Spring 2027

Applied Thermal / Structural Finite Element Analysis

Undergraduate course teaching simulation of 1D-3D structural and thermal systems using commercial FE software (ANSYS) via GUI and APDL, focusing on model verification and thermal stress effects.

offering recorded3 credits
Recorded instructors · Spring 2027 Andrew Mikkelson3.6/5

Summary

1 / 6

Past student reviews · Andrew Mikkelson

Homework rubrics were unclear, and one student felt graders deducted small amounts of points. Exams required significant time, and practice questions did not match the midterm difficulty.

What you’ll be able to do

  • Generate an ANSYS FE model to assess the steady-state / static structural or thermal response of a 1-D, 2-D or 3-D component or structure

  • Determine an appropriate element type, specify the material properties and apply loads, boundary conditions and constraints for both thermal and structural ANSYS simulations

  • Apply time dependent loads and boundary conditions to perform both thermal and structural transient analyses

  • Postprocess a FE model solution in ANSYS to possibly determine quantities such as temperature, stress, displacements and natural frequencies (and associated mode shapes)

  • Generate an ANSYS FE model to assess the transient structural or thermal response of a 1-D, 2-D or 3-D component or structure

Source: UW Guide

Grade history

↗
average GPA
letter grades
A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

All recorded terms · compare terms & instructors

Prerequisites

Course map

M E 306 orE M A 303, or graduate/professional standing, or member of Engineering Guest Students

    • M E 306
    • EMA 303
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students
    take one
ME 460

This is a best-effort interpretation; check the catalog requirements above.

Prerequisite text tree
  • Any of
    • M E 306
    • EMA 303
    • graduate/professional standing
    • member of Engineering Guest Students

Professors

Spring 2027
Adjusted rating
RMP difficulty
captured reviews
About this rating

Raw average: 3.61/5 from 38 quality ratings. The adjusted rating blends this with the UW review average (3.66/5), weighted as 20 additional ratings. Smaller samples stay closer to that average. Each captured review is counted once in the prior; this does not correct who chooses to leave a review.

For this course: 3.0/5 raw quality · 3.7/5 difficulty · 3 reviews

RMP profile ↗ · All captured review dates; profile matched by name.

Past student reviews · Andrew Mikkelson

Andrew Mikkelson was a great lecturer with a dry sense of humor who taught the course well, helping one student grasp the subject for professional use.

Others found lecture slides dense and office hours unhelpful or rude. They also cited unclear homework rubrics, an outdated program, and a midterm practice question that was too simple.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.49 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=34 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 80.0% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.28 GPA, 53.1% A/AB (n=32 letter grades). Includes jointly taught sections.

Historical instructors & teaching patterns

ANDREW MIKKELSON is recorded teaching in Spring 2016, Spring 2017, Spring 2018, Spring 2019, Spring 2020, Spring 2022, Spring 2023, Spring 2024, Spring 2025, Spring 2026. Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Recorded history may be incomplete and does not establish a future schedule.

Calendar & sections

Spring 2027

Schedule loads here as you scroll.

SectionModeEnrolled / capacityWaitlist
LEC 001Classroom Instruction0 / 360

Times are Central. Select a meeting for details; export includes recorded dates for the selected sections. Enrollment reflects scan time.

Meeting source records
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Student experience

the class

Past student reviews · Andrew Mikkelson

Andrew Mikkelson taught the course effectively, and a student found the material applicable in professional work, noting his dry humor and strong lecturing style.

Recent recorded grades — Spring 2024: 3.49 GPA, 85.3% A/AB (n=34 letter grades); Spring 2025: 3.69 GPA, 80.0% A/AB (n=35 letter grades); Spring 2026: 3.28 GPA, 53.1% A/AB (n=32 letter grades).

difficulty & workload

Past student reviews · Andrew Mikkelson

Homework rubrics were unclear, and one student felt graders deducted small amounts of points. Exams required significant time, and practice questions did not match the midterm difficulty.

Past student reviews · Andrew Mikkelson

Lecture slides were dense with limited explanation, and a student struggled to get help because the instructor was often absent from office hours and responded rudely when present.

Topics

  • Structural and thermal system simulation in 1D, 2D, and 3D.
  • Finite Element Analysis (FEA) using GUI and APDL.
  • Thermal expansion and its effect on stress fields.

Skills

  • Generate ANSYS FE models for static structural and thermal responses in 1D, 2D, and 3D.
  • Select element types, define material properties, and apply loads and boundary conditions.
  • Perform transient thermal and structural analyses using time-dependent loads.
  • Benchmark and verify FE models using simple analytical checks.
  • Analyze the impact of temperature distribution on stress fields via thermal expansion.

Grades

Latest available · Spring 2026— not enough history to project Spring 2027.

average GPA
A / AB grades
letter grades
Instructor

Grade distribution · % of letter grades

A
AB
B
BC
C
D
F

Grades over time

Through Spring 2026

More grade details Grade mix, volume & source data

Where this course fits relative to

Latest available grades · Spring 2026 · all course levels

GPA

Higher than % of other courses in this group.

Course GPAs · red marks this course’s range

letter grades

More recorded grades than % of other courses in this group.

Typical course in this group: letter grades.

About this comparison

1280 courses over the same term, each with at least 30 recorded letter grades. Cross-listed courses count once. GPA is not a measure of difficulty or teaching quality. The typical course is the median by recorded grade count; tied values are not counted as lower. Grade counts describe course scale, not unique students or typical section size.

Descriptions compare GPA with this group’s average: at least 0.20 higher or lower; otherwise close to average. Section size uses median recorded enrollment: small up to 30, mid-sized 31–99, large 100+. Lectures and discussion/lab sections are described separately.

Sources & history

UW–Madison

Catalog & offerings

Descriptions, prerequisites, and recorded course offerings.

Catalog observation history

Observations at scan time; dates do not imply when a catalog change took effect.

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Selected offering source records
ME 460 · Spring 2027

Applied Thermal / Structural Finite Element Analysis

Recorded 2026-10-14
Raw records 
[
  {
    "run_id": "20261014T203208-0851c9a1",
    "semester": "1274",
    "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00",
    "offering_id": "1274:612:024512",
    "course_id": "ME 460",
    "course_uid": "course_a7e15b921a77b3fa96bd0e9b",
    "term_id": "1274",
    "source_course_id": "024512",
    "source_subject_id": "612",
    "title": "Applied Thermal / Structural Finite Element Analysis",
    "credits_min": 3,
    "credits_max": 3,
    "typically_offered": "Spring"
  }
]
Rate My Professors

Student reviews

Original comments behind the course and instructor summaries.

Read original reviews
Download part 1
Madgrades

Grade history

Recorded grade distributions by term, section, and instructor.

Explore recorded grades
Dataset & model

Recorded 2026-10-14

View the dataset on Hugging Face
Model outputs & technical records
Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B
LLM outputs across runs
Download part 1
Full model traces

Recorded model configuration, reasoning, and tool conversations.

Download part 1
Model & dataset provenance 
{
  "model": "Qwen/Qwen3.8-27B",
  "model_revision": "1d4bf0f2ff6012fd82039f2fa52739d0dd7c60c0",
  "task_version": "17",
  "output_id": "6c889b02c6e8c1bcd9ce60aa5200c39d80591d57be7421f2b25c3d01c4569bbc",
  "requirements_status": "needs_review",
  "dataset_revision": "fc1811fa52e581ea57a35c0cf3343f8740a8ffbf",
  "observed_at": "2026-10-14 17:50:09.728220+00:00"
}