The College of Engineering and Computer Science at UT Chattanooga has reported broad efforts aimed to modernize and enhance undergraduate engineering laboratories and design courses.. This process of improvement was recently directed to the mechanics of materials laboratory course. The College offers second year engineering students a one credit hour mechanics of materials lab concurrently with a three credit hour lecture.
Historically, the lab experience consisted of demonstrations and a final truss design/build assignment. The sequence of demonstration lab topics included: hardness testing of metals, toughness testing and the Charpy impact specimen, tensile testing of metals, deflection and strain of a simply supported beam, deflection and strain of a shaft in torsion and deflection and strain of a truss. The final project required each student to analyze, construct then proof test a simply supported balsa truss of some given design.