Graduate Programs

Applied Mechanics Program

The aim of Applied Mechanics M.Sc. program at University of Tehran is to offer the highest and up to date level of understanding into advanced topics in theoretical, numerical and experimental solid mechanics, and to prepare students for research on knowledge-boundary subject areas in the field. In the program, the students can develop independence, creativity, research skills, and grow the knowledge required to continue the profession, and distinguished faculty members are a valuable asset in this regard to help the students as instructors and supervisors.

Key facts

 

Program Title:	Mechanical Engineering – Applied Mechanics
Credential:	Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree
Awarding Institute:	University of Tehran
Language:	English
Duration:	two years
Format:	full time, on campus
Starting date:	September 23, 2019

 

Course structure

 

SEMESTER 1: FALL 2019	Credits
Advanced Engineering Mathematics	3
Continuum Mechanics	3
Finite Element Method	3
SEMESTER 2: WINTER 2020	Credits
Elasticity	3
Fracture Mechanics	3
Advanced Mechanics of Composite Materials	3
Experimental Stress Analysis	3
SEMESTER 3: FALL 2020	Credits
Optimization	3
Engineering Plasticity	3
Plates and Shells	3
Advanced Space Structural Design	3
Computational Nano-mechanics	3
Crystal Plasticity	3
Computer-aided Design	3
Nano-composites	3
Seminar	2
SEMESTER 4: WINTER 2021	Credits
Dissertation	6

Course descriptions

 

Advanced Engineering Mathematics

This course deals with topics in advanced mathematics and aims to show the relevance of mathematics to quotidian mechanical engineering problems. The materials are designed in a way to facilitate the articulation to courses in all streams of mechanical engineering disciplines and to form a basis for more specialized branches of mathematics. The course provides participants with the skills, knowledge and techniques required to perform fundamental mathematical procedures and processes for the solution of engineering problems, particularly partial differential equations, optimization and vector analysis.

Continuum Mechanics

The course deals with deriving the field equations of classical mechanics, considering the medium (solid, fluid, ...) as continuous and without gaps. The course outline includes algebra and calculus of tensors, kinematics of deformation and motion, balance laws of continuous media, and constitutive laws for linear and nonlinear elastic solids. The focus is only on deriving the field equations and not solving them.

Finite Element Method

In this course, the governing equations of mechanics are approximated by discretization. Using the concepts of nodes, elements and stiffness matrix, and applying the loads and boundary conditions, the discretized equations are solved numerically. Different problems in the fields of solid mechanics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer are formulated in this way. The students get to write the codes to build the finite element form of the problems on their own, and also to work with commercial finite element software.

Elasticity

The course deals with the review of deriving field equations for an isotropic linear elastic solid medium in different formulations and solving them. Different (exact or approximate) analytical and numerical techniques are introduced for solving these equations, with the focus mostly on two dimensional (plane strain and plane stress) problems formulated in Cartesian or polar coordinate systems. For some problems, the exact elasticity solutions are compared with those of elementary strength of materials and the strength and weakness of the latter method are discussed.

Fracture Mechanics

The focus of this course is on the basic aspects of linear elastic fracture mechanics. They are as follows: Griffith Theory of fracture, Energy release rate, Fracture mechanisms and Crack growth, Necessary and sufficient conditions for fracture, Extension of Griffith Theory by Irwin, Modes of loading, Westergaard and Williams solutions, the development of stress field equations in fracture mechanics, Stress and Displacement fields in the near crack tip, plastic zone at the crack-tip, Irwin and Dugdale models, R-Curve, Crack branching, Equivalence between SIF and G, Experimental and theoretical methods for evaluating Stress Intensity Factors, Fracture toughness testing, Fedderson strength diagram. Also covered: interface fracture mechanics, fatigue damage fatigue crack growth models and mechanisms, J-integral, Mixed-mode fracture, Crack arrest methodologies, and experimental techniques in fracture mechanics.

Advanced Mechanics of Composite Materials

Advanced mechanics of composite materials is focused basically on long fiber reinforced polymer composites. The goal of this course is to provide the students with the knowledge of composites required for design, analysis, and manufacturing of the structures made of these materials.

Experimental Stress Analysis

Optimization

The course intends to enhance students' understanding of "optimality" and "optimum design" in the context of mechanical engineering. It helps them model real-world engineering problems as optimization problems and introduces them to various classical and modern techniques to solve those problems. The techniques covered in the course range from analytical methods to numerical (both derivative-based and derivative-free) methods; and from traditional deterministic algorithms to stochastic evolutionary and nature-inspired algorithms.

