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DIVIDE & CONQUER A 3o-second foundation

Engineers predict the behaviour of systems so complex they can defy human comprehension. They divide complex systems 3-SECOND CORE into simpler parts with carefully chosen RELATED TOPICS Engineers analyse complex boundaries and account for the influences that See also systems by dividing them cross boundaries. For instance, when predicting APPLYING MATHEMATICS into simpler elements and page 16 a car’s behaviour, engineers draw a ‘free body accounting for influences T ENGINEERING THINKING that cross element diagram’ for each wheel. The diagram excludes page 26 boundaries. Computers do everything but the wheel and the forces that act FORCE EQUILIBRIUM J most of the calculations. on it. It shows the road force pushing the wheel PRINCIPLE up. The car’s weight, transmitted to the wheel page 38 3-MINUTE IDEA through the axle, acts downwards. The axle A complex piping network driving torque twists the wheel and the road s carrying water is analysed 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES exerts a friction force. The wheel and tyre could CHARLES-AUGUSTIN in parts. At each pipe joint, be defined separately, and subdivided into many DE COULOMB the sum of the separate 1736–1806 s water flows towards the smaller elements, with analysis of each one. French engineer who described joint must be zero: water Finer subdivision can yield more accuracy, but friction, explaining why cars cannot disappear without skid during braking, and the it takes engineers time to define the element electrostatic forces so critical e a leak. The pressure change in nanotechnology. along the pipe depends boundaries and forces. Computers handle on the pipe elevation and calculations, but the engineer has to guide GABRIEL VOISIN 1880–1973 r flow. We can represent all element definition and assess the accuracy and French aviation pioneer who these relationships with reliability of calculated results. Engineers learn invented the first anti-lock simultaneous equations brakes to help prevent that a computer can solve. appropriate levels of subdivision depending on skidding. Electrical circuits, factory the accuracy required and the consequences P production lines, city of simplification errors. They use this approach traffic congestion and 30-SECOND TEXT communication networks for modelling complex systems, such as the James Trevelyan can be analysed using structural stability of an underground mine, similar methods. rush-hour traffic congestion and radar y beam forming. Automotive engineers design new cars using vcomponents that have 14 g Engineering Methods I proved to be reliable. CIVIL ENGINEERING 3o-second foundation

Civil engineering is about roads, railways, buildings, water, sewerage and much more. Civil engineers such as Eugène Belgrand 3-SECOND CORE and Joseph Bazalgette created sewer systems RELATED TOPICS Civil engineering enables in Paris and London, eradicating cholera and See also buildings, roads, bridges saving the lives of millions. The Industrial GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING and all the other structures page 40 Revolution reduced the cost of iron and steel in our built environment, T ENGINEERS & ARCHITECTS ensuring that they are safe in the nineteenth century and Thomas Telford page 42 and durable enough to last showed how it could be used for bridges, canals J for centuries. and harbours. Together with Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s railways, bridges and ships, these 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES SIR MARC ISAMBARD BRUNEL 3-MINUTE IDEA developments transformed transport. Today, 1769–1849 , civil engineers are working to solve challenges French-born civil engineer, s a part of civil engineering, father of the more famous and improve people’s lives – from creating Isambard; created the ‘Thames is about ensuring that flood defences and dams to building our Tunnel’, the first under a buildings, dams and navigable river. s bridges stand up. largest infrastructures and tallest buildings. EMILY WARREN ROEBLING Calculations based Every project poses challenges: there may 1843–1903 on maths and physics be obstructions in the ground or poor soil Managed the Brooklyn Bridge e principles predict how construction for 11 years, conditions; tunnels or structures that the after father-in-law, designer structures respond to the John Roebling, died; learned forces that nature throws new construction needs to weave through; or civil engineering from her r at them – gravity, wind constraints on finance and time. Engineers think incapacitated husband. and earthquakes. Equally creatively to work through these problems, try important, structural engineers predict forces different solutions and choose the best option. 30-SECOND TEXT during construction. That’s Finding creative economic solutions for difficult Roma Agrawal P why homes, schools and construction challenges is immensely rewarding, offices are safe to live in. Spectacular structures such and civil engineers embrace new technologies as huge bridges reflect to create a world that can support future the work of structural generations. y engineers, as do invisible Civil engineers create structures such as tunnels. the things we take for vgranted but would find 34 g Civil & Environmental hard to live without. Engineering I

