Mechanical Labs

In one of my courses I have had the pleasure of analyzing systems from across the discipline of mechanical engineering, giving me a broad view of what I could experience in the workforce. I finished with an A in the first semester's iteration of this course due to my love for hands-on experience, and I hope to continue my success and enjoyment into the second iteration, which is currently underway. In the thermodynamics-oriented lab, I examined a refrigeration cycle and how it is used in modern air conditioners. In a biomechanics lab, I was the test subject in a jump lab, where my motion and ground force was tracked using OptiTrack software and a force plate. I combined this data to discover the direction and magnitude of the force placed on my joints while completing a squat jump. In a fluid dynamics-focused session, I compared calculated theoretical energy losses from air flowing through a piping system I designed with the actual losses measured using intermittent dynamic and static pressure measurements (pictured). Most recently, I analyzed internal stresses on 4 steel lattices with weights hung from the bottom and used it to determine the stiffness of each structure.