Bachelor of Engineering (Energy Systems): Year 3

Introduction to geotechnical engineering. Characteristics of soils, phase relations; effective stress, total stress and pore water pressures; undrained and drained shear strength; Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion; laboratory testing of soils; earth pressures; seepage. Introduction to bearing capacity, consolidation and slope stability. Geometric design of highways: sight distance, horizontal and vertical alignment, transition curves, aesthetics and computer applications with digital terrain models. Signposting. Junction design. Isolated traffic signals. Roundabouts. Speed, flow and density. Level of service. Specifications for roadworks. Sub-base materials. Roadbase materials. Surfacing materials. Equilibrium moisture content. Equivalent wheel load factor. CBR test. Empirical flexible pavement design. Introduction to: contractual roles and relationships, contracts and contract documents, construction planning and control, project network analysis, health, safety and welfare in construction, disputes claims and arbitration, economic appraisal and evaluation of construction projects. History of concrete in structures. Limit state design principles. Loading. Analysis of reinforced concrete sections in flexure. Shear. Bond. Deflection and cracking. Durability. Design of simple reinforced concrete slabs, beams and columns. Pad foundations. Introduction to reinforcement detailing. Computer-aided drafting. Simple computer analysis of frames. Introduction to modern design principles for steelwork. Introduction to codes of practice for loading and steelwork BS6399, BS5950 and EC3. Loading of Structures. Tension members including eccentric loading. Local buckling, effective section area and moduli. Compression members including eccentric loading. Basis of strut design curves. Design of laterally supported beams. Connections. Bolts, types and grades. Welds, types, electrodes. Direct shear joints. Eccentrically loaded joints – shear and torsion, and shear and tension types. Joints in simple and rigid design. Design of simple buildings incorporating the above elements which also include bolted and welded trusses. Bracing. Traditional energy resources and their sustainability. Worldwide and Irish energy consumption. Review of sustainable energy resources including: solar, wind, hydro, ocean, geothermal and biomass. Nature and availability of resource, quantification of power, energy capture/conversion systems and associated environmental impacts. Water wave mechanics including the structure of ocean and coastal waves. Waves as a group and wave energy. Refraction and diffraction of waves, breaking waves. Waves as a random process. Wave energy conversion devices. Global tidal dynamics. Estuarine tidal dynamics. Tidal barrages, tidal stream turbines. Basic structural concepts including equilibrium, linearity, superposition, determinacy and geometric stability. Member forces and deflections in statically determinate trusses; shear and moment diagrams. Introduction to real work, virtual work. Strain Energy. Fixed Beams. Continuous Beams. Stiffness and Flexibility. Introduction to moment distribution. Time-independent and time-dependent behaviour, elasticity, plasticity, viscoelasticity. Bending, torsion, combined loading, principal stresses and strains. This module is builds on earlier coursework in procedural programming, and introduces the Java programming language and object oriented programming. Topics include: Introduction to Java, Java Syntax and operators, precedence rules and method overloading, applets and graphics, objects and classes. Additional OOP concepts are presented including: modularity and encapsulation, inheritance and composition, abstract classes and fundamentals of OO Design. In addition to standard programming assignments, additional assignments and examples will be drawn from Energy Systems. Introduction to Matlab: Data input & output, Manipulating Matrices, Data Visualisation, Programming constructs, Matlab functions and scripts, Introduction to Matlab OO classes. Introduction to Simulink, Basic Model Design & Implementation, Modeling Dynamic Control Systems, Strong emphasis on Energy Systems Case Studies both in lectures and associated labwork. Laws of electromagnetism, magnetic circuits, magnetic materials Transformers: equivalent circuits and transformer tests; DC generators & motors: equivalent circuits and tests; Fractional horsepower motors; Introduction to 3-phase systems, induction motors & generators. Speed control of DC machines; 3-phase power;AC induction motors: equivalent circuits, tests and speed control Doubly fed induction generator, Power quality and harmonics, Power systems: planning and load flow. Semester 1 Fourier Analysis: Fourier series and Fourier transform. Analysis and design of signal processing systems, passive and active filters. Random signal analysis, energy and power spectral density. Introduction to Digital Signal Processing.

Semester 2 Analogue communications systems, amplitude modulation and frequency modulation. Communication in the presence of noise. Sampling and quantization. Digital Communication. Series of Lectures in professionalism, ethics, health and safety, intellectual property, teamwork, continuing professional development (CPD). Examination by portfolio. Modelling of feedback control systems. Polar plots & Nyquist stability. Performance specifications. Root-Locus. M-circles and the Nichols chart. Analogue controller design: PID control. Practical examples of the implementation of control systems. Analogue controller design: phase lead & phase lag compensation Basics of digital control. Representation of digital control systems in s-plane and z-plane. Interpretation of pole-zero maps in z-plane. Frequency-folding effects. Digital design by emulation. Introduction to state space matrix representation. Laboratory assignments and experiments related to the modules in core and elective modules. Each student must complete a project in the area of Energy Systems Engineering in an area related to the stream they have chosen. The project would be significantly discipline dependent but will incorporate a multidisciplinary content. Governing differential equations of flow – continuity, momentum and energy; Navier-Stokes equation. Simplified concepts, stream function and potential flows. Dimensional analysis and similarity; dimensionless groups; modelling and experimental fluid mechanics. Laminar, transitional and turbulent flows; Reynolds number regimes in internal and external flows; the time-averaged equations. The speed of sound, acoustics and compressible flow regimes. Internal compressible flows; steady adiabatic and isentropic flows; effects of area changes; normal-shock waves; converging and diverging nozzle flows. Viscous flow in ducts; frictional pressure losses; component losses; diffusers; flow metering. Viscous external flows; boundary layers; external forces on immersed bodies – drag, lift. Idealised plane-flows; elemental solutions, superposition, images. Unsteady flows; vortex shedding, aeroacoustics and forcing; added mass. Application of mathematics, materials sciences, and engineering mechanics to problems in the analysis and design of mechanical elements; considers product specification, manufacturing methods, safety and economic factors. Detailed design of a selection of machine components based on analytical solutions, empirical techniques and test results. Introduction to the use of the computer in engineering design. Introduction to energy, heat and work. Thermodynamic properties of solids, liquids, ideal gases and phase change substances; The First Law of Thermodynamics. Applications to closed systems and control volumes; The Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy and exergy. Isentropic efficiency; Introduction to power and refrigeration – the basic Rankine, Otto and vapour-compression cycles; Introduction to conduction, convection and radiation; Biological energy conversion, thermoregulation, perioperative hypothermia, thermodilution cardiac output monitoring; One-dimensional conduction, extended surfaces, conduction with generation; Three-dimensional conduction, the heat diffusion equation, the Pennes bioheat equation. Hyperthermic therapy devices. Review of structure and classification of metals, deformation in metals, elasticity, plasticity, dislocations, strain-hardening, vacancies, diffusion and alloying, recrystallisation, phase equilibrium, phase diagrams, heat treatment, metal processing, metal forming, casting, forging, powder metallurgy, ferrous and non-ferrous metals and alloys, hardness measurement: micro, ultra-micro and nano-indentation. Basic concepts and classification of vibration problems; Types of analysis; Free and harmonically excited vibration; Single, two and multi-degree of freedom systems; natural frequencies and modeshapses; continuous systems; Numerical techniques; Vibration measurement and control.