Virtual Torsion Lab Information

The final lab, lab 4, of Engrd 202 will be a "virtual" or on-line laboratory on torsion of circular and non-circular cross section shafts of aluminum, cast iron and turkey bone. The lab is web-based and may be found at the following URL:

http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/virtual_lab/

The lab consists of narrated talks, videos of experiments, images of broken samples, data for several materials and sample sizes, and a lab manual.

The lab starts the week of April 7th. You should not go to the lab room at the scheduled time, but your lab report is due eight days after your scheduled lab 4 meeting. You should turn in a group report with the same partners as from lab 3.

All students are required to complete a short evaluation form, see the link titled "Give us your feedback." This link is password protected. The password and ID were emailed to you.

If you have questions about the web site, what you are supposed to do there, and the report please contact Peeyush Bhargava, pb83@cornell.edu, 5-0824. If you have questions about the theory please contact your lab TA.

To get started we suggest that you:

  1. Go to the homepage, http://instruct1.cit.cornell.edu/courses/virtual_lab/ and then click through to the link for "4 year engineering students". You will find detailed instructions on the lab here. From here you should view the chalk talks (about 40 minutes total), which are narrated presentations reviewing torsion theory, outlining the test equipment, sample preparation and data reduction for both engineered materials and bone. You will need speakers or a headset for the narration.
  2. View the virtual tests to get a feel for what the samples look like as they are being deformed. You will need Quicktime to play the videos. A link to install Quicktime on your computer is provided on the virtual lab homepage.
  3. Download, print and read (or just read from the screen) the lab manual. This contains two sections, one for engineered materials and another for bone. There you will find detailed instructions on data reduction we expect you to perform and on questions to be answered as part of your lab report.
  4. Complete the on-line evaluation (this should take only about 5 minutes). You will be awarded an extra point for completing the web assessment.