Engineering Plasticity

This is a postgraduate course providing strong conceptual foundations for developing continuum theories of plastic deformation. In addition, several important formulations of plastic flow which are of much practical use in current industrial applications are developed. Phenomenological and mathematical formulation of the constitutive laws of plasticity; yield criteria and their experimental verification; plastic stress-strain relations and their associated flow rules; correspondence between rate-independent and rate dependent plasticity; solutions to basic boundary-value problems, including plane problems and those involving cylindrical and spherical symmetries; variational and minimum principles; limit analysis; plane-strain problems and crystal plasticity; finite-strain theory are the main subjects covered in this course.

Plates and Shells

The course deals with different theories for bending and buckling of thin, moderately thick, and thick linear elastic plates, neglecting or considering shear effect,  with special focus on rectangular and circular plates. Both exact and approximate methods of analysis are presented. The second part of the course deals with geometry of thin shells and the governing equations for their bending. Cylindrical shells and shells of revolution are specially investigated.

Advanced Space Structural Design

The aim of this course is to increase student's skills in design, analysis, manufacturing and test of space structures (especially, satellite structure in this course). All of these educations are according to space standards and the students will acquaintance with space engineering concepts too. At the end of this round, the students will be able to involve in space project as the structure subsystem expert.

Computational Nano-mechanics

This is a course to provide a practical introduction to modern molecular simulation techniques that are widely used as tools in different fields of nano-mechanics research, such as fluid flow, heat transfer, fracture analysis and vibrations in nanostructures. More specifically, classical molecular dynamics simulation methods are discussed in this course. Necessary statistical mechanics required to understand and properly interpret the molecular simulations and link the results into measured bulk properties are also to be introduced. Assignments include some computer programming as well as working with the open source codes, such as LAMMPS, NAMD, OVITO and VMD, which are widely used packages in the field of nano-computations. Employing these facilities, different approaches are also addressed to observe atomistic phenomena and measure corresponding quantities.

Crystal Plasticity

Crystal plasticity is the science of describing plastic deformation in crystalline materials based on finite slip occuring on different slip systems of the crystals. Metallic materials are widely considered the backbone of any industrial endeavour and as such understanding their behaviours is crucial in any industry. Through studying the crystalline slip of individual grains at the microscopic level, their macro behaviour may be further understood and furthermore it allows engineers to miniaturise their designs knowing how the material behaves as it is being deformed plastically.

Computer-aided Design

Design is a process of generating solutions, which should satisfy all requirements including customer needs, legislation considerations, expected performance and costs. Design process may be considered as technical level of generating solutions, but activities such as market analysis and sales should be taken into account in design process, too. Therefore, one can consider technical and market related activities as total design which requires a blend of different skills in order to produce a marketable and functioning product. In total design, the process starts with collecting information on customer needs and expectations from the market, and ends with selling products in the market. Therefore, the total design process could be categorized into the following steps:

·         Identifying customer needs

·         Conceptual Design

·         Detailed design

·         Testing and refinement

·         Production

·         Sales and after sale services

The main purpose of this course concerns application of computer in total design process, although the progress of computer application in different steps is not the same. The main topics which will be covered in this course are as follows:

·         Product Life-Cycle

·         Product Design and Development

·         Geometric Modeling

·         Product Life-Cycle Management

Nano-composites

Seminar

In this course, the students will be walked through different aspects of research process including thinking about research questions, designing a study, engaging with the existing literature, analyzing data, and concluding results. Moreover, the instructions for writing research proposals, abstracts, grant proposals, ethics applications, and poster presentations will be given.

 

 

Energy Conversion Program

The Energy Conversion M.Sc. program provides both scientific and applied knowledge in the field of Thermo-Fluid Sciences such as Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer with a high level of quality and proficiency. The graduates of this program are able to work in various industries including (but not limited to) power generation; oil, gas and petrochemical; pumping and water treatment; heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC); and renewable energies.

