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ME 321Dynamics of Machines and Mechanical Vibrations

Units
0.50
Faculty
Engineering
Subject
Mechanical Engineering

When it runs

  1. F24
  2. W25
  3. S25
  4. F25
  5. W26
  6. S26
  7. F26
  8. W27
  9. S27

Ran in 4 of the last 7 terms. Winter 2027: scheduled, 2 lecture sections. Spring 2027: schedule not out yet.

Principles of the geometry of motion, uniform and non-uniform motion, linkages, gears, and analysis of mechanisms. Consideration of the static and dynamic forces in machines. Vibration analysis, response to shock, motion and force transmissibility, vibration isolation, and multi-DOF mechanical vibrations.

Prerequisites

  • Complete all of the following
    • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
      • ME201 - Advanced Calculus (0.50)
      • MTE202 - Ordinary Differential Equations (0.50)
    • Complete 1 of the following
      • Must have completed at least 1 of the following:
      • Must have completed the following:
    • Students must be in level 3A or higher
    • Enrolled in H-Mechanical Engineering, or H-Mechatronics Engineering

Antirequisites

None listed.

Leads to

Winter 2027 sections

Enrolment from UW Open Data, which can trail Quest by up to two days. Instructors and rooms: Schedule of Classes.
SectionClassEnrolledMeets
LEC 00144160 / 120MWF 15:30–16:20
LEC 701180497 / 9999Online or by arrangement
TUT 10144170 / 120F 10:30–11:20

Reviewed on UW Flow

60% liked it44% easy76% useful

From 95 ratings and 24 comments on UW Flow. The most helpful comments, quoted as written, without names. Read them all on UW Flow.

  • This course was taught mostly as a vibrations course with only a few weeks of gears. I found this to be much more interesting than the boring gears concepts and we learned some pretty cool things that were quite useful in ME360. Overall a good difficulty and the bonus presentation on negative damping was a nice touch.

    Dec 2025 · liked it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • Apparently, this course is supposed to be useful for Mech, but since it was taught by Salehian, I learned nothing of substance. The first part of the course is unintelligible yapping about vibrations. It was difficult to tell one concept from another, and when the class was clearly confused, Salehian blamed our ME 203 prof instead of taking personal accountability. Things only just started to make sense once we got to modal analysis. Since this vibrations portion took up most of the course, the midterm had a 60% weight and was held 2 weeks after hell week. The second part rushed through linkages and gears, covered on the 40% final. The saving grace is that Salehian gets her TAs to mark the…

    Apr 2025 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I had Salehian as prof. The course content itself was good and taught well but the course was incredibly unorganized. The midterm date was given 16 days before the midterm and the room changed the day before. The Learn is also incredibly disorganized and the tutorial/practice problem solutions don't match the steps taught in class.

    Apr 2025 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • I think this course is useful, but it focuses way too much on the vibrations portion now, we only did about 3 or 4 lectures on linkages and 1 single lecture on gears. I understand the prof likes the vibrations portion more and thinks its more useful however I think the linkages and gears portion needs to not be overlooked as much as it was.

    Apr 2025 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

  • The course content in itself is fairly easy to grasp and useful for engineers. However, Prof. Kamyar Ghavam is a prime example of how an unfair marking scheme and exams can ruin a course.
    Both midterm and final exams were very unfair and the practice problem sets did not reflect the difficulty of the exam at all. Most practice problems were straightforward, once you had a general grasp of the content. However, none of them could have possibly prepared you for the exam. Professor Ghavam had a tendency to give exam questions that had curveball concepts that were in no way covered previously in the course.
    After the final, the entire class left the exam room defeated and stressed out. I…

    Aug 2024 · didn’t like it · 1 found this helpfulOn UW FlowRemove this

Discussed on r/uwaterloo

20 posts and comments in 17 threads mention ME 321, February 2015 to December 2024. Quoted word for word, newest first; each reply sits under the post and the comment that started its branch. Search r/uwaterloo for newer posts.

Spring 2022

Winter 2022

Spring 2021

Winter 2020

[Serious] What should I expect from TRON? 36 points, 34 comments

u/tron_or_ece_hmm: “… ME: 119, 219, SYDE-182, 309, ME-321, ME-351, 322 ECE: 120, 262, 220, SYDE-252, 320, 325, ECE-484 I've read rants about many MTE courses, so I'm starting to question the quality of the content. Are they waste? A mess? Superficial? Boring? Fun? Well-structured? Theoretical? …”

u/ApatheticPost: “… - ME 321, MTE 322 - Machines: Didn't like these. Gear, shaft, and power transmission design basically. Final project for 322 was to design a worm-gear power transmission system, select components to purchase (motor, gears, bearings), design the housing, and draw it all in CAD. …”

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Spring 2019

mechatronics or computer engineering 8 points, 4 comments

“I’m a first year computer engineering student and i feel that i’m not going to be satisfied with the courses i’m taking throughout my degree. …”

u/alt-goldgrun: “The mechanical courses in Mechatronics are: MTE119 (statics), MTE219 ("Mechanics of Deformable Solids", so statics 2), ME321 (kinematics and dynamics of machines), and ME322 (electromechanical machine design). …”

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Winter 2019

3A Mech Eng degenerates 51 points, 20 comments

“To the 3A Mech Eng degenerates in the lever lab Get the fk out of the lab now that the TA has asked you to leave the room twice already. The lab is reserved for a 4B mech eng course. …”

u/IDGAFOS13: “What course is it?”

u/loneMnM: “Course booking was for ME 555, these guys were studying ME 321 I believe”

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Fall 2018

Transferring to Tron 9 points, 24 comments

“Looking for advice. I'm considering transferring to tron from another ENG program. I want a more general tech degree and not be limited in job search. Any advice is greatly appreciated. …”

u/ciccatrix: “… I personally am not into mechanical courses, but ME321 was ridiculously poorly taught when I took it that no one learned anything (chugging equations for gear design and shaft design). …”

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Fall 2017

Winter 2017

Check it elsewhere for Fall 2026

Calendar versions

Undergraduate Calendar