Mechanical Engineering module details
Engineering Business Environment and Research Methods
The engineering business part of this module is to enable students to understand and reflect upon the role of business in a rapidly changing, globalised world. It identifies opportunities and threats for industry arising from environmental policy, legislation and societal change, and explores how businesses respond to future environmental challenges: for example, through supply chain management, logistics, life -cycle analysis, green accounting and carbon trading. Challenging questions are asked such as: can industry be a positive force for good? How do businesses learn and adapt to new challenges and economic models? This module benefits practitioners in industry, and future academics exploring the sustainability of engineering businesses.
The module also teaches students self-direction, and originality in problem solving. The research methods and associated study skills parts of the module provide students with the skills to successfully complete a research project.
Advanced Materials, Structures and Design
The module is designed to provide the students with the opportunity to gain an in-depth understanding of the overall topical area of composite materials including their properties, manufacturing, analysis and design. The module focuses on manufacturing methods, structure- composition-properties relationship, micro-mechanical modelling and application of composite materials.
The module objectives are: to develop students’ in-depth understanding of the manufacturing and processing characteristics of composite materials; to develop students’ ability in analysing engineering problems involving composite materials for sustainable mechanical design; to develop students’ analytical and practical skills in micro-mechanical modelling of composite materials to predict fracture and failure; and to consolidate students’ understanding and mastering of composite materials processing and selection and their applications in engineering.
The aim of this module is giving appropriate pathways to the students about types of failures which occur in materials. The students will be able to use their previous knowledge that they have obtained from undergraduate relevant modules.
Advanced Mechanical Engineering
The objective of this module is to present advanced topics in applied thermodynamics, combustion and heat transfer. Students will acquire skills to solve engineering problems in these fields using both analytical and computational methods. The module covers the following areas: Steady state heat transfer including conduction in plane walls with heat generation and related industrial applications, Advanced convective heat transfer, heat exchangers analyses, Radiation heat transfer, Thermodynamic relations Combustion, Analysis of linear systems, introduction to dynamics of nonlinear system, modal analysis and identification of system models and more.
Resource Efficient Design and digital manufacturing
The aim of this module is to provide students with an understanding of resource efficient design in both industrial and non-industrial contexts. Design will be seen to relate to both product and process, while resource efficiency will be interpreted as the ability to ‘design out’ waste and ‘design in’ the efficient use of natural resources. Industrial systems will be viewed as a subset of the examined processes. The module will introduce students to a whole systems perspective to the design process as well as energy management techniques and circular economy principles applicable to manufacturing. It will encourage students to analyse each stage of the life cycle of products or processes in terms of their impacts on resource use and how these impacts can be identified and mitigated.
Discussions will consider the roles of designers, manufacturers, and users in addressing the challenge of moving towards more sustainable consumption and production. A number of different approaches to designing more resource and energy efficient products, processes, services and systems will be explored, and students will have the opportunity to assess the strengths and weaknesses of these different approaches across various design and industrial systems contexts. Through practical activities, and the use of case studies, students will develop the skills and expertise necessary, at each stage of the design process, to effectively facilitate and manage resource efficient design and sustainable manufacturing.
Individual Project
This module merges two previously distinct modules, Dissertation (for non-engineering courses) and Individual Project (for engineering courses). As it will cover a great diversity of courses, it will be delivered as a team effort.
The module aims to introduce the student to the discipline of independent research carried out in a restricted timeframe. It will involve self-organisation, application, analysis and presentation of work. The topic will be chosen from a list provided by staff, grouped by discipline, or chosen by the student and agreed with the dissertation supervisor. It must be relevant to the course being taken. The project may involve practical work, or be entirely desktop based. An ethics form will be required with approval but is not marked. The Report should be approximately 10,000 – 15,000 words, reflecting the amount of practical work and the nature of the topic.