This course presents theories for preventing/mitigating the failure modes that are most frequently encountered in mechanical engineering. These include high-cycle fatigue, low-cycle fatigue, stress concentration, fracture, creep, the various forms of corrosion, etc. The interplay between corrosion and mechanical failure-inducing modes will be covered also. This course shall cover such important design tools as linear fracture mechanics, the popular rules for predicting fatigue strength, models for predicting crack growth, and so forth. Real-life case studies involving the various failure modes, and the use of theories for explaining their occurrence and for preventing their recurrence would be presented in this course.

CILO-1: Apply the fundamentals of materials science and corrosion science to identify the causes of failure of mechanical systems and components CILO-2: Describe the commonly used material characterisation techniques and non-destructive detection methods to analyse the failures of mechanical systems and components CILO-3: Identify the common failure modes of mechanical systems and components, and articulate remedial actions