Three courses related to Automotive Engineering are offered to senior students in
the Mechanical Engineering Department. The
undergraduate courses
... [Show More] Automotive Engineering and Performance of Road Vehicles are
designed to give basic information by providing an insight into the complex dynamic structure
and behavior of motor vehicles. A balanced descriptive and analytical treatment of the subject
is pursued to equip the graduating students not only with an understanding of the basic design
principles but also with the basic engineering approach to modeling and simulation for the
prediction and optimization of performance. These two courses provide the background for the
graduate course Vehicle Dynamics, in which the emerging technologies, as well as the basic
issues in vehicle dynamics, are examined in more detail.
A considerable number of books are available on the subject of motor vehicles. With
a few exceptions, these books are mostly related to the functioning, principles of construction,
and maintenance and/or repair of motor vehicles. As such, they are intended mainly to provide
information for the layman or the mechanic rather than engineers. These lecture notes are
compiled from the material taught by the Author in the Automotive Engineering course with
the primary goal of introducing the student to the functioning, analysis, and design of the
subsystems that ultimately decide the dynamic behavior of motor vehicles.
The organization of the text and the selection of the topics represent the Author's
View of the subject as course material and a primary reference for a senior undergraduate
Mechanical Engineering class. It is sincerely hoped that the fundamental concepts provided here
will equip the reader with a sound background in the subject of Automotive Engineering so that
he/she can follow current literature on research and development or work towards the solution
of a particular problem. [Show Less]