Key facts

 

Program Title:	Mechanical Engineering – Energy Conversion
Credential:	Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree
Awarding Institute:	University of Tehran
Language:	English
Duration:	two years
Format:	full time, on campus
Starting date:	September 23, 2019

 

Course structure

 

SEMESTER 1: FALL 2019	Credits
Advanced Engineering Mathematics	3
Advanced Thermodynamics	3
Advanced Fluid Mechanics	3
SEMESTER 2: WINTER 2020	Credits
Advanced Heat Transfer	3
Advanced Combustion	3
Advanced Energy Systems	3
Computational Fluid Dynamics	3
SEMESTER 3: FALL 2020	Credits
Optimization of Energy systems	3
Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines	3
Pumps and Pumping Systems	3
Hydraulic Turbomachines	3
Water Desalination	3
Special Topics in Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Industries	3
Seminar	2
SEMESTER 4: WINTER 2021	Credits
Dissertation	6

Course descriptions

Advanced Thermodynamics

This course tries to enhance the understanding of thermodynamics principles and their relevance to the problems of humankind; providing the student with experience in applying thermodynamic principles to predict physical phenomena and to solve engineering problems. Fundamental laws of thermodynamics and their application to energy systems; and the concept of exergy and exerg-economic to various energy systems; introduction to thermodynamic relations and chemical thermodynamics, and phase and chemical equilibrium; thermodynamics of combustion systems, will be studied. A final course project will be assigned to students to link the fundamental concepts with practical, real-world problems.

Advanced Fluid Mechanics

This course provides principal concepts of fluids and fluid flows. Introducing the physics and developing solution methods for various viscous flows using proper assumptions and physical boundary conditions are the main part of the course. Topics include fluids and flow properties, conservation equations, preliminary continuum mechanics, Navier-Stokes equations and exact solutions, similarity solutions, boundary layer theory and separation, laminar boundary layer, introduction to instability and turbulence.

Advanced Heat Transfer

This course is intended to deepen the fundamentals of heat transfer by covering advanced topics in convection, conduction and radiation. Course contents include the] conservation laws, transient and steady-state heat conduction, forced and free convection, thermal boundary layers, heat transfer in laminar and turbulent flows, radiative heat transfer, estimation of view factors and emissivities, combined conduction, convention and radiation heat transfer, heat transfer with phase transformation, heat exchangers, and analysis of heat transfer equipment efficiency.

Advanced Combustion

The objective of this course is to provide the fundamental principles for graduate students involved in research on any aspects of combustion and reacting flows, including power generation, various engines, and furnaces. Topics covered include chemical thermodynamics; equilibrium chemistry; chemical kinetics; conservation equations; the structure of laminar premixed, diffusion, and partially premixed flames; droplet combustion; turbulent premixed combustion; turbulent diffusive combustion; combustion instabilities; and the ignition and extinction of flames.

Advanced Energy Systems

Energy systems exist in various forms to fulfill human needs. Besides, advanced technologies have assisted energy systems to improve their efficiency and reduce their emissions. Thus, understanding how advanced energy systems work is of great importance. This course help graduate students to learn how to model, simulate, analyses and assess advanced energy systems and come up with new ideas to improve the systems performance. Energy resources, advanced thermodynamic cycles, energy and exergy analyses, advanced combined cycle power plans, waste heat recovery technologies, hydrogen production methods, SOFC and PEM fuel cell and their applications, advanced refrigeration systems, renewable-based advanced energy systems, and integrated multi-generation energy systems will be studied and a final course project will be assigned to each student.

Computational Fluid Dynamics

This course is an introduction of employing finite-volume method and numerical techniques for solving the fluid flow equations. Topics covered include dimensionless form of the fluid flow equations, error analysis, basics of discretizations, fundamentals of finite-volume method, stability and accuracy analysis of a numerical method, and implementation of finite-volume method to Poisson, Wave, Energy, and Navier-Stokes equations as course projects.

Optimization of Energy Systems

For various reasons, it is essential to optimize processes so that a chosen quantity, known as the objective function, is maximized or minimized. This course will try to explore the use of optimization in energy systems applications by introducing objective functions, constraints, and decision variables. Several optimization techniques will be introduced, and their applications will be highlighted. Since in energy engineering there might be several objective functions that need to be optimized simultaneously, multiobjective optimization methods using evolutionary algorithms will also be covered, and students will learn how Pareto curve is obtained from optimization, and their application in several practical examples such as power plants, petrochemical plants, desalination systems, and building technologies will be studied. A final course project will be assigned to students and they are asked to optimize the system and develop their computer code to determine the final optimized design variables.

Aerodynamics of Wind Turbines

The course attempts to survey the wind energy field with a particular emphasis on the aerodynamic aspects. The main objectives of the course include the following: (1) an introduction to wind energy and extracting energy from it, (2) the aerodynamic design of Horizontal/Vertical Axis Wind turbines by using the students' codes and available software, (3) wind resource assessment and wind farms, and (4) a discussion about the state-of-the-art topics related to wind study. To achieve these goals, the course includes independent study, team projects, group discussions, laboratory works, paper presentation, guest lectures, and scientific tours.

