Research colloquium: Mechanics in teaching – a theoretical sound basis and application-oriented fascination for engineering students

As part of the research colloquium for final theses, doctoral and habiliation candidates, we cordially invite you on Thursday, May 20, 2025, at 4:30 p.m. in room 3516 (Mönchebergstr. 7). We are pleased to present the lecture by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Detlef Kuhl with the title

"Mechanics in teaching – theoretically sound basis and application-oriented fascination for engineering students"

Furthermore, this meeting serves the organizational coordination of the research colloquium in the current semester.

Abstract

Mechanics in teaching – theoretically sound basis and application-oriented fascination for engineering students

One of the challenging tasks in the sustainability transformation of the world is the qualification of engineering students, who should and can creatively change existing technology in their later professional life and thus shape it sustainably. Never before has the classical education in mechanics with the modeling of technical systems, the confident and at the same time critical model evaluation, the well-founded solution of the model equations with use for intensive studies and the generation of in-depth valid findings been of such immeasurable importance as in the phase of ecological transformation. Only well-founded knowledge of the function of technical systems makes it possible to replace actionist trial-and-error procedures with actual, plannable and reliably predictable improvements. Disruptive changes in technology require a high level of competence in order to recognize, expand and apply fundamental correlations for future engineering designs. In order to acquire this competence, a valuable foundation could be laid in the basic training of mechanics, which, with further equally high-quality training, allows the hope of successfully mastering the challenge of technological change. Unfortunately, the theoretically sound teaching of mechanics currently rarely reaches the minds of students and their ability to understand, apply and transform technical systems.

This presentation will show how classical mechanics, which is important for engineering, can be combined with practical and thus stimulating analysis of engineering systems to reach the intellectual core of students. In addition, the example of a recently planned new highway bridge construction in Bergshausen shows how the skillful application of mechanical principles, which can already be used by Bachelor students, could contribute to the sustainable preservation of the existing bridge through partial improvements.