Application of data acquisition systems in the undergraduate laboratories of mechanical engineering and engineering science

A number of experiments in different areas of mechanical engineering and engineering science at UNC-Charlotte have been revisited to improve the experiments' scope and their educational value for the student. The various experiments in the areas of thermal and fluids science, mechanisms, materials engineering, solid mechanics and instrumentation, are being updated to assist in the ongoing curriculum revision, and to bring in data acquisition methods and protocols into the curriculum, Two cases are presented to illustrate the benefits and efficiency gained when simple data acquisition programs are included in the curriculum: (i) the analysis of a compressor's pressure-volume diagrams, as a function of the discharge pressure; and (ii) the study of basic materials properties under mechanical tensile stress, within the elastic and plastic regimes, up to the fracture point.