MACHINE DESIGN

2019/2020
03MCHQD – Master Degree in Mechanical Engineering
03MCHND, 03MCHNE – Laurea Magistrale in Ingegneria Energetica e Nucleare

Credits: 8 – 80 hours: 40 hours lectures, 40 hours practice

Instructors

Lectures Eugenio Brusa 011.0906895 – 011.0906730* eugenio.brusa@polito.it

Tutorials Teresa Berruti 011.0906935 teresa.berruti@polito.it
Maria Pia Cavatorta 011.0906933 maria.cavatorta@polito.it
Chiara Gastaldi (tutor) - chiara.gastaldi@polito.it

DIMEAS – Dip. di Ingegneria Meccanica e Aerospaziale – Dept. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (III floor)
SDD – Discipline: Progettazione Meccanica e Costruzione di Macchine (ING-IND/14) – Machine Design
*Doctoral School – Direction (to be used only in case of real urgency)

Timetable

LECTURES*
• Tuesday 8.30 AM to 10 AM room 1 P Prof. Brusa
• Wednesday 11.30 AM to 1 PM room 2 M Prof. Brusa

TUTORIALS*
• Friday 1 PM to 4 PM room 3 D Prof. Berruti
room 5 D Prof. Cavatorta

*As soon as the attendance to Politecnico will be allowed, in the meanwhile only remote classes by
means of recorded lectures, shared through the web, will be provided. In addition during the time of
those time slots a direct connection with instructors will be organized for questions. See details on
line.

Student reception

Each instructor will be glad to agree together with students by email date and hour of meeting and its
location, when needed, as soon as meeting people at office will be newly made allowed.

Subject fundamentals
Machine Design prepares students to design and to identify how a system – the so–called “machine” –
consisting of fixed and moving parts, respectively, can convert and transmit the energy in the best way to
be suited for a specific application. By the end of the semester, each student will be able:
• to deal with functional requirements and design specifications;
• to know several mechanical components and devices and their application;
• to define the shape and size of machine components;
• to predict their strength and life;
• to select the materials best suited for each application;
• to take into account up-to-date standards or codes and practices or technological constraints;
• to develop some suitable analytical models and to use numerical tools;
• to deploy the whole design process;
• to take a responsible decision, based on the best current practice.

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Expected learning outcomes
Foreword: Engineers and analysts, when dealing with machine design, typically perform the design of
structural and mechanical components (bolted connections, transmissions, bearings, shafts, couplings,
springs, etc.) as well as assembled systems. At basic level for the Machine Design professional activity
requires that engineers and analysts are able to analyze a machine component or to design a modification to
fulfil some given requirements. They have to apply known methods and to use some available software,
according to given specifications and under the supervision of a senior engineer.
At higher level, let say standard, engineers and analysts must be able to produce new designs of
machine, components, parts or systems to fulfil given requirements. They choose the appropriate
analytical or numerical methods to perform that activity under their own responsibility.

Therefore, this module aims at providing some specific competences. At basic level, that’s done through the
study of a selection of representative and complementary classes of problems, requiring each a specific
development (Contents 1 to 5). At standard level, it introduces the students, through a Technical Project,
to investigate the behavior of an assembled system and to perform a trade-off of design solutions, through
a straight comparison.
To develop the competences applicable to any kind of mechanical structure and machine, students are
required, by the end of this subject module, to show a clear achievement of the following main issues of
knowledge:
• to know the theory and the existing experimental evidence, which underpin some mathematical
models of mechanical component;
• to identify the weak points of a mechanical system, critical for strength, according to all of possible
failure mechanisms, then to evaluate uncertainties and apply a suitable safety factor, and finally to
assess whether the occurring stresses under loading condition are admissible;
• to analyze a machine component to check whether it fulfils some given requirements;
• to identify the governing parameters in a component design, defining the shape and size of machine
components, knowing how to introduce appropriate design modifications to improve the strength and life
or to refine requirements and specifications. This activity might be extended, in some selected cases, to
propose new designs for machine components and systems;
• to analyze the mechanical performance of machine components and their role within an assembled
system, i.e. to resort to analytical and numerical methods to investigate kinematics, loads and stresses;
• to identify among some technical solutions compatible with the state-of-art of technology, a
suitable architecture and/or mechanism to convert and transmit efficiently the energy;
• to know the theoretical background of some relevant standards, codes and regulations, which are
used in the field.

