Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Research Themes

The department is active in a wide range of research areas. Our strong expertise in both Mechanical and Industrial Engineering adds to the diversity of the research we pursue.

Ryerson MIE research falls broadly into seven areas of concentration, each of which is supported by grants and contracts from NSERC and other government agencies, and by a range of industry partnerships. Well-equipped laboratories are maintained in each of the areas of concentration to facilitate experiment and research.

• Biomechanics
• Data Science
  
• Industrial Engineering
• Manufacturing and Materials
• Mechatronics and MEMS
• Solid Mechanics
• Thermofluids and Sustainable Energy Systems
• Vibration Dynamics and Control

Biomechanics

Biomechanics is the application of mechanical principles to living organisms. This area includes bioengineering, research and analysis of the mechanics of living organisms, occupational biomechanics, and the application of engineering principles to biological systems (and vice-versa). Biomechanical research may be carried out at the molecular level, or may involve study of tissue and complex organs.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Fatigue damage assessment of Haversion cortical bone under physiological loads, gender and age effects on bone fracture, Navigation and deformation of Catheter in vascular artery, and minimizing shoulder load in light manual labour.

Data Science

As data gets big and complex, there is a need for multi scale approaches in transforming data to knowledge. This transformation takes place by joining disciplines to model, analyse, learn and extract knowledge in diverse domains from biomedicine to environment, engineering, business, software, and banking. Data Science Lab (DSL) is engaged in research and training programs. Research in DSL involves design of intelligent algorithms and development of decision making models to form risk management systems, personalized diagnosis and patient treatment systems, and process modeling systems. Training programs include degree programs and short courses in business intelligence, and smart analytics.

Industrial Engineering

Our Industrial Engineering (IE) researchers bring world class expertise in the areas of multi-stakeholder decision making, multi-criteria decision making, supply chain design and logistics management, organizational learning, simulation, human factors, manufacturing systems, operations research, resources allocation, business system evaluation, environmental management systems, and reliability and quality assurance. They have a long track record of working closely with Canadian hospitals, the financial sector, manufacturing, and other services and industries, conducting multidisciplinary research and development projects, and finding cutting-edge solutions for the today's challenging business environment.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Productivity improvement, performance analysis, simulation, computational intelligence, performance measurement, sustainable development, environmental management, quality management, life cycle assessment, Human Factors and Ergonomics for securing sustainable high performing work systems, Organisational Design and Management, Virtual Design Tools & Simulation, Reliability, Safety and Quality Engineering, Intelligent Systems in Reliability and Safety, Human Reliability, Medical Device Reliability Evaluation, Health Care Reliability, Risk Management, Manufacturing Systems, Performance Improvement, Operations Research and Finance in Supply Chain Management, Manufacturing Systems, and Service Industries, Multi-stakeholder decision making, Multi-criteria decision making, Environmental management, Resources allocation, Electronic commerce, Personalized Web search.

Manufacturing and Materials

This research area focuses on the processes, methods and technologies involved in manufacturing and materials and their applications. The aim is the improvement of the processes, microstructures, properties, and performance involved in developing advanced and critical engineering materials and manufacturing goods. The needs of industry in these areas are well-recognized, especially given the wide range of manufacturing in Canada and the world. The group has equipped with some state-of-the-art materials characterization and testing facilities, such as scanning electron microscope, X-ray diffractometer, fatigue testing system.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Canada-China-USA collaborative project on magnesium front end R&D for automotive applications; fatigue deformation of advanced and critical engineering materials; development of nanobainitic steels; integrity and reliability of welded joints using various techniques (friction stir welding, laser welding, double-sided arc welding, and resistance spot welding); mechanical behavior and modeling of nanomaterials and biomaterials.

Mechatronics & MEMS

Mechatronics (or Mechanical and Electronics Engineering) is the synergistic combination of mechanical engineering, electrcal engineering, control engineering, systems design engineering, and computer engineering to create useful products. The purpose of this interdisciplinary engineering field is the study of automata from an engineering perspective and serves the purposes of controlling advanced hybrid systems. Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is the technology of the very small, and merges at the nano-scale into nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and nanotechnology, used in cutting-edge biomedical and industrial applications.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Visual-Servo Control of Robots (Visual Servoing), Micro-robots, Image-Guided Robotic Surgery , Telerobotics, Haptic Interfaces, Micro-systems and MEMS with the focus on:, Micro-manipulation , Optical MEMS and MOEMS, Micro-Sensors, Micro-Actuators, MEMS Materials, MEMS Reliability and Fatigue Analysis, MEMS Fabrication using AJM and Laser , Microfluidics, Nano-systems and NEMS with the focus on:, Ultrafast Laser Nano-Fabrication and Processing, 3-D Micro- and Nano-Structuring.

Solid Mechanics

This area deals with strength and behaviour of materials, using physics and other scientific approaches to study aspects such as stress and strain, elasticity and plasticity, tension, torsion, fatigue and creep.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Characterization and analysis of materials and structures for mechanical and aerospace applications, investigation into the vibrations and buckling of composite plates and shells, thermal stresses, creep and plasticity, computational mechanics applied to such other areas as biomechanical devices, casting of materials.

Thermofluids and Sustainable Energy Systems

The focus of much of this research is the development of more efficient energy systems, which have less impact on the environment. Members of this group have expertise in advanced computer simulation methods, such as computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite element methods. The group also has experience with experimental measurement techniques, such as laser interferometry, Phase Doppler interferometry, laser-induced fluorescence, inverse methods, and hot-wire anemometry.

Recent and ongoing research project topics: Sustainable energy conversion systems such as the design of improved fuel cell systems, solar energy applications, co-generation, green building energy systems: advanced heating ventilation and air conditioning systems, ground coupled heat pumps, whole-building energy modeling, fenestration performance modeling, solar energy utilization, improved manufacturing processes: fluidized bed heat treatment, semi-conductor crystal growth in microgravity, waste heat recovery, fundamental research in fluid mechanics, heat and mass transfer: characterization of turbulent and combusting flows, modeling of multi-phase flow and heat transfer, measurement of diffusion coefficients in a microgravity.

Vibration Dynamics and Control

This area involves the study of the mechanics of vibration with an eye to producing stabler, more resilient mechanisms that can exert a finer degree of control. The field finds applications for the scientific understanding of the dynamics of linear, time invariant systems, including basic concepts of linear dynamics of discrete systems, the dynamics of controlled structural systems, and analysis of the dynamic behavior of continuous system using discretization techniques.

Examples of ongoing research projects coming soon..