Pump & Pumping Systems

Turbopumps are widely used in many industrial applications. Considering the large number of installed and operating turbopumps, increasing their efficiency will result in considerable reduction of energy consumptions. The objective of this course is to provide proper knowledge about the principals of Pump and Pumping System. The course topics have been divided into two Parts. Part I includes information about pumps classification, centrifugal pump theory, designing turbopump components, losses and principals of operation. Part II presents pumping system basics, important parameters for pump operation, selection, pumping systems and performance improvement opportunities.

Hydraulic Turbomachines

The course aims at giving an overview of different types of hydraulic turbomachinery used for energy transformation, such as Francis, Kaplan, Pelton, VLH, Ocean-current turbines and PAT. Topics include: (a) energy transformation and governing equations for hydraulic turbines, (b) velocity triangles, (c) hydraulic characteristics of a hydraulic turbine, (c) basic and hydraulic design of a hydraulic turbine, (d) CFD validation of the design, (e) cavitation and pressure pulsation in hydraulic turbines, and (f) model and site testing.

Water Desalination

This course covers the main technologies involved in water purification and desalination. Fundamental thermodynamics and transport phenomena which are important in the creation of fresh water from seawater and brackish ground water will be described. The technologies of existing desalination systems including Multi-Stage Flash distillation (MSF), Multi-Effect Distillation (MED), Thermal Vapor Compression (TVC), and Reverse Osmosis (RO) will be discussed. In each case, the factors that affect the performance of these systems will be highlighted. In addition, waste water treatment technologies such as Advanced Oxidation Process, and aeration will be introduced.

Special Topics in Oil, Gas, and Petrochemical Industries

This course provides broad technical information on refining processes and petroleum products, enabling a rapid immersion in the refining industry. We will start by refining processes, namely crude oil fractionation, catalytic reforming and isomerization, and hydrorefining processes. That will include origin, overall characteristics and classification of crude oils; basics of processes and types of catalysts; product yields and hydrogen production; and main features of impurities removal by catalytic hydrogen treatment. Then, we discuss main routes to major products and refining schemes. We will eventually have a look at the main economic features of refinery operation.

 

 

Mechatronics Program

The Mechatronics Program offers a cutting-edge and multidisciplinary curriculum that integrates mechanical and electrical engineering. The program includes fundamental courses on Dynamics, Vibrations, Mechatronics and Control Systems, as well as specialized courses on Artificial Intelligence, Haptics, Robotics, and System Identification. The students have the opportunity to engage in engineering research in these rapidly-growing fields under the supervision of faculty members.  

Course structure

 

SEMESTER 1: FALL 2019	Credits
Advanced Dynamics	3
Advanced Vibrations	3
Advanced Mechatronics	3
SEMESTER 2: WINTER 2020	Credits
Measurement Systems	3
Digital Control Systems	3
Modern Control Systems	3
SEMESTER 3: FALL 2020	Credits
Artificial Intelligence	3
Haptic Systems	3
Robotics	3
System Identification	3
Seminar	2
SEMESTER 4: WINTER 2021	Credits
Dissertation	6

Advanced Dynamics

The objective of this course is to provide students with theoretical and numerical tools for the analysis of dynamical systems. Advanced Dynamics covers fundamental concepts on the three-dimensional kinematics and kinetics of multi-body systems, Euler's equations, holonomic and non-holonomic constraints, Lagrange's equations of motion, Hamilton's principle and analytical dynamics.

Advanced Vibrations

Advanced Vibrations consists of two distinct parts: Vibrations of multi-degrees-of freedom systems and vibrations of continuous systems. In this course, a large variety of topics in vibrations including modal analysis, transverse vibrations of strings, torsional vibrations of shafts, longitudinal vibrations of rods, and flexural vibrations of beams, plates and shells are studies through various analytical and numerical methods.

Advanced Mechatronics

Mechatronics is the science of unifying the principles of mechanics, electronics, controls, and computing to generate a simpler, more economical and reliable system. Traditional product development starts with mechanical design followed by electrical and control system design. This sequential approach to a design problem could be inefficient and suboptimal. Mechatronic design seeks to work in parallel by exploiting interdisciplinary synergies, and to make intelligent design decisions when synergies are not available.

Measurement Systems

Measurement is what human beings have been doing for centuries to prove theories, validate designs, and more recently to build intelligent systems. We are living in Internet-of-Things (IoT) era where devices can sense their environment through various types of sensors and then communicate with each other via internet. On the other hand, with aging infrastructures, monitoring the performance of engineering systems is of crucial importance to assure reliable and safe operation. This is done by integrating sensors into machinery, civil structures, etc. and collecting and analyzing data to obtain insight into the health of the systems. In this course, we will review design and modeling of various subsystems of a data acquisition system such as sensors, signal conditioning circuits, amplifiers, A/D, etc. and also the characteristics of discrete- time signals.

