The art and science of making things light¶
Reducing the weight of components and structures is crucial across various industries, where energy efficiency, low weight, and minimal material consumption are essential for success.
Lightweight design is the art and science of making things as light as possible. However, optimizing for low weight introduces additional challenges: engineers must ensure that performance in terms of safety, reliability, and durability is maintained as design and engineering become increasingly complex, including the use of advanced finite element analysis.
This field often involves the extensive use of composite materials and laminated structures, which adds further complexity to both design and analysis. Consequently, a significant portion of this course is dedicated to fiber-reinforced composites, laminates, and sandwich structures.
Lightweight design extends however beyond merely selecting and utilizing lightweight materials. In many cases, material substitutions without a comprehensive, holistic design or redesign process may result in only minor weight savings at a disproportionately high cost.
