Brief Descriptions of MEES Courses
The degree requires 28 graduate credits gained by completing the courses and requirements listed below. Click on a course title for an outline and learning objectives.
Network Skills for Remote Learners
This course familiarizes you with the software that you will use throughout the program, provides best practices for file and information management, and helps you work through any hardware compatibility and company firewall issues. You will gain an appreciation for how online learning works and begin to develop a learning community with others in your cohort.
Summer ResidencyOne Week on the UW-Madison campus
Meet and get to know members of your cohort by participating in a busy schedule of educational and social events. You will meet all course faculty and attend kick-off sessions for both the fall and spring courses of the coming year.
Engine Seminar Series Requirement
The series provides opportunities for MEES students to become involved in research at the Engine Research Center and to collaborate with on-campus students on various projects. Both on-campus graduate students and MEES students will make presentations on research and projects and participate in online discussions. MEES students will be required to participate in the Engine Seminar Series during each fall and spring semester.
In this summer independent study course, each engine design team conducts a detailed market study in support of the engine they are designing. Customer needs and expectations, competitive product offerings, vehicle application considerations, regulatory requirements, and market volumes are among the topics studied.
The course ties together learning from the earlier courses in the MEES program and applies it to engine development project leadership. You will be able to plan, manage, and control a variety of projects, from simple design exercises to the complete design, analysis, development and release to production of a new engine.
This course assists you in developing a set of methods to logically work through the engine creation process. You will integrate foundational engineering concepts pertaining to reliability, analysis and test, fatigue, wear, cost analysis, casting and materials, NVH, and bolted joint design into the total engine design process.
This course addresses thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer as they apply to the internal combustion engine. Going beyond traditional undergraduate thermal science education, the course introduces topics covered in the Engine Fluid Dynamics and Engine Performance and Combustion courses and prepare you for further advanced topics critical to engine design.
Engine Performance and Combustion
The course begins with a review of thermodynamics and its application to engines. Emphasis then turns to a basic overview of the combustion processes of spark- and compression-ignition engines, and combustion system optimization for performance, efficiency, and emission control.
Topics of study include valve train and engine breathing, volumetric efficiency and two-stroke scavenging, intake and exhaust system dynamics and tuning, supercharging, turbocharging, and the role of in-cylinder motion of combustion chamber optimization. The air handling systems for the engine design projects are developed in this course.
The purpose of this course is to take a scientifically-based look at trends in energy availability, emission control and regulation, and technological advances to make an assessment of the future of engines and powertrain systems for vehicles throughout the world.
Perspectives on Engine Modeling
Learn about the roles computer modeling plays in the engine development process. Rather than teach the use of specific software, the course presents the computational methodology and assumptions required for various families of engine development tools. The families to be covered include finite element and boundary element structural analysis; engine cycle simulation; computational fluid mechanics for in-cylinder, air handling, and cooling jacket simulation; fuel and lube system analysis; torsional and dynamic system analysis; and phenomenological combustion and emission chemistry modeling.
This course provides an overview of fundamental control concepts for development and analysis, presents concepts related to modeling requirements and considerations related to control and diagnostics, and explores the application of these tools to engine systems. The ultimate goal is to encourage the development of the integrated engineer who understands the engine and its processes, dynamics and dynamic systems, control system tools and requirements, and the tasks in integrating these and other related systems.
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Click course titles for outlines and objectives


