DMAC TriboCoach AI User Guide
What this app is
DMAC TriboCoach AI helps engineers, students, maintenance teams, product designers, test engineers, and quality teams learn tribology and work through friction, wear, lubrication, surface, contact mechanics, electrical contact, and root-cause problems.
The app is for learning, screening, and project organization. It does not replace qualified engineering judgment, validation testing, safety review, supplier data, standards, or professional certification.
How to start the app
• Open the `DmacTriboCoachAI` folder in VS Code.
• Activate the virtual environment named `dmac-tribo-coach-ai`.
• Run `python run.py`.
• Open `http://localhost:9101` in your browser.
Creating an account
• Select **Create Account**.
• Enter your name, email, discipline, and password.
• After the account is created, you will be taken to your dashboard.
Logging in
• Select **Login**.
• Enter your email and password.
• The default admin login is `admin@dmac.local` with password `ChangeMe!9101`.
• Change demo passwords before real work.
Changing your password
• Log in.
• Select **Account**.
• Enter your current password.
• Enter and confirm the new password.
• Select **Update Password**.
Using light mode and dark mode
• Select the **Theme** button in the navigation bar.
• The app switches between light mode and dark mode.
• The color system was selected for strong readability and high contrast.
Using the dashboard
The dashboard gives quick access to:
• Learning Hub
• Engineering Calculators
• Case Studies
• Projects
• Teams
• User Guide
• Admin tools, if you are an admin
Learning Hub
The Learning Hub contains tribology modules covering:
• Tribology foundations
• Friction and Stribeck behavior
• Wear mechanisms
• Lubrication selection
• Contact mechanics
• Surface engineering and coatings
• Electrical contact tribology
• Testing and root-cause analysis
Each module includes simple explanations, useful formulas, and links to calculators and case studies.
Engineering calculators
The calculator page includes preliminary screening tools for:
• Friction force and friction power
• Archard wear volume
• PV value
• Lambda ratio
• Simplified Hertzian sphere-on-flat contact pressure
Always verify units, assumptions, material data, and real-world limits before using outputs in design decisions.
Case studies
The app includes 300 seeded case studies.
You can filter them by:
• Difficulty: Easy, Intermediate, or Challenging
• Industry category
• Search term
Open a case to review the scenario, learning objectives, suggested tests, guiding questions, and expected solution direction.
Saving a case study as your own project
• Open **Case Studies**.
• Find a case.
• Select **Save As Project**.
• You can keep the default title or rename it.
• Choose a personal project or a team workspace.
• The saved project becomes editable.
Creating a custom project
• Select **Projects**.
• Select **New Project**.
• Add a title, industry, workspace, problem statement, and symptoms.
• Save the project.
Editing a project
Project pages include fields for:
• Problem statement
• Symptoms and observations
• Evidence collected
• Hypotheses and root-cause logic
• Calculations and screening results
• Corrective actions and test plan
• Status
• Notes
Admins, project owners, and team leaders can edit project inputs. Team members can view shared projects and add notes.
Teams
Teams help multiple users work on the same design or root-cause project.
A team leader or admin can:
• Create a team
• Choose the primary discipline from a dropdown list
• Edit the team description
• Add existing users
• Create a new user by name and email and add that user to the team
• Remove members who are no longer needed
Admin user management
Admins can:
• Create users
• Assign app roles: User, Leader, or Admin
• Activate or deactivate users
• Edit app-wide welcome content and the disclaimer
Exporting project data
From the Projects page, select **Export CSV** to download a CSV summary of accessible projects.
Recommended workflow for root-cause analysis
• Define the exact symptom.
• Capture operating conditions: load, speed, temperature, humidity, lubricant, duty cycle, and environment.
• Identify the contact geometry and material pair.
• Estimate friction, PV, contact stress, film thickness, or wear exposure.
• Gather physical evidence: photos, debris, surface finish, hardness, microscopy, lubricant condition, and resistance if electrical.
• Write competing hypotheses.
• Choose tests that can prove or disprove each hypothesis.
• Apply containment actions to reduce risk.
• Verify corrective action with testing before full release.
Recommended workflow for learning
• Start with the Learning Hub.
• Read one module at a time.
• Use the calculator connected to that topic.
• Open related case studies.
• Save one case as a project.
• Fill in evidence, hypotheses, and corrective actions.
• Review your project notes with a team.
Important safety reminder
Use the app for education, screening, and structured thinking. For real products or equipment, validate all assumptions and corrective actions with appropriate engineering analysis, testing, standards, supplier data, and safety review.
Premium Suite
After logging in, select **Premium** in the top navigation. The Premium Suite gives you advanced tools for real engineering workflows.
AI Expert Assistant
Use this when you have a symptom and need a structured starting point.