Cities have been both the cradle needed by 40 per cent or more. His design 3 April 1929 1952 1957 1967 and products of engineering for at least eliminated almost all the interior columns and Born near , British Awarded Fulbright Director of Becomes naturalized , now Scholarship and Pakistan Building Research Centre, American citizen 8,000 years. form the heart of masonry walls, allowing unobstructed internal Government Scholarship Karachi; Technical Advisor modern cities because people can live and spaces. His buildings were taller and less to Karachi Development work close to each other, developing trusting expensive, and allowed architects to design Authority 1950 1969 relationships on which engineering, trade almost any shape they wanted. Graduates in Civil 1955 Engineering at Dhaka Completes PhD; completed in , and commerce depend. The ‘father of tubular In 1963, the 43-storey DeWitt-Chestnut University; appointed employed by Skidmore, 1960 with tubular frame design designs’, Fazlur Rahman Khan, transformed Apartment Building in Chicago was completed, assistant engineer, Owings and Merrill Returns to SOM, design in the 1960s. the first skyscraper to use the structural Highway Department Architects (SOM), commences teaching Chicago at Illinois Institute 1971 Born in , now Bangladesh, in 1929, frame design. The 110-storey Sears Tower, of Technology Pioneers use of Khan graduated in civil engineering Tfrom Dhaka completed in 1973 and also in Chicago, was

computers for structural University, winning a Fulbright scholarship to constructed as a bundle of parallel tube calculations and design 1963 drawings study in the US. After completingJ a PhD in 1955 frames – as Khan described it, a group of 43-storey DeWitt- researching reinforced concrete design, Khan pencils bundled together with a rubber band. Chestnut Apartment went to work with Chicago architects Skidmore, Use of lightweight concrete and high-strength Building completed 1981 Hajj Terminal at King Owings and Merrill, because they were steel enabled buildings such as the 160-storey Abdulaziz International happy to let hims take charge of design and in – 828 m (2,700 ft) high. 1966 Airport receives Agha construction projects. The firm was renowned Experts consider that the ultimate height using Appointed partner Khan Award for in Skidmore, Owings for skyscrapers design. Khan soon realized that the tube frame design has yet to be reached. and Merrill horizontal live loads from wind and earthquakes Khan also pioneered innovative building forms pose the greatest design challenges for tall such as cable-stayed roofs, notably for the 27 March 1982 Dies in , ebuilding structures. He explored new ideas, immense Hajj Terminal at Jeddah Airport. working with students at the Illinois Institute Khan was renowned not only for his technical r of Technology and through public and expertise, but also for his humanity and love of professional lectures. art and literature. He epitomizes the US success At the time, masonry shear walls between narrative, a country that has consistently interior steel columns resisted horizontal loads. attracted and rewarded hard-working migrants. P Buildings had to be rectangular, with little Khan died of a heart attack, aged 52, while on a flexibility to change the internal layout. Khan’s trip to Saudi Arabia. His body was returned to breakthrough was to design the outer shell the US and was duly buried in Chicago. of the building as a framed tube to resist vy horizontal loads, reducing the amount of steel James Trevelyan 36 g Civil & Environmental Fazlur Rahman Khan g 37 Engineering I MECHATRONICS 30-second foundation

By the 1980s, electronics and micro-computers controlled machines such as robots and car engines. Companies soon needed 3-SECOND CORE specialist engineers to design electric machines RELATED TOPICS Mechatronics describes with sensors and connect them with computers. See also systems with mechanical, These engineers also wrote software, because ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION electrical and electronic page 70 they understood details of the machines. First in devices working together, T COMPUTER ENGINEERING usually with computers. Japan, later elsewhere, these engineers became page 98 These systems help to known as mechatronic engineers. Mechatronics DRIVERLESS CARS J make complex machines has enabled the age of smart machines that can safe and extremely reliable. page 128 adapt their behaviour. A computer ensures that car engines start easily and run smoothly even 3-MINUTE IDEA in the coldest weather and use the least fuel 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES s Spare a thought for the ÁNYOS ISTVÁN JEDLIK while minimizing exhaust emissions; another 1800–95 engineers who design and computer senses the key approaching and Invented practical electric maintain these complex motors in 1828. s control systems. Designers automatically unlocks the door. Feedback aim for reliable and safe ERNST WERNER SIEMENS control is one of the main principles used in 1816–92 operation under normal mechatronics. A car’s cruise controller adjusts Developed electric telegraphs e conditions. A design that and motors, and founded the allows sensors and other engine power by feeding the speed sensor Siemens company. parts to be disconnected signal back to the controller: when the car ROBERT BOSCH r for repairs and yet still slows, more fuel is supplied, boosting power; 1861–1942 provides complete, if the speed is too fast, it reduces engine Created reliable spark plugs constant safety is for automobiles, introduced power. Many cars now can automatically follow eight-hour work days and much more difficult. ensured his company profits Software bugs can the car in front on a motorway using radar benefitted charities. P remain undetected because sensors to measure the distance, with automatic maintenance is infrequent. braking if needed. Safety and reliability are the Maintenance technicians 30-SECOND TEXT need to distinguish main mechatronics challenges. Systems such as James Trevelyan persistent software anti-lock brakes (ABS) are so reliable that they y faults from random can be depended on for safety. Smart machines sense component failures. impending faults and valert technicians when 62 g Mechanical, Materials & your car is serviced. Mechatronic Engineering I ORGANIZATIONAL SAFETY 3o-second foundation

