1. 1
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics
ME 121 ME Laboratory II
FALL 2016 – Lecture is in PA 416
Instructor
David C. Angstadt
356B Packard Lab.
Phone: x8-3848
E-mail: dca2
Office hours by email appointment
Teaching Assistants
Nicholas Acosta (nla215)
Matthew Pasch (mmp216)
Packard Laboratory
[Please contact via email]
Prerequisites:
ME 21 and ME 104 are required prerequisites for ME 121, and ME 231 is a co-requisite. If
you do not meet these requirements you should consult the course instructor immediately.
Course Organization:
ME 121 consists of one lecture period and one laboratory and/or homework exercise per
week. The lecture period will run for approximately 40-50 minutes and will be used to introduce
new material and provide the fundamental relationships required to perform the laboratory
exercises or homework assignments. The time for the lecture has been assigned by the
Registrar’s office—for this FALL it is FRIDAY at 10:10. Each Friday lecture will introduce the
lab or assignment that will be conducted during the following week.
The laboratory exercises will require approximately 1-3/4 hours (for some labs, less time will be
required) and will be established on a “flex-time” basis. Under this program, you are not
assigned a lab time by the Registrar, but will be scheduled with a group of other students for a
lab time based on the remainder of your schedule. You must attend the lab time assigned to
you.
Reading Assignments:
Handouts & other materials will be provided via Course Site as well as during the lecture and lab
periods. Additional information of lab topics can be found in the texts listed below—two of
which (B & C) are texts from pre-requisite/co-requisite courses. The Holman book is optional
and is not required for the course.
A: Holman, J.P., Experimental Methods for Engineers, 7th
edition, McGraw-Hill, New
York.
B: Fox and McDonald, Introduction to Fluid Mechanics, John Wiley,
New York.
C: Çengel and Boles, Thermodynamics-An Engineering Approach, McGraw-Hill,
New York.
D: LabVIEW 2009 Student Edition, Robert K. Bishop (see “LabVIEW section below)

2. 2
Laboratory Exercises:
At the beginning of each lab exercise, the Teaching Assistant (TA) will provide a brief overview
of the equipment and the experiment to be performed. After the TA has introduced the lab and
described the procedure, your group will be given approximately 35 to 40 minutes to perform the
experiment and collect the necessary data. The remainder of the lab time will be for data
analysis and completion of a brief lab write-up and quiz.
If you are unable to attend a lab you MUST consult with the course instructor to arrange a
time for a make-up lab. For a PLANNED absence (e.g., class trip, interview) permission for a
make-up must be granted BEFORE the scheduled missed lab day. ONLY in the case of a
documented emergency (e.g., illness, family emergency) will permission be granted for a lab
make-up after the fact. The TA will not allow you to do a make-up lab unless explicit
permission is given by the course instructor. Please note that any missed labs will count as a
zero and that if two or more labs are missed you will not be able to pass the course.
You must be on time to the lab session. To complete the lab properly, it is imperative that you
and the other members of your group arrive on time for your lab session. If you are more than
10 minutes late, you will not be allowed to perform the lab, since you will delay the other
members of your lab group from completing the lab in the time allotted. It will be necessary for
you to consult the course instructor to determine if and when you can make up the lab.
Laboratory Requirements:
You must bring the laboratory overview and write-up forms (obtained in lecture or from
CourseSite), a straight edge/ruler, and a hand calculator will be needed for most, if not all
laboratory exercises. There may be extra write-up forms available in the lab, but there is no
guarantee—make sure you have one with you when you arrive.
All laboratory exercises are to be performed on the appropriate lab forms and all work is to be
performed in pencil to facilitate correction of errors. It is expected that each laboratory exercise
and/or homework assignment will be done neatly, in an organized fashion, and according to any
guidelines provided. Sloppy, disorganized work will be penalized in grading. Please note that
all laboratory exercises are to be self-contained and finished within the lab period.
Exams and Quizzes:
Laboratory write-up and quiz. The lab write-up is a brief summary of the significant results
and a concise set of conclusions. This one or two paragraph summary and conclusions should
provide a synopsis of the experiment, including the results obtained and their compliance with,
or deviation from, expected theoretical values (additional details about this will be provided with
each lab). A short written quiz will be given at the end of each lab report.
Additionally, a comprehensive one-hour closed book final exam, covering material from the
entire course, will be given during normal lecture time near the end of the semester as indicated
on the most recent class schedule.

