About the course¶
TMM4175 Lightweight design is a NTNU graduate course for mechanical engineering and material science students. Recommended and expected previous knowledge includes structural mechanics and mechanics of materials corresponding to TKT4116 and TKT4122 as well as basic materials technology such as TMM4100.
The course places a strong emphasis on computational methods and numerical tools, utilizing both Python and the commercial finite element software, Abaqus.
Content¶
- Lightweight design: Introduction to the principles of lightweight design including an overview of important materials for ligthweight design and the basics of materials and shape selection.
- Mechanics of materials: The required fundation for mechanical design including: Stress, Strain, Hooke's law, transformation, thermal aspectes, relevant inelastic behaviors and concepts of material strengths.
- Composites: Emphasizing high performance fiber composites for lightweight design: geometrical aspects, fibers, matrix materials, mechanical properties and failure prediction
- Laminates and sandwich structures: Concepts, laminate theory, failure assessment, optimization, testing and manufacturing.
- Finite element analysis: Overview of general methods as well as particular approches for lightweight design and simulations of composite structures.
- Case studies: A comprehensive set of case studies to support the different topics.
Learning materials¶
The current site serves as the primary resource for learning materials, offering content akin to that found in a textbook that integrates lightweight design principles with theory on composite materials and structures. However, the site's philosophy goes beyond traditional textbooks by providing a comprehensive collection of ready-made codes and numerical examples that illustrate theories and computational procedures. These codes and examples can be easily adapted to support students' own works.
Additional learning materials, including lecture notes and videos can be found on the Blackboard site for the course.