Complex nuclear power plants and oil refineries are very reliable, but when they fail, the results can be disastrous for 3-SECOND CORE workers, the public, the environment and RELATED TOPICS Organizational safety the corporation. Keeping them safe requires See also requires engineers to be more than technical excellence. Disaster NUCLEAR POWER aware about the social page 80 investigations rarely reveal new technical factors that keep complex T PROCESS PLANT SAFETY plants safe. High-reliability knowledge, but rather highlight how and page 84 organizations adopt human why existing technical knowledge was not FLOATING FACTORIES J behaviour strategies to applied. Management systems are procedures avoid disasters. page 120 and standards that reflect the best way of designing, operating and maintaining hazardous 3-MINUTE IDEA facilities. Formal risk assessment ensures that 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES s Disasters are rare events, KARL WEICK hazards are identified and risks are mitigated. 1936– so the enemy of disaster A systems view of factors causing disasters Influenced organizational prevention is complacency. safety with work on s It is helpful for engineers requires that we look beyond the technology to high-reliability organizations. who work with complex the people and the organizational environment. JAMES REASON hazardous systems to Engineers avert disasters by reporting ‘near 1938– e maintain an excellent Known for the ‘Swiss Cheese’ safety imagination, an misses’ – minor events that might otherwise model (how accidents can happen even with robust safety ability to anticipate a have led to catastrophes. However, as measures in place). r chain of events that employees, their choices are influenced by JUDITH HACKETT could cause a disaster. organizational factors, for example who reports Good engineers avoid 1954– to whom and supervisors’ key performance Led developments in health, psychological rigidities safety and environmental that make it difficult to see indicators. Engineers also have ethical and regulations for chemical P industries and process plants. how everyday actions can professional values that help inform their contribute to disaster. They listen to plant operators practice, especially when it comes to pushing and maintainers who can bad news up through an organization that 30-SECOND TEXT notice early warning signs could help avert catastrophes. Jan Hayesy of impending faults. Many high-reliability organizations provide vhelpful models for 82 g Chemical Engineering effective safety. & Energy Production I SOFTWARE ENGINEERING 30-second foundation

Software engineers create, maintain and develop software systems: the instructions and data that enable computers 3-SECOND CORE to perform useful tasks. Software systems are RELATED TOPICS Software engineers create diverse, from video games all the way through See also the programs that enable to surgical robots. Engineers follow the same COMPUTER ENGINEERING computers to perform page 98 processes every time, but the emphasis varies useful tasks. Much of T INFORMATION & TELECOMS the effort goes into according to the importance of ensuring that page 106 creating tests to find there are no critical defects. They start with DRIVERLESS CARS J programming errors. the requirements – what the software must do page 128 and how it interacts with people, machines and 3-MINUTE IDEA other systems. They devise tests to verify that Software architecture the software performs as expected. They 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES s refers to system design. ADA LOVELACE construct computer models representing the 1815–52 As with a physical building, software so they can predict performance, or English mathematician who there are many different recognized that Babbage’s s architectural styles with prove its logical correctness. Next, engineers mechanical computer, or ‘analytical engine’, had different characteristics, interpret requirements to write programs in applications beyond pure ranging from a single computer languages. They encode algorithms calculation, and published e program to multiple the first algorithms. into the software: known methods for achieving separate programs called EDSGER WYBE DIJKSTRA components or services. common tasks, such as sorting a list of names 1930–2002 r Choosing appropriate into alphabetical order. Computer languages Dutch computer scientist who architecture for particular formalized many critical ideas allow programmers to write human-readable in computer science, such as requirements demands compilers, and helped invent judgement and experience; instructions which a computer translates for structured programming once programming has the processor that will run the software. Most languages such as Pascal.P started, it can be hard software includes a user interface (UI), enabling to change. The right architecture can make it someone to interact with the system. Engineers 30-SECOND TEXT easier to allow changes rely on software tools, programs that write Andrew McVeigh needed late in a project. much of the software automatically. Finally, y they perform tests to eliminate mistakes (bugs). Devising tests to detect defects (bugs) takes vtime, but is critical for 100 g Electrical & Electronic good-quality software. Engineering I FUNDAMENTALS OF AERODYNAMICS 3o-second foundation

