Instructor:
Jeffrey A. Weiss, jeff.weiss@utah.edu
Office hours T, Th 12:30 - 1:30, MEB 2458

Teaching Assistant:
Laxmi Krishnan, lk11@utah.edu
Ph.D. Student, Bioengineering
Office hours M, W 11:30-12:30, MEB 2488/2565

Grader:
Meredith Roberts, mcr11@utah.edu
Ph.D. Student, Bioengineering

Course Objectives:  The course will introduce the fundamental principles of mechanics applied to study the physiology of biological systems.  An introduction to the basic concepts of continuum mechanics will be provided, including index and direct notation, tensors, finite deformation kinematics, stress, the constitutive equation, and the governing conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy applied to deformable continua.  Rigid body kinematics will be introduced in the context of applications in biomechanics.  Specific types of tissue to be covered include bone, ligament, skeletal and cardiac muscle and articular cartilage.  This course is required for all seniors in Bioengineering and is the starting point for graduate coursework in biomechanics.  Students should be familiar with the concepts covered in this course before enrollment in Biosolid Mechanics (BIOEN 7210) and Biofluid Mechanics (BIOEN 7220).

Prerequisites: Physics (PHYCS 2210), linear algebra & differential equations (MATH 2270-2280), or instructor approval.  PDEs is a co-requisite, unless the student is already familiar with concepts from vector calculus (gradient, divergence, etc.)

Note:  This class meets concurrently with BIOEN 6900-1 (Introduction to Biomechanics, Graduate, 4 units), which includes the lecture component of the 5201 course with the laboratory, and BIOEN 6900-4 (3 units), which includes the lecture component only.

Grading  (5201):
Homework (6) 25%
Exams (2) 50%
Lab reports 25%

Grading  (6900-1):
Homework (6) 25%
Exams (2) 50%
Lab reports 25%

Grading (6900-4):
Homework (6) 30%
Exams (2) 60%
Class presentations 10%

BIOEN 5201