Each student should develop some useful skills as:

- reading the mechanical drawing of a machine and of its subsystem;
- identifying the parts of an assembly, by defining their constraints and calculating mechanical and thermal
stress conditions;
- defining the system functional requirements, as well as the strength of material;
- being able to propose different solutions to assemble components into a mechanical system for given
function;
- being able to apply some mathematical models to component and machine design;
- identifying the set of data strictly needed by design, and where they can be found;
- deploying the appropriate rationale to assess a design, being able to take a responsible decision based on
evidence;
- knowing how theoretical or numerical prediction or modelling can be checked through some suitable
experimental tests;
- being able to present, in both oral and written form, a clear and well-structured set of relevant
considerations about the design assumptions and results;
- being able to read and understand all the technical contents of books, handbooks and other sources
concerning the machine design and even being able to provide some useful comment about those.

Background
Attendance of this module requires a fluent spoken and written English, as a necessary pre-requisite: all
the classes, tutorials and teaching material will be provided in English. Standard mathematics for engineers
is sufficient. It is assumed that students know and understand the principles of the strength of material.
Particularly, they know and use strain and stress tensors and their principal properties, preferably in matrix
notation, their graphical representation through the Mohr’s circles, the two and three dimensional behavior
of elastic material, the static design criteria of brittle and ductile materials (maximum normal stress,
maximum shear stress or Tresca, maximum distortion energy or Von Mises). Moreover, it is assumed that

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they know all the fundamentals of mechanics concerning forces and moments and their calculation, the
dynamics of rigid and deformable bodies; they master the theory and practice of bar and beam in
tension, bending and torsion, and know ensuing the cross section stress distribution. It would be an
advantage if students would have a prior knowledge of basic machine design elements, technical
drawing and elements of mechanical machining and manufacturing technologies.

Contents
1 – The design process
- Methods, goals, activities.
- Needs, requirements, constraints, innovation targets. Tools and examples of design of systems and
machines. Outlines of related standards.
- Design concept, synthesis, verification and validation. Safety and reliability.
- Functional, operational and architectural requirements.
- Role of standards, best practices and modelling activity in design.
Overview: instead of proposing a tutorial about this part, some remarks about the design process applied to
the proposed test case for the current year will be provided.

2 – Fundamentals of strength of material

- Review of applied criteria for static strength of isotropic materials.
- Typical damage mechanisms: yielding, rupture, buckling, creep.
Tutorials: resume of basics of strength of material, theory of continuum mechanics and stress analysis,
theory of beam.

3 – Design against failure: fatigue and fracture

- Overview of fatigue problems
- Stress-life fatigue: basic material properties, specimen testing and specimen fatigue (ref. to FKM standards)
- Stress-life fatigue: component fatigue, finite and infinite life (ref. to FKM standards)
- Stress-life fatigue: thermal effects and thermomechanical fatigue behavior, relation with creep and other
effects
- Crack propagation: linear fracture mechanics, basics, applications, Paris law
Tutorials: use of the main fatigue diagrams; application of FKM standards; notch effect; application to the
Technical project; fracture mechanics: computation of crack propagation and path.

4 – Design of assemblies: supports and bearings

- Contact mechanics and damage
- Rolling bearings: static loading, fatigue conditions
- Design of bearing assemblies, main solutions for bearing arrangements
Tutorials: application of Hertz theory on a selection of contact cases; angular contact bearings, preload
diagram; load-life rating of the bearings for the Technical Project; bearing assemblies and related problems.

5 – Design of power transmission: gears

- Summary of motion transmission, tooth shape (reading and self instruction, material provided)
- Spur and helical gears with parallel axes: kinematics, geometry, forces
- Cutting techniques and profile displacement
- Criteria for strength assessment of gears: fatigue, hertz contact, wear, scuffing
Tutorials: geometry and kinematics of gears, spur gears profile shift, design of the gears of the Technical
Project.

6 – Design of joining systems: threaded connections

- Threaded fasteners and connections
- Pre-stressed single bolt connections (without gasket)
- Refinements and special problems
- Elements with gaskets and bolted connections
- Tutorial: selection of overview exercises
Tutorials: application to a hydraulic piston or to a tie-rod connection.

7 – Applications:
- Some examples of application to the overall system design will be provided
- Seminars and outlines will show how some innovative machines and systems are designed, even through
the structural mechatronics and the systems engineering.

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Course organization
The whole load for this course is about 200 hours, i.e. 25 hours per credit. This includes classroom activity,
study at home, completion of tutorials and reporting. Classes are equally shared between theoretical lectures
and tutorials, to achieve a balance between knowledge sharing and skills creating. The subject is organized
to allow students progressing incrementally in the development of their knowledge and skills under an expert
supervision.