Aerodynamics began with Leonardo da Vinci’s ‘ornithopter’ invention in 1485. However, achieving sustained flight 3-SECOND CORE of heavier-than-air machines took until 1903, RELATED TOPICS Aerodynamic principles when the Wright brothers made their first flight See also help engineers design near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Aerodynamics MECHANICAL ENGINEERING aeroplanes, cars, ships and page 56 explains how fluids such as air move around trains, enabling them to T AEROSPACE MATERIALS predict airflow and the objects, at least approximately. It explains page 124 resultant forces. The same aircraft flight, as well as trailer trucks, race cars, LESSONS FROM SPACE J principles help explain how hydrofoil racing boats and even curved baseball birds and insects fly. page 126 throws. By using aerodynamics, engineers can calculate forces and moments on the object 3-MINUTE IDEA from the flow field: the pattern of fluid motion. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES s Aeroplanes fly because LEONHARD EULER Flow fields describe velocity, pressure, density 1707–93 they are able to generate and temperature, which vary with position and Laid many foundations for lift from the speed of air modern mathematics and s flowing over and under the time, and also depend on properties such aerodynamics. curved wing surfaces. Air as shape and fluid viscosity. Flow fields can be WILBUR & ORVILLE WRIGHT moves faster above the measured in wind tunnels or computed from 1867–1912 & 1871–1948 e wing than below, so Pioneers credited with pressure is less above equations derived from knowing that mass, inventing, building and flying the world’s first successful the wing, generating an momentum and energy have to be conserved. aeroplane. r upwards force. Forward For flight, the four key forces are lift, drag, ANDREI TUPOLEV motion results from engine thrust and weight. Lift and drag arise from the thrust or wing movements 1888–1972 flow field. Lift has to overcome weight for an Developed over 100 different for birds. Stable flight aircraft types, despite being depends on maintaining aeroplane to fly, and thrust from engines has imprisoned and closely guardedP correct orientation relative to overcome aerodynamic drag, which tends to during Stalin’s era. to the airflow. Today, computers help pilots slow the plane. Smaller forces from elevators control planes for added and a rudder stabilize aeroplane orientation and 30-SECOND TEXT safety and reliability. provide turns when needed. Georgey Catalano

Engineers predict motion vof flying objects using 122 g Aerospace & Transport aerodynamics. Engineering I CONTROLLING POLLUTION 3o-second foundation

Engineers have traditionally controlled pollution in two ways: either retaining and storing pollutants until a solution is found; 3-SECOND CORE or treating them to an acceptable level before RELATED TOPICS Future industries discharging them. Both methods can be See also will see pollutants as expensive, and strong government enforcement ENVIRONMENTAL resources that are too ENGINEERING is needed for compliance. In developing nations valuable to discharge into page 50 T the natural environment. with weak governance, pollutants can often RESOURCE SCARCITY Engineers can often adapt be discharged without significant penalties. page 142 J natural processes to Engineers are developing exciting and profitable convert pollutants into alternatives, such as cleaner production and valuable products. 3-SECOND BIOGRAPHIES industrial ecology. Cleaner production processes ROBERT UNDERWOOD AYRES designed using ‘green chemistry’ bypass 1932– s 3-MINUTE IDEA Formalized industrial pollution problems entirely. For example, ecology concepts. Government regulations, alumina-refining oxalate residues can be taxes and incentives to GATZE LETTINGA s combat pollution enable converted into sodium carbonate using bacteria. 1936– engineers to develop Developed high-rate anaerobic The sodium carbonate can then be converted processes, which inspired solutions that provide into sodium hydroxide to be used in the alumina contemporary industrial e greater value with stronger ecologists. community acceptance. As refining process. Waste containing pollutants from one enterprise can often be converted into DONALD HUISINGH engineers develop cheaper, 1937– r more efficient techniques valuable products for another. Breweries and Promotes the ecological to maximize benefits, food-processing factories generate waste that, modernization movement, environmental solutions arguing that productive use instead of being discharged into water, can of natural processes can lead become profitable, to sustainable prosperity. and companies adopt be converted by bacteria into nutrient-rich P them without needing fertilizers, generating energy as well as regulations or incentives. additional income. Engineers adapt natural 30-SECOND TEXT Raj Kurup waste-processing systems for industrial use: man-made swamps with vegetation can be y effective waste-processing factories. Today’s pollution is tomorrow’s resource, vwith waste transformed 148 g Engineering the Future I into raw material.