Fundamentals of Mechanical Engineering University of Technology Sydney - Direct Enroll Program Spring 2023 Semester - Sydney

This subject builds on and brings together the concepts introduced in the Mathematical and Physical Modelling subjects and in Introduction to Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering. It is intended to provide students with a comprehensive overview of elementary mechanics and lay the basis for further work in this area in later subjects. In particular, material discussed in this subject is taken further in Machine Dynamics and Mechanics of Solids subjects in subsequent stages.

Newtonian mechanics depends on the development of a series of increasingly complex models based on Newton?s Laws of Motion. The purpose of this modelling concept is to set up an orderly development that is conducive to mathematical analysis. The methodology relies on diagrammatically isolating a physical entity (or body) from all constraints or contacts with other bodies and replacing these contacts with external forces. This relies on discriminating between what are defined as internal and external forces. The mechanically isolated body is referred to as a free body diagram. It requires a graphical, diagrammatic or visual approach to problem analysis, unlike other analytical systems, which rely on more sophisticated mathematical analysis.

The topics discussed in this subject include equilibrium in 2D plane and 3D space, force vectors, force system resultants, analysis of pin-connected trusses, characteristics of dry friction, equilibrium of rigid bodies subjected to frictional force, shear force and bending moment diagrams, kinematics and kinetics of a particle, rectilinear kinematics, curvilinear motion, force and acceleration, work and energy, impulse and momentum, and the relationships between them. These comprise the basis of a comprehensive course in Newtonian mechanics.