All the lecture material will be available on the course website, before each class. Students will download
and print them, to add notes during the classes. Usually a lecture on a topic will be followed by a specific
tutorial. During the tutorials, students are required to apply the knowledge to some real context problem. The
tutor will provide both a description of the problem and some frames for solution. However, the students will
solve the proposed tasks themselves, by working in small groups (max 3 students each).

Moreover, a semester-long project, the so–called “Technical project” will be proposed, to enhance the
problem solving capabilities, and to encourage an independent thinking activity and to develop professional
reporting skills. For each task, every group of students will write a final report. The set of all reports will be
verified during the final exam. Students are required to work together, in a small group. The tutor will assist
the groups during the tutorial class hours, supporting students in their learning progression and clarifying
their doubts. Attendance to both lectures AND tutorials is strongly recommended, to achieve the expected
learning outcomes. The teachers and the tutor are available weekly during the teaching period to meet
students, but please contact them by e-mail, before attending the department. The tutorials may benefit from
using tools like EXCEL® or MATLAB®. Writing reports by means of a word processor is not required,
although a clear and professional presentation is strictly needed. Drawing tools (pencil, compass, scale
rulers...) are always necessary, even during the exam.

Texts, readings, handouts and other learning resources

Lectures: the subject is fully explained by the slides provided. Reference textbooks of international standing
are suggested (some herein at the end). Some additional slides cover several topics belonging the required
background of students (mainly fundamentals of strength of materials and of machine design)

Tutorials: texts of problems, datasheets of materials, extracts or abstracts of standards and handbooks will
be provided. All the lecture material is available on the course website. Students should either download or
print the files before the lecture and use the copy to facilitate taking notes.

Selection of references (just suggested readings):

• P.R.N. Childs, Mechanical design engineering handbook, Elsevier, 2014.

• R.C. Juvinall, K.M. Marshek, Fundamentals of machine component design, John Wiley & Sons, 2011
• R. Budynas, Shigley’s mechanical engineering design, McGraw Hill, 2014.
• D. Ullman, The mechanical design process, McGraw-Hill, 4th ed., 2010.
• R. Stephens, A. Fatemi, R. Stephens, H. Fuchs, Metal fatigue in engineering, Wiley,2000.
• N. Recho, Fracture mechanics and crack growth, ISTE Wiley, 2012.
• S. S. Manson, Fatigue and durability of metals at high temperatures,ASM, 2009.
• V. Popov, Contact mechanics and friction, Springer, 2010.
• F. Litvin, Gear geometry and applied theory, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
• T. Harris, M. Kotzaias, Rolling bearing analysis – Essential concepts of bearing technology, CRC,2006.
• J. Bickford, Introduction to the design and behavior of bolted joints, CRC Press, 2007
• J.E. Carryer, Introduction to mechatronic design, Pearson, 2010.
• M.A. Parameswaran, Mechanical design, a practical insight, Alpha Science Int., 2017.
• E. Brusa, Mechatronics: Principles, Technologies and Application, Nova Science, 2015.
• E. Brusa, Meccatronica strutturale, CET, 2016 (in Italian).
• E. Brusa, A. Calà, D. Ferretto, Systems Engineering and its application to industrial product
development, Springer, 2018.

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Assessment and grading criteria
The achievement of learning outcomes will be checked during the final exam. This is based on an analytical
assessment of student achievement of the “expected learning outcomes” above described.
To assess such achievement the examination is composed of different sessions:

a) Written session (day 1): a test, two hours long, with closed books, is composed of three questions, two
upon the contents of lectures, and one problem to check the capability of solving problems. Each question
scores max 8 points (therefore the whole test might provide at max 24).

To attend the oral exam each student must score in the written test a minimum of 12 marks, with a minimum
of 4 (50%) marks for each question.

b) Oral session (day 2): it is composed by:

1. a review of the written test, during this step the examiners will inform the student about the applied
grading criteria, and will receive any student appeal supported by appropriate explanations;
2. a technical conversation with an instructor to show the ability to deal responsibly with a mechanical
design problem, by identifying an appropriate application of acquired knowledge (max additional 4
marks)
3. a discussion with the tutors, to whom the student will submit the full set of tutorial reports; a tutor will
investigate the personal achievement of skills through some questions about the contents of reports
(max additional 4 marks)

If all of previous actions are performed and result is positive, the final score is composed by adding the
score of written test, that of the first conversation and the evaluation of the discussion about the tutorials and
the technical report.