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[cooperrc]

👋 Welcome to Dynamics

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Comment below with how Dynamics simulations or understanding can be used in your career (academic, industry, or fun).

[ZakMatt0802]

Dynamic simulations can help with many aspects of my career, whether it be simulating components moving in an engine, trajectory analysis of debris or, even something for fun like constructing my own trebuchet the use cases are potentially endless.

[mohammadmundiwala]

cool use cases. have you built a trebuchet before? it would be cool to see the impact of fixing the legs/base of the trebuchet vs maybe roller BCs on the distance of the projectile . In my experience, the trebuchet can fall over or at least move quite a bit

[ZakMatt0802]

I have not built one before but I am interested in trying to! I figure that it only makes sense to have one that is readily mobile but implement some sort of stop mechanism to at least keep it in place when throwing materials. Could be a fun simulation to look at.

[mohammadmundiwala]

Advanced dyanmics simulations is certainly useful to my career because my research is interested in vibration of large equipment and machines. I usually use data driven methods for my work but I think a stronger understanding of vibration dynamics could help me expand into physics informed ML problems.

[jhngms]

Hi,

Physics informed machine learning sounds fascinating. Are there any specific equipment/machines you have worked with in your research, or is it more generalized?

[mohammadmundiwala]

ideally the methodology is generalized across equipment. in reality, its rotating equipment that we study most - bearings, gearboxs, fans, pumps, conveyer belts, etc. these also tend to be the most common components to show degredation and/or failures from constant use.

[cooperrc]

ML methods can be super helpful in approximating functions, but typically you need tons of data to fit the models. The benefit of physics/physics-informed modeling is you can identify characteristics that intuitively make sense and then fit the unknown parameters with similar ML approaches. e.g. for rotation usually the physics would involve inertia, damping, and springs, so you could probably have series of springs-mass-dampers to get complicated responses.

[JulianPojano]

Dynamic simulations can be used to help determine the fatigue life of a mechanical component under different loads. Knowing this, engineers can know what the best use cases are for the component or use the information of its failure from the simulation to improve the component for increased use.

[cooperrc]

Dynamics is a great way to identify forces+constraints on motion, but fatigue is typically a whole different field of study. As good as our understanding of materials science and mechanics, there is no reliable way to predict failure even on a log-lifetime scale. You can narrow it down with data, but even then you get to a ball park number with a relative chance.

[jhngms]

Hello,

Right now, I am doing static and dynamic structural engineering at Pratt and Whitney. Dynamics simulations are essential for determining part life, vibratory response, etc. My group occasionally deals with kinematics. I am hoping to learn more about kinematic simulations in this course.

[alw14027]

Always good to see a fellow Pratt employee in my classes.

[JimInput]

Hey! Dynamics Simulations are especially important with the work I'm currently doing at Collins Aerospace. We run real-time simulations for testing the responses from our Digital Flight Computers. I am hoping to learn about more complicated and formalized dynamics so that I can contribute better to my work and my hobbies.

[cooperrc]

Cool, those digital flight computers have some awesome modern control theory built in. This course will cover a crucial piece: good state estimation. You need a good model of your system in order to predict what changes will help/hurt it. Especially with slightly unstable systems like flight control (and even riding a bike is slightly unstable)

[michaelsbriscoe]

Dynamic solutions can be used in my career to represent the vibrations of a plane wing or helicopter blade under certain stressors to determine potential fatigue and resonance modes. This can be used to remodel and improve designs and ensure safety of parts.

[cooperrc]

Wings+blades are great examples of beam dynamics e.g. flexible structures. We're mostly focused here on rigid structures. The main difference:

• flexible == PDEs
• rigid body == ODEs

[jordanbollacke]

Hi!

Dynamic solutions/simulations can make seemingly confusing ideas/processes simpler and easier to understand. For example, understanding how vibrations impact things like bridges, planes, etc. can be simplified by understanding how the dynamic processes work.

[ktburnash]

Hi, Understanding dynamics and using simulations can help me predict and optimize how systems behave in my career allowing me to make informed decisions.

[ericbrown1118]

Using dynamic simulations in my career will allow me to make easier work of finding problems or improvements on a project

[LRand7]

Hello, dynamic simulations will help with my future career since as a mechanical engineer you would be looking at machines and the different parts that work together to improve and make the machines reliable.

[GoateT33]

Hey everyone, is anyone else having issues installing and running Julia? I can't seem to get it to work in either VSCode or through the command terminal. Any help would be much appreciated.

[cooperrc]

Oh weird, did you try the installer instructions,

https://julialang.org/downloads/

Windows/Mac/Linux??

Another suggestion $\rightarrow$ open a new discussion post

[GoateT33]

Yes I did try following those instructions first thing but now, miraculously, after not having touched it for a couple days it launched and updated successfully! Super strange but I will take it

[cooperrc]

if its windows, usually restart-retry fixes 50% of bugs

[bgoncal22]

Hello, Dynamics Simulations can help my future career as a biomedical engineer with potential applications for testing certain aspects of medical devices in their product development cycle.

[cooperrc]

biomed is so much dynamics! Almost everything we learn about forces on the body is based on rigid body mechanics

[LaythDuval]

Hello,

Dynamics simulations and understanding are useful in many careers because they allow you to predict how real systems move and respond to forces before building anything. In academic research, simulations help test ideas and model complex behavior like vibrations or structural response. In industry, they are used to improve design and safety in things like vehicles, machines, robotics, and structures by studying motion, collisions, and resonance.

