Developing programming skills to enhance engineering dynamics modelling

This paper details a successful approach to developing programming skills, central to projects which simulate dynamical systems. The approach here is to include the modelling of nonlinear differential equations which are best solved numerically, so reducing the amount of model simplification and increasing accuracy. The programming language used is Java, which presents an opportunity for high quality simulation models in dynamics. A project which simulates the characteristics of an inverted pendulum, is chosen to illustrate use of the Java programming language. The path taken by students to complete projects is outlined, highlighting necessary skills they must acquire. A detailed description of the modelling of the inverted pendulum is given and the findings of a survey completed by the students are also reported.