Online and Blended Labs for Practical Mechanical Engineering

Lab training is a key element in most engineering education programs in preparation for engineering profession tasks. Universities worldwide are exploring new possibilities and different forms to arrange online and blended labs as an alternative to pure campus training. This study compares online and blended lab setups in four cases of engineering education at European technical universities. The results show that online and blended labs can achieve similar learning outcomes, with blended labs being particularly effective in combining online learning with hands-on elements. Students reported high levels of satisfaction and teachers noted the benefits of online learning environments, but common challenges included ensuring student engagement, increased self-regulation requirements, and the high effort needed to design online or blended environments. The study provides course design guidelines and discusses implications for future research and implementation in universities worldwide

DEVELOPMENT OF A NEW COMPUTATIONAL MATHEMATICS EDUCATION FOR THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING PROGRAM AT

A new computationally oriented mathematics education is presented. The education combines traditional symbolic mathematics with computational mathematics and programming in the Matlab environment. Engineering applications are explored in computational exercises that are taught jointly with the courses in mechanics and thermodynamics

Adaptive discretization of an integro-differential equation with a weakly singular convolution kernel

Abstract. We study a dynamic model for viscoelastic materials based on a constitutive equation of fractional order. This results in an integrodifferential equation with a weakly singular convolution kernel. We discretize in the spatial variable by a standard Galerkin finite element method. We prove stability and regularity estimates which show how the convolution term introduces dissipation into the equation of motion. These are then used to prove a priori error estimates. A numerical experiment is included.

Adaptive discretization of fractional order viscoelasticity using

sparse time histor

The relaxation function in viscoelasticity : classical and non-classical thermodynamically admissible examples

The model of a viscoelastic body is considered focussing the attention on the the kernel of the integro- differential model equation. It represents the relaxation modulus which characterises the response of the material with memory to deformation. An overview on the classical viscoelasticity model is followed by different generalisations. Two different cases of relaxation functions, whose physical admissibility is guarantied by appropriate assumptions, are listed. The first one concerns a relaxation modulus at the initial time t = 0. The second one, a relaxation modulus whose regularity is the weakest possible to guarantee the admissibility of the model. One-dimensional evolution problems are considered, but, when present, references to results in the corresponding three-dimensional ones are provided