[GeorgeHanna04]

Greetings,

Dynamics simulations can serve to provide preliminary data to give creators an idea of how their systems will operate prior to building a physical model. This is useful for unique systems or models which require significant effort to create, as it does not have significant cost (besides a bit of time) and can provide good insight on how systems will operate in the real world. This holds true for almost all industries with mechanical aspects.

[RMoczek13]

Hey,
Dynamics simulations can be used in every part of our careers. Understanding and being able to model not only how forces act on a body, but how it responds as well is very important. It can aid in material and part selection, and show you how a model can operate in real life.

[khansamiii]

I'm not sure at the moment as to how Dynamic simulations can help me further in my career. I took dynamics before but was hoping for a deeper understanding of what it actually is about and how it can be beneficial to engineers. Hence why I'm taking the class. I am interested in the automotive industry, so I assume there is a lot of dynamic simulations as their are a lot of moving parts you need to deal with.

[nikolasbaj]

As a mechanical engineer I feel that dynamics simulations are really useful in order to understand how systems behave under real conditions. Once I get into the real world it will help predict things like vibrations, loads, and stability issues before anything is built. Being able to model this stuff makes designs safer, more efficient, and will save a lot of time in the process.

[Mohamedelgamal2001582]

Hi,
As a PhD student, it's important to use dynamics simulations to translate deep theoretical models into predictive tools for solving real-world problems, and instability problems, bridging the gap between analysis and design.

[Alireza-ME-UCONN]

Hi,

I am PhD student in Mechanical Engineering department, My research is on cell dynamics and neuronal plasticity, and how the mechanical properties of different biomolecules affect structural stability and remodeling over time. Dynamics concepts such as force balance, stiffness, contractility, and time dependent responses are fundamental for understanding experimental findings. This course is helping me to use bacic dynamics theory to a framework for understanding mechanical plasticity, stability, and instabilities in living cells and I can use this modeling in my project.

[AidanJak]

As a mechanical engineer, dynamics simulations can be really useful to my career through understanding how things move, how systems operate, and how its applicable to the real world.

[Mahwell]

Dynamics simulations are extremely useful in the aerospace industry because they help predict how aircraft and spacecraft will move and respond to forces before anything is built. Simulations can be used to study vibration, stability, flight control, and structural loads during takeoff, flight, or turbulence.

[anthonyc4444]

Dynamics simulations are useful because they help predict how real systems will move and respond to forces before anything is physically built. They allow engineers to test ideas, understand system behavior, and catch potential issues early, which is valuable in both research and industry applications.

[honczjoseph]

Wanting to become a design engineer and eventual work with CAD advanced dynamics will be useful in my future career. Learning from this course and understanding how to predict the response and actions of a systems will be extremely helpful with becoming a design enigneer as the design period requires a lot of thought and consideration of real world aspects. You can model anything on a computer but manufacturating and operating that model is a whole other aspect that needs to be accounted for.

[dugganjake]

I know little about advanced dynamics, but I am eager to learn as I am aspiring to be a licensed design engineer in the future. Understanding dynamic simulations, and the concepts involved with it are all important in becoming a design engineer. I hope to learn as much as I can from this course so I can use it in my career or other courses I take.

[NiFoley]

I have a bit of experience with advanced dynamics from my experience with motorcycles and 4 bar linkage simulations. This study is extremely relevant to my field of study because simulations are popular to save money and time while refining details

[LukeFox-1]

Dynamics Simulations / a general understanding can be very useful for your career. I accepted a job doing engineering work with submarines. For my final project in a previous dynamics course I model the force on the dive planes of a submarine, which was a fun and interesting task to work through which was related to work that will be in my career.

[Coen-uc]

Hello All!

I am a Junior, and I am currently doing a Co-Op at Collins Aerospace in Windsor Locks. If you are an RTX employee (making use of that employee scholar program hopefully) I would love to connect. If you are not an RTX employee, but you do have a job you enjoy, I would like to connect as well.

I am personally interested in controls (which is traditionally an ECE/software role), but I am not committed to any discipline or job role. If you enjoy your job, find it interesting and difficult, please reach out to me. If your job involves dynamics, or specifically, if you need to model mechanical systems using some of the concepts we learned in this class, I would love to hear about it as well.

My favorite courses have been Vibrations, Digital Logic Design, and these dynamics classes. If anyone has some insight into a career path where I can actually apply the technical concepts learned in those classes, please provide some insight.

Thank You!

Coen Laibrandt

Find me on LinkedIn/instagram
Email me at: omk24001@uconn.edu
Reply to this post

[AuZwick]

Dynamics simulations are huge in mechanical engineering, especially for predicting real-world behavior before building anything. In my work, they help model various systems like thermal responses and vibration effects so I can catch issues early and increase performance. Whether it’s designing items, analyzing systems, or even testing simulations for fun, they’re a powerful tool for turning theory into real designs.

[Mohamedelgamal2001582]

Thank you Professor Cooper for this dynamics course! Really enjoyed it and learned a lot.

[Alireza-ME-UCONN]

Professor Cooper! I really enjoyed your course, especially your YouTube videos. Thank you so much!