Understanding transient behavior of engineering systems is becoming increasingly important in designing, optimizing, and controlling high technology products. As such, engineering programs should provide opportunities for undergraduate students to learn about the significance of dynamic phenomena and the tools that the engineer uses to examine them. This plan will focus on dynamic measurements of phenomena in fluid dynamics and hydraulics, vibrations, and combustion engines. To initiate the laboratory development plan it is necessary to establish three lab computer workstations which can perform high speed data acquisition, conduct extensive data analysis, and present graphical and tabular results in a flexible manner. These workstations will be used to illustrate the theory of dynamic instruments discussed in experimental methods courses and will allow dynamic phenomena to be routinely studied in undergraduate laboratory projects. Possible topics include investigation of wing tip vortices on wind tunnel models to gain insight into ways of controlling the accompanied induced drag, selection of structural members with acceptable damping characteristics, and comparison of burning rates in diesel engines fired with various biomass fuels.
