Machine Design

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Programming Foundations / Practice rooms / Track curriculum and enrollment

1. Stress & Strain

   Compute nominal axial, shear and pin-bearing stresses, connect stress to elastic strain, apply explicit design factors and distinguish free thermal expansion from restrained thermal stress. Assemble tension-member sizing, available-diameter selection and an allowable-stress recheck. Use N, mm and MPa; state the load history and sign convention.

   • Axial Stress & Strain: 5 lessons
   • Factor of Safety: 5 lessons
   • Thermal Effects: 5 lessons
   • Shear & Bearing Stress: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Tension Member Design: 5 lessons

2. Beam Bending

   Find reactions and bending moments, calculate section properties and estimate elastic bending stress and deflection for specified support/load cases. Assemble rectangular beam sizing, available-height selection and separate strength/deflection checks. Use N, mm and MPa, with moments in N mm and second moments in mm⁴.

   • Reactions & Moments: 5 lessons
   • Section Properties: 5 lessons
   • Bending Stress: 5 lessons
   • Deflection: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Beam Design: 5 lessons

3. Shafts & Torsion

   Connect power and speed to torque, then evaluate torsional stress, twist and combined bending/torsion criteria on solid shafts. Include keys and coupling loads, and assemble minimum sizing, available-diameter selection and explicit stiffness checks. Track N m to N mm conversions; use mm geometry and MPa stresses.

   • Torsion Basics: 5 lessons
   • Power Transmission: 5 lessons
   • Combined Bending & Torsion: 5 lessons
   • Keys & Couplings: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Power Shaft Design: 5 lessons

4. Spur Gears

   Build nominal external spur geometry from module and teeth, calculate speed/torque and tooth-force components, and apply the stated involute, rack-generation undercut and contact-ratio relations. Compose a gear-pair report while keeping compatibility and strength requirements explicit. Use mm and degree inputs where named; 20 degrees is a common example.

   • Gear Geometry: 5 lessons
   • Ratios & Speed: 5 lessons
   • Tooth Forces: 5 lessons
   • Involute Geometry: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Gear Pair Analysis: 5 lessons

5. Gear Trains & Planetary

   Compose simple and compound ratios, solve planetary speeds with signed Willis relations and track efficiency and torque. For a two-stage reducer, select integer teeth, report achieved ratio and error against an explicit tolerance, and retain the continuous equal-split calculation as a planning helper.

   • Simple & Compound Trains: 5 lessons
   • Planetary Gears: 5 lessons
   • Torque & Efficiency: 5 lessons
   • Train Design: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Two-Stage Reducer: 5 lessons

6. Gear Strength

   Use module-based Lewis bending and a prescribed surface-capacity model with explicit load multipliers. Compare both capacities, identify the governing mode and calculate a nominal power bound under the stated factors. The supplied empirical data support educational checks, not a certified general gear rating.

   • Lewis Bending: 5 lessons
   • Dynamic Load & Wear: 5 lessons
   • Power Capacity: 5 lessons
   • The Gear Check: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Gear Tooth Check: 5 lessons

7. Cams & Followers

   Build uniform, SHM and cycloidal displacement laws and their constant-speed derivatives. Compose rise, dwell and return phases with inline follower pitch geometry and pressure-angle checks, retaining the SHM-rise helper and distinguishing sampled values from continuous bounds. Main lessons use radians, mm, rad/s, mm/s and mm/s².

   • The Displacement Diagram: 5 lessons
   • Simple Harmonic Motion: 5 lessons
   • Cycloidal Motion: 5 lessons
   • Cam Geometry & Pressure Angle: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Follower Analysis: 5 lessons

8. Springs

   Calculate rate, deflection, corrected stress, energy and spring combinations for a close-coiled round-wire model. Compose a compression-spring report with rate, stress, free/solid travel and a stated stability screen. Use the supplied material modulus rather than a universal steel constant; distinguish active and total coils.

   • Spring Rate & Deflection: 5 lessons
   • Spring Stress: 5 lessons
   • Energy & Combinations: 5 lessons
   • Spring Design: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Compression Spring Design: 5 lessons

9. Bearings & Fatigue

   Estimate statistical L10 bearing life and constant-amplitude shaft fatigue with corrected endurance, explicit notch conventions and Goodman/Soderberg criteria. Assemble separate life and fatigue decisions against supplied requirements. Bearing L10 and shaft reserve are distinct estimates, not a combined guarantee of reliability.

   • Rolling Bearing Life: 5 lessons
   • Fatigue & the Endurance Limit: 5 lessons
   • Stress Concentration: 5 lessons
   • Mean-Stress Criteria: 5 lessons
   • Capstone: Bearing & Shaft Check: 5 lessons

10. Capstone: Single-Stage Gearbox Design

    Compose a single-stage spur gearbox study from power, speed, teeth and explicit design limits. Carry layout and mesh loads into both shaft paths, tooth bending/surface checks, actual diameter and bore-compatible bearing choices, and strength, stiffness and basic-life rechecks. Retain intermediate quantities and failure reasons. Use stated static/elastic models; this educational assembly is not a certified production design.

    • Gear Layout: 5 lessons
    • The Loads: 5 lessons
    • Shaft Sizing: 5 lessons
    • Bearing Selection: 5 lessons
    • The Complete Gearbox: 5 lessons