28555 - Automatic Machines

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide the knowledge related to the mechanical behaviour of materials and the methodologies for the analysis, and the design of mechanical elements used in automatic machines. At the end of the course, the student: -can study and design elastic and slender bodies accounting their ability to deform under different types of static load; -can create mathematical models to describe the mechanical behaviour of elastic and slender bodies to be used in automatic machines; -it can analyse the behaviour of elastic and slender bodies when subject to vibrations.

Course contents

The course is divided into two modules that are developed in parallel during the lecture period.

In the modules, topics related to Mechanical Behavior of Materials for Mechatronics and Vibration of Solids are covered.

Details of the topics that are covered are given below.

- Statics of rigid bodies and calculation of constraint relations in the case of loads and moving constraints

- Internal actions in slender bodies (e.g., beams) and their diagrams

- The concept of deformation in slender bodies, simple and composite, including under uniform and nonuniform thermal fields

- The concept of strain in slender, simple and composite bodies, including under uniform and nonuniform thermal fields

- Constitutive laws for materials (metallic, plastic and ceramic); with emphasis on quasi-static and viscoelastic behavior

- Study of the four stress cases (normal stress, torsion, pure bending and bending with shear), including under uniform or variable thermal fields, with emphasis on the analysis of displacement fields of slender bodies and their application in mechatronics

- Deflection of beams and related differential equations; exercises and applications of the study of deflection of beams under load conditions and moving constraints

- Use of generalized functions for the study of beams

- Study of the vibration of systems with one degree of freedom

- Study of the vibration of continuous bodies subjected to normal, torsional and flexural stresses

- Brief remarks on fatigue theory.

All modules are supplemented by exercises.

Some of the exercises are carried out by the teachers during the course of the lectures (there is no specific day for exercises).

Other exercises, however, are only set by the teachers in the classroom, and students are expected to complete them at home independently and collect them in an exercise book that will be an integral part of the oral examination. Finally, additional exercises are also assigned to students to be completed individually at home and collected in the exercise book that will be discussed during the oral test.

Readings/Bibliography

• Notes of the teacher
  
• J.M. Gere, B.J. Goodno, Mechanics of Materials, Cengage Learning, 2012
• S. Govindjee, Engineering Mechanics of Deformable Solids, Oxford University Press, 2013
• R.C. Hibbeler, Statics, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2016
• R.C. Hibbeler, Mechanics of Materials, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2016
• R.C. Hibbeler, Dynamics, Pearson Prentice Hall, 2016
• R.C. Juvinall, K.M. Marshek, Fundamentals of Machine Component Design, John Wiley & Sons, 2012
• D.Gross - Engineering Mechanics 1 - Statics - Springer , 2013
• D.Gross - Engineering Mechanics 2 - Mechanics of Materials - Springer, 2018
• F.Beer, Jr., E. R. Johnston, J. DeWolf, D. Mazurek - Mechanics of Materials, McGraw-Hill Education, 2014

Teaching methods

Frontal teaching in the classroom with use of slides and videos.

The course is developed both providing theoretical concepts and carrying out and assigning theoretical exercises and applications related to construction aspects of Automatic Machines.

To students are assigned exercises to be carried out autonomously and individually (only if specified by the teacher some exercises may be carried out in groups and, in this case, the names and surnames of the students who participated in the group must be specified in the homework book).

These exercises must be collected, in an orderly manner, in a homework book that the students must bring to the exam for oral discussion.

Assessment methods

The examination will include topics covered during all modules and will be by written test and subsequent oral discussion with the teachers.


Passing the written test is a prerequisite for admission to the oral test.


During the oral test, the student will have to answer theory questions and will have to discuss exercises from the workbook. In addition, the lecturer will ask the student cross-curricular and reasoning questions related to the topics and exercises covered in class and assigned at home.

Teaching tools

PowerPoint presentations and audiovisual.

Office hours

See the website of Carlo Gotti

See the website of Andrea Zucchelli