Mohr Badgers

Learning Tool to Enhance Understanding of Stress States and Mohr’s Circle

Problem statement

Mohr’s circle is a fundamental concept in mechanical engineering, typically introduced early on in courses such as UW–Madison’s Mechanics of Materials (ME 307). However, many students struggle to connect the 2D and 3D graphical methods to real-world stress states in physically loaded structures, limiting their intuitive understanding of stress-strain relationships. To address this challenge, the Mohr Badger Capstone Team will design, and test a prototype handheld tool that measures strain under axial, torsional, and flexural loads and transmits data to a MATLAB application. This MATLAB application will also be operational without the handheld tool, making it accessible outside of the classroom. This integrated system provides both a tangible and visual learning experience with real-time feedback. The project builds on the foundation described in Work-In-Progress: Learning Tool to Enhance Understanding of Stress States and Mohr’s Circle (ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, 2024), which underscores the educational value and need for interactive tools to make challenging concepts such as stress-strain relationships and Mohr’s Circle more accessible to engineering students.

In addition to the primary goal of enhancing student comprehension, the Mohr Badgers Capstone Team aims to benefit a range of stakeholders. Instructors gain an interactive teaching aid that enriches lectures and lab demonstrations, while future researchers also gain a proven model for integrating real-time experimental learning into mechanics instruction, one they can build upon and refine in subsequent studies.

Team members

Andrew Battenberg – admin
Lubna Barzanji – communicator
Jack Tuchtenhagen – facilitator

Client

Jennifer Detlor
UW – Mechanical Engineering