3. 3
Homework:
Either a laboratory exercise or a homework assignment will be performed each week, sometimes
even both. Homework assignments will be assigned with a due date & acceptable means for
submission (e.g., hardcopy or electronic). Please abide by the due dates & submission
instructions!! You will be assigned one homework exercise pertaining to uncertainty as well as
several LabVIEW related exercises.
Laboratory reports and quizzes will be completed before you leave lab for the day—there is no
“homework” associated with any of the lab reports. After the laboratory assignments are graded,
they will be kept in a specified area in room PL 275 for review. All completed lab work must
remain in the laboratory at all times.
Labview Activities:
During the course you will be asked to complete several tutorials/assignments related to
LabVIEW software. LabVIEW is a graphical programming software that is often used to control
experiments and acquire, manipulate, display and save experimental data. Throughout the
course, you will be collecting experimental data (e.g., temperatures, flow rates, pressures) using
manual readings of standard instruments as well as collecting similar data “automatically” via a
LabVIEW program interface that has been developed for a particular experiment.
The LabVIEW 2009 Student Edition (Bishop) book may be used as the basis for some of the
LabVIEW related exercises and assignments. This is the same book that was used for ME 21.
The purpose of the LabVIEW assignments is to teach you how to program with LabVIEW
software to accomplish the following:
• Utilize basic programming structures within LabVIEW Environment
• Send and receive signals via Digital Inputs & Outputs
• Send and receive signals/measurements via Analog Inputs & Outputs
• Acquire, manipulate, display and save experimental data
The assignments will consist of various tutorials and programming tasks that will be related to
Lab topics or the uncertainty assignment. Further detail on each assignment will be provided as
the semester progresses.
Course Grading:
Lab Reports 20%
Lab Quizzes 20%
HW & LabView 10%
Final Exam 50%
Total: 100%

4. 4
Academic Integrity:
A) Calculator Policy (APPLIES ONLY to FINAL EXAM for ME 121): The Department of
Mechanical Engineering & Mechanics only authorizes the use of the following calculators, in
compliance with the policy for the engineering licensing exam, for problems, quizzes, tests, and
final examinations administered as part of coursework:
HP: HP 33s; HP 35s
Casio: All FX-115 models (must have FX-115 in its model name)
Texas Instruments: All TI-30X models (must have TI-30X in its model name); All
TI-36X models (must have TI-36X in its model name)
Using any other electronic device, including cell phones, laptops, IPads, other
unspecified calculators, etc., for calculations during a test or examination will be
considered a violation of the code of conduct. Students caught using or even
having available any unapproved electronic devices during the administration of
an exam are subject to dismissal from the exam site and will be referred to the
Office of Student Conduct for disciplinary action.
In order to prepare adequately for formal testing, it is assumed that you will practice
using these same calculators for solutions to problems in labs and homework
where it is appropriate.
B) You are encouraged to discuss the assignments with one another, your friends, and with
the instructors and graders of the course. Indeed, this may be the most effective method
of learning. You may share concepts, approaches and strategies for producing a solution.
However all work submitted in your name must be your own and only your own.
Workload Expectations
The Department of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics expects that students enrolled in our
courses will be spending an average of three hours of effort per week outside of class time for
each credit hour for which they are registered.
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities:
If you have a disability for which you are or may be requesting accommodations, please contact
both your instructor and the Office of Academic Support Services, University Center C212 (610-
758-4152) as early as possible in the semester. You must have documentation from the
Academic Support Services office before accommodations can be granted.
Required University Statement
Lehigh University endorses The Principles of Our Equitable Community. We expect each
member of this class to acknowledge and practice these Principles. Respect for each other and
for differing viewpoints is a vital component of the learning environment inside and outside the
classroom. (http://www4.lehigh.edu/diversity/principles).

5. 5
ME 121 ME LABORATORY II
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Gain familiarity with statistical techniques applied to experimental method.
2. Develop ability to critically assess experimental uncertainty.
3. Develop ability to plan and propose a new experimental project.
4. Become familiar with thermodynamic principles represented by a boiler experiment.
5. Learn the principles of air conditioning and evaluation of performance of an air conditioner.
6. Gain an understanding of the fundamentals of diesel engine performance via experimental
measurements
7. Learn an orifice-based technique for measurement of flow rate in a pipe.
8. Determine velocity distribution across a pipe and its relationship to the mass flow rate
through the pipe.
9. Learn technique of measurement of pressure drop associated with friction effects due to flow
through a pipe.
10. Evaluate the performance characteristics of a pump in a flow loop.
11. Utilize Labview software and data acquisition hardware to create basic programs to perform
basic data acquisition, data manipulation and hardware control.