Non-traditional Use of Computer Simulation “My Solar System” in Inquiry-based Teaching

Teaching method plays crucial role affecting students’ motivation to learn physics. There are many innovative strategies for teaching physics. One of them is inquiry-based teaching. Investigative approach in physics teaching is very effective tool that gives students the opportunity to try their self-procedures used by scientists in investigation of the real problems. The appropriate object of examination can be an interactive computer simulation. The simulation “My Solar System” developed in University of Colorado Boulder was used for this purpose. Students of grammar school were invited to examine this own "pocket universe". The program simulates movement of 2 – 4 gravitationally bound bodies. The students can measure position, velocity and mass of the bodies versus time. The paper describes step by step how to work with students. The students’ activities and obtained skills are described

Investigation of local mechanical properties of Al-Cu-Li alloys by acoustic microscope

The reflected scanning acoustic microscope was used for investigation of elastic properties of extruded Al-Cu-Li alloys. The local sound velocity and attenuation were measured by the V(z) curve method. The results show strong anisotropy of material due to extrusion of the sample

Evaluating of hyperelastic material behavior

Nowadays one of the most used method able to solve non-linear problems is finite-elemnt method. Mooney-Rivlin is the method describing the behaviour of hyperelastic materials with large elastic (reversible) deformations. The problem with the determining the hyperelastic materials' characteristics is one of the most important factors effecting the accuracy of the calculation result. The material's constants A and B are determined experimentally from the practical tests. This paper shows the possibility how to determinate these materials' characteristics and their verification with help of ABAQUS. The material coefficients of the hyperelastic models can be calibrated by ABAQUS from experimental stress-strain data. The material constants are determined through a least-squares-fit procedure, which minimizes the relative error in stress. We provided experimental data from uniaxial test for chosen material are used to have ABAQUS automatically determine appropriate values of the coefficients