Tamara Knott

Work in progress - spiral curriculum approach to reformulate engineering curriculum

A theme-based spiral curriculum approach is being adopted to initiate the department-level reform (DLR) of the freshman engineering and the bioprocess engineering curricula at Virginia Tech. A large number of engineering faculty members are collaborating with experts in educational psychology and academic assessment to accomplish the objectives of this 3-year NSF supported project that began in September 2004. Successful implementation of the spiral approach will be used as a model for incorporating similar reforms in other engineering departments and elsewhere

Effect of fiber orthotropy on effective composite properties

Classical form analytical expressions are presented for four of the five effective elastic constants of a transversely isotropic composite material containing ortho-tropic fibers. Circumferentially and radially orthotropic fibers are considered. The properties of composites with orthotropic fibers are compared to those with isotropic and transversely isotropic fibers. It is shown that the morphology of the fiber can have a significant effect on composite properties. It is also shown that fiber morphology has a significant effect on the stress distributions in a composite cylinder.