• Enter the industry.
• Enter the asset or component.
• Describe the problem, evidence, and symptoms.
• Select **Generate Expert Guidance**.
The app returns likely tribology drivers, recommended tests, first actions, and an industry-specific note.
Material / Lubricant / Coating Advisor
Use this when selecting or improving a tribological interface.
• Enter the application, substrate, motion type, load, speed, temperature, environment, and known failure.
• Optionally attach the run to an existing project.
• Select **Generate Recommendation**.
The app returns a material strategy, lubricant strategy, coating strategy, validation tests, controls, and risk score.
Failure photo and evidence upload
Open any project and use **Failure Photo / Evidence Upload**.
• Upload a PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF, PDF, or CSV evidence file.
• Add a short observation note.
• The app stores the file locally and adds a guided observation summary to the project.
Reports
Open a project and select:
• **HTML Report** for an on-screen project report.
• **PDF Report** for a downloadable engineering report.
The report includes project inputs, evidence files, FMEA rows, test data, and team notes.
FMEA Generator
Open a project and select **FMEA Generator**.
• Enter function, failure mode, effect, cause, severity, occurrence, and detection.
• The app calculates RPN and suggests controls and actions.
• Saved rows appear on the project page and in reports.
CSV Test Data Import
Select **Premium → Import Data**.
• Choose a project or standalone import.
• Upload a CSV file or paste CSV text.
• The app summarizes numeric columns such as coefficient of friction, temperature, wear, particles, or resistance.
• Project-specific data can be exported from the project page.
Lubricant Database and Coating Comparison
Use these as supplier-neutral shortlisting tools. Always verify choices with supplier data, standards, compatibility testing, representative endurance tests, and safety reviews.
Maintenance Optimizer
Use this to estimate whether a maintenance interval should be shortened, maintained, or cautiously extended based on oil analysis, temperature, particle severity, water, vibration, and asset criticality.
Digital Twin Studio
Use this for quick health-score and remaining-useful-life screening.
• Choose asset type: bearing, gear, electrical contact, sliding system, or seal.
• Enter load, speed, temperature, roughness, film thickness, contamination, and cycles.
• The app estimates lambda ratio, health score, remaining useful life, and recommended actions.
Saved Libraries
Use **Premium → Saved Libraries** to store reusable component, material, lubricant, coating, supplier-data, and test-method records.
TriboWorks AI MVP Modules
After logging in, select **TriboWorks MVP** in the top navigation. This opens a focused workflow for learning and problem solving.
1. Knowledge Hub
Use **Knowledge Hub** when you need to learn or review tribology concepts before solving a problem.
The hub now includes extra modules for:
• Bearing tribology
• Gear tribology
• Friction
• Wear
• Lubrication
• Contact mechanics
• Surface engineering and coatings
• Electrical contacts
• Testing and RCA
Open a module, read the simple explanation, review key formulas, then use case studies or calculators to practice.
2. Calculator Suite
Use **Calculator Suite** for quick screening calculations.
Available calculators include:
• Friction force and friction power
• Archard wear volume
• PV value
• Lambda ratio
• Viscosity at temperature
• Simplified Hertz sphere-on-flat contact pressure
These are screening tools. Always verify assumptions, units, geometry, standards, and supplier data before using results for release decisions.
3. Lubrication Advisor
Use **Lubrication Advisor** when you need help choosing an oil/grease direction or checking lubrication risk.
Enter:
• Application or asset
• Motion type
• Load, speed, temperature
• Viscosity at 40 C
• Surface roughness values
• Estimated film thickness
• Contamination concerns
• Environment
The app returns:
• Lubrication regime
• Lambda ratio
• Composite roughness
• Lubricant direction
• Additive focus
• Viscosity warning or flag
• Validation checklist
4. Wear Failure Detective
Use **Wear Failure Detective** when a component has failed or shows signs of friction, heat, wear, debris, leakage, contact resistance, pitting, scuffing, galling, fretting, or abrasive damage.
Enter:
• Industry
• Asset or component
• Motion type
• Symptoms
• Current evidence
• Lubricant state
• Environment or duty cycle
The app returns:
• Probable wear modes
• Likely drivers
• Evidence checklist
• First tests
• Containment ideas
• Corrective-action direction
Use this output to structure your project notes, FMEA, test plan, and project report.
5. Report Generator
Use **Report Generator** to create a simple engineering summary.
You can either:
• Select an existing project, or
• Leave the project blank and fill in standalone summary fields
The app can generate an on-screen summary and a downloadable PDF summary.
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Visual Refresh Note
This version uses larger text, larger buttons, wider panels, and more spacious layouts to make the app easier to read and use on desktop, laptop, and mobile screens. All existing workflows remain the same.