Digital Control Systems

Digital controllers have sidelined analog controllers in past couple of decades due to ever decreasing cost of microprocessors and flexibility they bring about. They are used in all various parts of our lives from domestic appliances and air conditioning systems to autonomous cars and robots. Analysis and design of discrete-time control systems using z-transform, root locus, frequency-domain techniques, and state space method are studied and their online implementation using computers will be discussed.

Modern Control

Modern control deals with the analysis and design of control systems in time domain using state-space approach. The analysis in this course includes stability, controllability, observability, realization and minimality of the state-space model, while the design methods are divided into pole placement for state feedback and observer design, and optimal methods such as linear quadratic regulator. Students will also learn how to apply the theory to engineering problems with MATLAB.

Artificial Intelligence

Driven by the combination of increased access to data, computational power, and improved sensors and algorithms, artificial intelligence technologies are entering the mainstream of engineering practice and innovation. The main objective of the course is to enable students:  a) to identify problems where artificial intelligence techniques are applicable/justifiable; b) to apply basic AI techniques and evaluate their performance in comparison with classical methods, and  c) to participate in the design of systems that act intelligently and learn from their environments.

Haptic Systems

Design and control of haptic systems, which provide touch feedback to human users interacting with virtual environments and tele-operated robots are studied in this course. Device modeling (kinematics and dynamics), synthesis and analysis of control systems, design and implementation of mechatronic devices, and human-machine interaction are among the topics covered.

Robotics

Robots have dominated the auto industry in past few decades but they are also finding applications in medical surgeries, space exploration, home care, etc. This course provides an overview of robot mechanisms, dynamics, and controls

System Identification

Model-based approach to design of advanced control systems and also development of model-based monitoring systems are common. However, such parameters of such models are not always known. System Identification provides us with tools and algorithms to estimate the parameters of such models taking into account the system uncertainties and noisy sensor measurements.

Manufacturing Program

Combined Master of Science Programs

The 1+1 Programs will allow qualifying University of Tehran students to transfer to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), in the United States of America, for the purpose of completing the Purdue University's Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Students who successfully fulfill the degree requirements of the University of Tehran will also be awarded a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Tehran.

University of Tehran students who seek the Purdue University's MSc degree may transfer to IUPUI after having earned the equivalent of up to 12 degree-applicable credit hours at the MSc-degree level from the University of Tehran. Successful students may then earn the MSc degree with 1.5 additional years of study at lUPUI, if selecting the thesis track, or 1 year, if selecting the non-thesis track.

Admission requirements:

 

University of Tehran students must meet all the admission requirements of IUPUI, including language proficiency test scores. Requirement include the following:

1. Completion of an appropriate Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree
2. Grade point average (GPA) of 3.0 or above on the American 4-point scale (14 on the University of Tehran scale).
3. Completed application for admission to the master's-degree program including the required documentation.
4. Minimum English proficiency requirements:

• TOEFL iBT 79, with subscores: Writing (18), Speaking (18), Listening (14), Reading (19)
• IELTS 6.5: No minimum subscore requirement

Enrollment, Tuition, and Costs

1. University of Tehran students will be enrolled in full-time degree-seeking status at IUPUI in accord with US. regulations for the student visa. Students will undertake a preplanned program of study as determined by both parties.
2. Upon arrival at IUPUJ, students enrolling under this Agreement may be required to take an English language proficiency exam and may be required to enroll in additional academic English classes that are supplemental to the core plan of study.
3. Prior to the start of the program, IUPUI will provide the incoming students with an estimate of the expenses to be expected during the period of attendance.
4. In addition to instructional fees, University of Tehran students are responsible for the following costs: international travel; room, board and living expenses; IUPUl mandatory fees; mandatory University Health Insurance Program (UHIP) for international students or equivalent private insurance; textbooks; and miscellaneous expenses.

Financial Support

 

Financial support for 1+1.5 graduate students will be offered. All students in the program will be guaranteed a scholarship in an amount of at least 25% of tuition. Competitive graduate assistantships with a stipend are also available and offered by the Department of Mechanical Engineering at IUPUI. Graduate assistantships are not guaranteed.

Note on Degree completion

 

Before the Purdue University MSc degree is awarded, University of Tehran students are required to return to the home campus of the University of Tehran to present their MSc thesis or their MSc project.