in heat changers.

Principles of airflow and airflow measurement techniques. Industrial process exhaust systems. Selection and design of exhaust hoods (general and specific applications). Make-up and supply air ventilation systems. Dilution ventilation systems. Selection and design of ducts, fans, stacks, and air cleaners. Monitoring and testing of ventilation systems.

systems.

Thermo-Fluid Engineering

The student undertakes an independent project (theoretical and/or experimental) under the supervision of a faculty adviser. The objective is to provide the student with an opportunity to integrate and apply the knowledge gained throughout his/her course of study in an actual problem. The student must document his/her study in a technical report and give an oral presentation of the results.

Review of Newtonian mechanics. The principle of virtual work. D'Alemberts principle. Hamilton's principle. Lagrange's equations of motion. Case of impulsive forces. Conservation laws. Ralyleigh's dissipation function. Hamilton's equations. Motion relative to rotating frames. Rigid body dynamics. Gyroscopic effects. Canonical transformations. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation.

Stress and strain in two and three dimensions. Plane theory of elasticity. Failure theories. Stress concentration. Residual Stresses. Thermal stresses. Contact stresses. Impact loading. Fracture mechanics and design. Fatigue and cumulative damage. Structural instability. Experimental stress analysis. Energy approach and numerical methods. Case Studies.

Lagrange's equations. Response of multi-degree- of-freedom systems. Vibration of continuous systems. Approximate solutions. Introduction to nonlinear vibrations. Introduction to random vibrations. Spectral analysis.

General concepts in the dynamic analysis and design of machines, with reference to machine tools. Structure compliance, integrity, static and thermal deformations, structure design concepts. Drive systems, slides and bearings. Feed drives. Types of control systems; numerical, adaptive and computer control. Steady and dynamic cutting forces. Dynamics of machine tools. Receptance concept. Interaction between cutting and structural response. Machine tool stability. Vibration reduction of machine tools in the design stage and in the field. Design for fabrication by bonding.

Computer Graphics including solid modeling and image synthesis, curve and surface description, 3-D transformations. Use of prepackaged software. Review of optimization techniques: linear, non- linear and dynamic programming. Design applications in mechanical engineering systems.

Mechanical behavior of materials: elastic and plastic behavior, yielding fracture, crack propagation, fatigue, creep. Behavior at low and high temperatures. Engineering properties of metallic and non-metallic materials. Functional requirements of engineering materials. Material selection process, criteria and techniques. Aspects of design for selection. Applications: material selection for springs, fasteners, gears, bearings etc. Material selection for abrasive-wear and corrosion- resistance applications. Case studies.

Component factors in durability and reliability. Reliability concepts and assessments. The performance requirements. Static and dynamic reliability models. Random variables in design. Sampling estimation and confidence. Maintainability down-time and repair-time. Design factors determining down-time. Maintainability prediction. Maintainability and reliability in contracts. Maintenance handbook.

Survey of single-variable unconstrained optimization methods. Multi-variable unconstrained optimization. Single and multi-variable constrained optimization techniques. Applications from mechanical design, vibrations, solid mechanics, and thermal fluid systems.

An upper division of graduate technical elective treating topics in Engineering mostly not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Graduate Program Committee.

Concept of stability. Lejeune-Dirichlet criterion. Nyquist criterion. Routh and Hurwitz criterion. Liapunov second method. Examples from rigid body dynamics. Effects of damping. Gyroscopic effects. Elastic stability under static load: Beam- columns, bars and frames, torsional buckling, buckling of rings, curved bars and arches. Dynamic instability: Divergence and flutter. Instability under nonconservative forces. Examples.

A generalized treatment of the solution of steady and transient heat conduction in finite and infinite regions. Approximate and exact methods of solution of problems involving phase change, variable thermal properties, heat generation, and non-linear boundary conditions. Heat conduction in composite media and in anisotropic solids.

Exact and approximate methods of solution of radiative heat transfer. Heat radiation of black bodies and non black bodies. Radiation between surfaces and through participating and non- participating media. Experimental methods. Radiation heat processes. Radiative properties of surfaces and gases. Multimode heat transfer in thermal systems. Numerical modeling.

