Active learning approach to enhance rotor dynamics understanding: A classroom demonstration

In the last decades, novel teaching strategies have been increasingly adopted to improve and enhance the students learning process by promoting their involvement and engagement during classes. In this context, this work presents a laboratory experience proposed to the third-year bachelor students of the course of ‘Mechanics of Vibrations’, held at the faculty of mechanical engineering of Politecnico di Milano. The experience consisted in the presentation of a rotor test bench specifically designed for educational purposes. Main concepts of rotor dynamics were analysed and showed, together with a critical discussion on the discrepancies between the Jeffcott–Laval model and experimental results. This project, that is one of the outcomes of an educational project for post-covid teaching promoted by Politecnico di Milano, involved almost 200 students in total. An anonymous evaluation survey proposed to students revealed a general appreciation of the experience, especially for the possibility of visualising important theoretical concepts. Given the positive feedback, the demonstration will be repeated in the next academic year, with some changes according to students’ suggestions.