Engineering Problem Solving with Computers

Instructor: Jake Blanchard

3 credits

Course Purpose

This course will help you develop the skills necessary to solve the increasingly complex problems facing engineers today. You will learn underlying principles and master techniques to utilize a number of tools with extremely powerful capabilities. A case study approach will ensure the practicality and applicability of the techniques covered. The case studies will include topics as varied as design of automobile suspensions, heating of ion implantation targets, optimization of manufacturing processes, and cooling of microprocessors. In attacking these case studies, you will learn techniques for solving linear and nonlinear systems, optimization techniques, and approaches to solving systems of differential equations that govern many engineering problems. The tools you will use during the course include MATLAB and Excel.

Course Topics

Systems of Algebraic Equations

  • Linear systems
  • Nonlinear systems

Optimization

  • Single and multivariate techniques

Differential Equations

  • Runge-Kutta techniques
  • Finite difference approaches

Miscellaneous

  • Numerical integration
  • Data analysis
  • Control theory
  • Monte Carlo techniques