Differential forms of the balance laws of mass, linear momentum, and energy, Boundary layer theory, Scale Analysis, Similarity solutions, Forced and free convention in laminar and turbulent, internal and external flows. Analogy between momentum and heat transfer. Heat and mass transfer in compressible flow.

Air-Conditioning systems and their physchrometric process, analysis and performance of direct contact heat and mass transfer exchanges: cooling towers, analysis of extended surface heat exchangers, analysis of cooling coils, air conditioning control.

Analysis and performance characteristics based on thermodynamics and fluid flow of non- conventional energy conversion systems.

Thermodynamics review, Availability, Irreversibility, Entropy creation efficiency and effectiveness. Rankine cycle: Ideal and real cycle, effects of superheating, reheating, feed water heat regeneration, condenser. Fossil-fuel steam generations: water tube boilers, design of natural and forced flow, furnace design with tube walls, evaporators, superheaters, economizers, fans, stacks. Rating of steam generators. Fuels and combustion. Steam turbines: Impulse and reaction turbines, analysis and sizing. Turbine rating methods, turbine losses, gas turbines cycles (simple open, regenerative and cooled), Combined cycle, rating of gas and gas/steam cycles. Condensate- feed water system: Condensers types and designs, feed water heaters types and designs, dearators, make up water. Circulating water systems.

Double-pipe heat exchangers. Shell and tube heat exchanger. Flow arrangements for increased heat recovery in shell and tube exchangers. Gases cooling and heating. Extended surfaces. Condensation of vapors and condensers design. Evaporation and evaporators. Steam generator design: Furnaces, superheaters, economizers, evaporators, cooling towers.

Machinery for vapor compression systems: Compressors (reciprocating, rotary positive displacement and turbo), condensing equipment, evaporators, expansion valves, cooling towers. Equipment design, characteristic and rating methods, equipment matching. Multistage vapor compression systems. Ammonia absorption refrigeration system design and characteristics. Lithium bromide-water absorption system design and characteristics. Steam jet regeneration systems design. Cold storage. Defrosting methods.

Conservation laws and Navier-Stokes equations closed-form solutions of standard viscous flow problems. Boundary layer theory. Ideal-fluid flow equations, potential flow. Elementary flows.

Basic concepts of gas dynamics and gas properties. Subsonic flow. Supersonic flow. Hypersonic flow. Shock-wave phenomena. Dimensional analysis. Experimental techniques and other selected topics.

Characteristics of different types of partial differential equations. Scalar representations of Navier-Stokes equations. Covarient and contravarient base vectors and calculus. Transformation of Navier-Stokes equations from physical space to computational space; Grid generation methods. Numerical methods for inviscid flows. Numerical methods for incompressible viscous flows.

Design of submerged and falling film evaporators. Single and multi-effect desalting systems and component design. Multi-stage flash (MSF) desalting system design. MSF components design (pumps, stages, brine heater, evacuating system,..). Mechanical vapor compression desalting system. Reverse osmosis desalting systems.

An upper division of graduate technical elective treating topics in mostly not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Graduate Program Committee.

Availability analysis. Irreversible Thermodynmics applied to engineering systems. Energy Analysis for power plants, refrigeration systems. Equilibrium and stability of thermodynamics system. General relations.

Fundamentals of manufacturing and automation, production systems (types, analysis, automation, simulation), numerical control production systems (NC, DNC, CNC, ACO, ACC) - industrial robotics (technology-programming, and application in manufacturing systems). Materials handling systems - flexible classification, coding machine cells, workstations, computer control). Control systems (feedback, optimal, sequence control). Computer integrated manufacturing (fundamentals of CAD/CAM computer planning of material process, and capacity) shop floor control and automation-order release, scheduling, identification systems. Computer network.

Stationary crack under static loading. Energy balance fracture mechanisms: Crack initiation and growth. Fracture modes. Stress intensity factors. Fracture toughness. Brittle and ductile fractures. Dynamic crack growth. Fatigue. crack propagation and component's life prediction. Experimental methods. Case studies.

An upper division of graduate technical elective treating topics in Engineering mostly not covered in other courses, chosen at the discretion of the Graduate Program Committee.

Project course for non-thesis students.