CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Department of Mechanical Engineering

Me 96 - Mechanical Measurements Laboratory
Spring 1994

Instructors

R. Murray, 317 Thomas
murray@indra.caltech.edu
Office hours: Thu, 1-3 pm

M. Hunt, 121 Thomas
mlhheat1@cadre2
Office hours: Mon, 1-3 pm

Lab Assistant

Jonathan Ma, 009 Thomas
jma@robby, x3214

Teaching Assistants

Bob Behnken, 2lt@indra (mechanical systems)
Lucky Benedict, lben@cco (fluids, thermal)
Asif Khalak, asif@indra (compressor)
Ashok Tripathi, tripathi@cco (fluids, thermal)

Organization of the course

ME 96 is a one quarter course devoted to mechanical engineering experiments in the areas of fluid mechanics, heat transfer, combustion, dynamics and vibrations. Currently there are seven experiments that can be performed. Each student must do three experiments within the quarter. All students work in groups of three. Lab time will be scheduled so that TA's can be present while students are working on their experiments. In addition to scheduled lab times, students are allowed to work on the experiments at other times. A signup sheet will be available in the lab to avoid conflicts with the use of equipment. Each experiment will take three weeks to complete. The basic schedule is as follows:

• Week 1
  Plan the experiment, review the theory relevant to the experiment, make preliminary calculations and worksheets, construct numerical programs for data analysis, become familiar with the equipment and computers used in the experiment, and do any necessary reading.
• Week 2
  Perform the experiment and do preliminary data reduction. It may be helpful to plot the data while in the lab to check for grossly incorrect data or needed additional data at the time of the experiment.
• Week 3
  Perform calculations on data and write report.

All students should be in the laboratory during the first and second weeks of each experiment. The first week of the experiment is particularly important since the TA will introduce the experiment and describe the apparatus. Details of the what should be included in the lab report are given in a separate handout. The calendar for the term is as follows:

    Experiment 	    Begin	End	    Report due
    ----------	    -----	---	    ----------
    Number 1 	    4 April 	22 April    25 April
    Number 2 	    25 April 	13 May      16 May
    Number 3 	    16 May	3 Jun       6 June*

*Seniors must turn in the lab report for the third experiment on 3 June so that they can be graded in time. The experiments for ME 96 are contained in the following locations:

• 0018 Thomas: all experiments except compressor and inverted pendulum
• 02 Thomas: compressor (only available during scheduled lab periods)
• 06 Thomas: inverted pendulum

The combinations for 0018 Thomas and 06 Thomas will be given in class. Please do not tell the combination to anyone not taking ME 96. Other students needing access to the instructional labs should contact the instructor.

Experiments

A list of experiments will be handed out separately. Students must choose one experiment from each of three basic areas: fluids, heat transfer, and mechanical systems. A sheet will be handed out on the first day of class for students to list their preferences. We will try to accommodate those preferences as much as possible within the bounds placed by the equipment and teaching resources which are available. In addition to choosing experiments in different areas, students must also choose at least one ``introductory'' experiment (to be done as the first experiment) and one ``advanced'' experiment. The introductory experiments are slightly more straightforward and hence the student can concentrate on basic experimental techniques. The advanced experiments are more complex systems and require more familiarity with the basic concepts in measurement.

Lectures

There will be a series of one-hour, {\em optional} lectures during the first few weeks of the course. The purpose of these lectures is to provide information which will be helpful in performing the first experiment and writing up the lab report. The following is an outline of the lectures:

      Week 	 Topics
      ----	 ------
       1 	 Organizational meeting 

       2 	 Data acquisition systems: sampling, aliasing filtering 

       3 	 Statistical analysis of data 

       4 	 Bode plots and transfer functions 

Collaboration policy

Full collaboration with other students in the class is allowed in performing experiments and learning the details of how the experiments work (or should work). All data used in the final lab report must be obtained by your own lab group. Parts of the final report are to be written individually and other parts can be written as a group. This is described in detail in the handout on lab reports. Everything that is turned in for the course should reflect your understanding of the experiment and the data you have collected.

Grading

The final grades will be based on:

• Laboratory reports: 85%
  As described in the handout concerning the format of the laboratory report, some parts of the report can be written as groups and some parts must be written individually.
• Laboratory notebook: 15%
  All students must keep a lab notebook to record their experimental data and observations. This should be turned in at the end of the quarter, with the final lab report.

Lab reports will be graded on a 100 point scale. {\em Late lab reports will not be accepted} without prior permission from the instructor.