The course is offered in a 6-CFU version, 5 of these are offered jointly. The present detailed program defines aims, educational outcomes and syllabus for each one of the two joint courses.

CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

The course has a strong experimental orientation: the aim is to prepare a student to manage a measurement of the most common mechanical quantities used in civil engineering, and to evaluate the measurement results and their quality, in an autonomous way, also thanks to practical activities.

This will help to fully understand all the aspects of measurements, with emphasis on metrology issues.

Specific attention will be devoted to dynamic measurements, as a tool and a new emerging technology aimed at helping the so called Structural Health Monitoring, allowing one to improve the knowledge of a structure behavior or the best exploitation of water resources, by continuous check all days, every day.

A reference will be made to the use of measurements to validate models or to start model updating, enriching the continuous information exchange between experimental approaches and numerical models, one of the main requirements of both civil and hydraulic engineering.

Practical aspects are strongly privileged: the student will learn to use a data acquisition system, to store and properly manage data, with particular attention paid to the analysis in the frequency domain.

This will help to develop the proper sensitivity to a correct sensor use and to a critical approach to data acquisition.

An important part of the course is made up of experimental labs. These will serve to demonstrate the practical fallout of the taught topics and also to teach students to work in a group and to write reports, as if they were engineers already working in companies or as professionals.

The chosen examples will be related to topics of interest for  civil engineers.

BIOENGINEERING STUDENTS

The course has a strong experimental orientation: the aim is to prepare a student to manage a measurement of the most common mechanical quantities used in bio engineering, and to evaluate the measurement results and their quality, in an autonomous way, also thanks to practical activities.

This will help to fully understand all the aspects of measurements, with emphasis on metrology issues.

Specific attention will be devoted to dynamic measurements, as a tool helping new emerging technology for proper management of the most complex measurements, like vibrations and sound, and emphasis on the strategies adopted to monitor a process.

Practical aspects are strongly privileged: the student will learn to use a data acquisition system, to store and properly manage data, with particular attention paid to the analysis in the frequency domain, but, above all, to the everyday use, avoiding common errors. This will help to develop the proper sensitivity to a correct sensor use and to a critical approach to data acquisition.

An important part of the course is made up of experimental labs. These will serve to demonstrate the practical fallout of the taught topics and also to teach students to work in a group and to write reports, as if they were engineers already working in companies or as professionals.

The chosen examples will be related to topics of interest for  civil engineers.

CIVIL ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Students are expected to develop a specific knowledge and understanding of experimental issues, which will range from the knowledge of the most common sensors and the criteria for their choice, to their use and choices for data acquisition, up to the final data management.

This aspect will be specifically covered also in terms of application of the acquired knowledge and understanding: in fact, one of the most important course outcomes is the capability to develop and manage a complete measurement system, also through the use of data acquisition boards and software developed by the students on their own computers. Communication skills are also included, as the students will be asked to develop two projects in a team and then discuss them, showing to have acquired the needed technical background and an autonomous evaluation capability for the defense of their job.

They will be able to insert the experimental skills in their general engineering baggage, making them stronger in the capability to solve new problems and aware of the differences and cooperative approach between theory and practice.

All the activities which are not teaching classes will be made up of experimental labs. Even if the chosen rooms are not experimental labs, the students are asked to carry their own computer while the data acquisition boards, as well as the sensors and all what needed, will be provided by the tutor so that they can carry out their own experimentation everywhere. This approach, known as “Flying Lab”, has been extensively tested, producing more than interesting results in the past years.

BIOENGINEERING STUDENTS

Students are expected to develop a specific knowledge and understanding of experimental issues, which will range from the knowledge of the most common sensors and the criteria for their choice, to their use and choices for data acquisition, up to the final data management.

This aspect will be specifically covered also in terms of application of the acquired knowledge and understanding: in fact, one of the most important course outcomes is the capability to develop and manage a complete measurement system, also through the use of data acquisition boards and software developed by the students on their own computers. Communication skills are also included, as the students will be asked to develop two projects in a team and then discuss them, showing to have acquired the needed technical background and an autonomous evaluation capability for the defense of their job.

They will be able to insert the experimental skills in their general engineering baggage, making them stronger in the capability to solve new problems and aware of the differences and cooperative approach between theory and practice.

All the activities which are not teaching classes will be made up of experimental labs. Even if the chosen rooms are not experimental labs, the students are asked to carry their own computer while the data acquisition boards, as well as the sensors and all what needed, will be provided by the tutor so that they can carry out their own experimentation everywhere. This approach, known as “Flying Lab”, has been extensively tested, producing more than interesting results in the past years.

ALL STUDENTS

The main topics are:

Metrology basics

Static and dynamic aspects in measurements

Data acquisition: sensor networks, cabled and wireless systems

Signal analysis, with specific emphasis on the analyses in the frequency domain

Sensors for the most common mechanical measurements

• Strain measurements
• Displacement measurements
• Vibration measurements
• Force and pressure measurements
• Temperature measurements

The course will be completed with many practical examples or specific workshops, dealing with real examples from existing systems, according to the students’ specific interests.

ALL STUDENTS

There are no strong requirements, as pre-requisites. A general idea of the main engineering topics is more than enough. Some specific aspects, related to electronics, will be given during classes, and the past experience shows how these can be fully comprehended even by an engineer having just basic and general scientific knowledge.

ALL STUDENTS

There are two check points, consisting in small projects which are going to be carried out with the teacher's help, constituting the base for the exam discussion.

The two projects will include both questions about the theoretical knowledge and concerning the experimentation the students will develop on their own.

Every student is asked to bring his reports to the final exam (these can be written in groups), where he will have to defend his activity or to justify his choices individually. The student needs to show good capability to present his job and to discuss it, after having shown good critical approaches to the problems he has faced, with proper technical language.

Students will be left free to develop a project on their own as a final demonstration of their skills. During the past years this personal involvement has produced very good and valuable results.