Planning And Executing Credible Experiments

Covers experiment planning, execution, analysis, and reporting This single-source resource guides readers in planning and conducting credible experiments for engineering, science, industrial processes, agriculture, and business. The text takes experimenters all the way through conducting a high-impact experiment, from initial conception, through execution of the experiment, to a defensible final report. It prepares the reader to anticipate the choices faced during each stage. Filled with real-world examples from engineering science and industry, Planning and Executing Credible Experiments: A Guidebook for Engineering, Science, Industrial Processes, Agriculture, and Business offers chapters that challenge experimenters at each stage of planning and execution and emphasizes uncertainty analysis as a design tool in addition to its role for reporting results. Tested over decades at Stanford University and internationally, the text employs two powerful, free, open-source software tools: GOSSET to optimize experiment design, and R for statistical computing and graphics. A website accompanies the text, providing additional resources and software downloads. A comprehensive guide to experiment planning, execution, and analysis Leads from initial conception, through the experiment’s launch, to final report Prepares the reader to anticipate the choices faced throughout an experiment Hones the motivating question Employs principles and techniques from Design of Experiments (DoE) Selects experiment designs to obtain the most information from fewer experimental runs Offers chapters that propose questions that an experimenter will need to ask and answer during each stage of planning and execution Demonstrates how uncertainty analysis guides and strengthens each stage Includes examples from real-life industrial experiments Accompanied by a website hosting open-source software Planning and Executing Credible Experiments is an excellent resource for graduates and senior undergraduates—as well as professionals—across a wide variety of engineering disciplines.

Thermal Systems Design Discover a project-based approach to thermal systems design In the newly revised Second Edition of Thermal Systems Design: Fundamentals and Projects, accomplished engineer and educator Dr. Richard J. Martin offers senior undergraduate and graduate students an insightful exposure to real-world design projects. The author delivers a brief review of the laws of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and combustion before moving on to a more expansive discussion of how to apply these fundamentals to design common thermal systems like boilers, combustion turbines, heat pumps, and refrigeration systems. The book includes design prompts for 14 real-world projects, teaching students and readers how to approach tasks like preparing Process Flow Diagrams and computing the thermodynamic details necessary to describe the states designated therein. Readers will learn to size pipes, ducts, and major equipment and to prepare Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams that contain the instruments, valves, and control loops needed for automatic functioning of the system. The Second Edition offers an updated look at the pedagogy of conservation equations, new examples of fuel-rich combustion, and a new summary of techniques to mitigate against thermal expansion and shock. Readers will also enjoy: Thorough introductions to thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer, including topics like the thermodynamics of state, flow in porous media, and radiant exchange A broad exploration of combustion fundamentals, including pollutant formation and control, combustion safety, and simple tools for computing thermochemical equilibrium when product gases contain carbon monoxide and hydrogen Practical discussions of process flow diagrams, including intelligent CAD, equipment, process lines, valves and instruments, and non-engineering items In-depth examinations of advanced thermodynamics, including customized functions to compute thermodynamic properties of air, combustion products, water/steam, and ammonia right in the user’s Excel workbook Perfect for students and instructors in capstone design courses, Thermal Systems Design: Fundamentals and Projects is also a must-read resource for mechanical and chemical engineering practitioners who are seeking to extend their engineering know-how to a wide range of unfamiliar thermal systems.

Clearly explains how to plan and carry out reliable experiments, how to conceive and circumstantially support research hypotheses, how to test research hypotheses, how to discover cause and effect, and more. For students and practitioners in all fields of the physical, life, earth, social, and engineering sciences. Contains more than 150 illustrative research examples from all fields. Based on Professor Romesburg's examination of 5,000 top scientific articles, studying the methods used to produce reliable knowledge. See the book's first page explaining the blind peer review of the book that was commissioned and paid for by the author's academic department; see the book's back cover for peer reviewer comments. To read most of it, go to Google Book Search (http://books.google.com/) and enter this: Romesburg Best Research Practices - then click on the book.

Designing Experiments for the Social Sciences: How to Plan, Create, and Execute Research Using Experiments is a practical, applied text for courses in experimental design. The text assumes that students have just a basic knowledge of the scientific method, and no statistics background is required. With its focus on how to effectively design experiments, rather than how to analyze them, the book concentrates on the stage where researchers are making decisions about procedural aspects of the experiment before interventions and treatments are given. Renita Coleman walks readers step-by-step on how to plan and execute experiments from the beginning by discussing choosing and collecting a sample, creating the stimuli and questionnaire, doing a manipulation check or pre-test, analyzing the data, and understanding and interpreting the results. Guidelines for deciding which elements are best used in the creation of a particular kind of experiment are also given. This title offers rich pedagogy, ethical considerations, and examples pertinent to all social science disciplines.

From the characterization of materials to accelerated life testing, experimentation with solids and structures is present in all stages of the design of mechanical devices. Sometimes only an experimental model can bring the necessary elements for understanding, the physics under study just being too complex for an efficient numerical model. This book presents the classical tools in the experimental approach to mechanical engineering, as well as the methods that have revolutionized the field over the past 20 years: photomechanics, signal processing, statistical data analysis, design of experiments, uncertainty analysis, etc. Experimental Mechanics of Solids and Structures also replaces mechanical testing in a larger context: firstly, that of the experimental model, with its own hypotheses; then that of the knowledge acquisition process, which is structured and robust; finally, that of a reliable analysis of the results obtained, in a context where uncertainty could be important.

Experiments are the most effective way to learn about the world. By cleverly interfering with something to see how it reacts we are able to find out how it works. In contrast to passive observation, experimenting provides us with data relevant to our research and thus less time and effort is spent separating relevant from irrelevant information. The art of experimentation is often learnt by doing, so an intuitive understanding of the experimental method usually evolves gradually through years of trial and error. This book speeds up the journey for the reader to becoming a proficient experimenter. Organized in two parts, this unique text begins by providing a general introduction to the scientific approach to experimentation. It then describes the processes and tools required, including the relevant statistical and experimental methods. Towards the end of the book a methodology is presented, which leads the reader through the three phases of an experiment: ‘Planning’, ‘Data Collection’, and ‘Analysis and Synthesis’. Experiment! Provides an excellent introduction to the methodology and implementation of experimentation in the natural, engineering and medical sciences Puts practical tools into scientific context Features a number of selected actual experiments to explore what are the key characteristics of good experiments Includes examples and exercises in every chapter This book focuses on general research skills, such as adopting a scientific mindset, learning how to plan meaningful experiments and understanding the fundamentals of collecting and interpreting data. It is directed to anyone engaged in experiments, especially Ph.D. and masters students just starting to create and develop their own experiments.