Origin
of Engineering
Engineering (from Latin ingenium, meaning
"cleverness" and ingenerate, meaning "to contrive, devise")
is the application of scientific, economic, social, and practical knowledge in
order to invent, design, build, maintain, research, and improve structures,
machines, devices, systems, materials and processes.
The discipline of engineering is extremely broad, and
encompasses a range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more
specific emphasis on particular areas of applied science, technology and types
of application .
Origin:
Engineering has existed since ancient times as humans
devised fundamental inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel, and pulley.
Each of these inventions is consistent with the modern definition of engineering,
exploiting basic mechanical principles to develop useful tools and objects.
The term engineering itself has a much more recent
etymology, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1300,
when an engineer (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to
"a constructor of military engines."In this context, now obsolete, an
"engine" referred to a military machine, i.e., a mechanical
contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). Notable examples of the
obsolete usage, which have survived to the present day, are military
engineering corps, e.g., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The word "engine" itself is of even older origin,
ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium, and meaning "innate quality,
especially mental power, hence a clever invention."
Later, as the design of civilian structures such as bridges
and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering
entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction
of such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of
military engineering.
The early stages of electrical engineering included the
experiments of Alessandro Volta in the 1800s, the experiments of Michael
Faraday, Georg Ohm and others and the invention of the electric motor in 1872.
The work of James Maxwell and Heinrich Hertz in the late 19th century gave rise
to the field of electronics. The later inventions of the vacuum tube and the
transistor further accelerated the development of electronics to such an extent
that electrical and electronics engineers currently outnumber their colleagues
of any other engineering specialty.
Evolution:
The inventions of Thomas Savery and the Scottish engineer
James Watt gave rise to modern mechanical engineering. The development of
specialized machines and their maintenance tools during the industrial
revolution led to the rapid growth of mechanical engineering both in its
birthplace Britain and abroad.
Structural engineers investigating NASA's Mars-bound
spacecraft, the Phoenix Mars Lander
John Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer,
and is often regarded as the "father" of civil engineering. He was an
English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours
and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent
physicist. Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) where he
pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of mortar which will set under
water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the
building of the lighthouse. His lighthouse remained in use until 1877 and was
dismantled and partially rebuilt at Plymouth Hoe where it is known as Smeaton's
Tower. He is important in the history, rediscovery of, and development of
modern cement, because he identified the compositional requirements needed to
obtain "hydraulicity" in lime; work which led ultimately to the
invention of Portland cement.
Chemical engineering, like its counterpart mechanical
engineering, developed in the nineteenth century during the Industrial
Revolution.Industrial scale manufacturing demanded new materials and new
processes and by 1880 the need for large scale production of chemicals was such
that a new industry was created, dedicated to the development and large scale
manufacturing of chemicals in new industrial plants.The role of the chemical
engineer was the design of these chemical plants and processes.
Engineers use their knowledge of science, mathematics,
logic, economics, and appropriate experience or tacit knowledge to find
suitable solutions to a problem. Creating an appropriate mathematical model of
a problem allows them to analyze it (sometimes definitively), and to test
potential solutions.
Usually multiple reasonable solutions exist, so engineers
must evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the
solution that best meets their requirements. Genrich Altshuller, after
gathering statistics on a large number of patents, suggested that compromises
are at the heart of "low-level" engineering designs, while at a
higher level the best design is one which eliminates the core contradiction
causing the problem.
Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their
designs will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale production.
They use, among other things: prototypes, scale models, simulations,
destructive tests, nondestructive tests, and stress tests. Testing ensures that
products will perform as expected.
Engineers take on the responsibility of producing designs
that will perform as well as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the
public at large. Engineers typically include a factor of safety in their
designs to reduce the risk of unexpected failure. However, the greater the
safety factor, the less efficient the design may be.
The study of failed products is known as forensic
engineering, and can help the product designer in evaluating his or her design
in the light of real conditions. The discipline is of greatest value after
disasters, such as bridge collapses, when careful analysis is needed to
establish the cause or causes of the failure.
A computer simulation of high velocity air flow around a
Space Shuttle during re-entry. Solutions to the flow require modeling of the
combined effects of fluid flow and the heat equations.
As with all modern scientific and technological endeavors,
computers and software play an increasingly important role. As well as the
typical business application software there are a number of computer aided
applications (computer-aided technologies) specifically for engineering.
Computers can be used to generate models of fundamental physical processes,
which can be solved using numerical methods.
One of the most widely used design tools in the profession
is computer-aided design (CAD) software like CATIA, Autodesk Inventor, DSS Solid
Works or Pro Engineer which enables engineers to create 3D models, 2D drawings,
and schematics of their designs. CAD together with digital mockup (DMU) and CAE
software such as finite element method analysis or analytic element method
allows engineers to create models of designs that can be analyzed without
having to make expensive and time-consuming physical prototypes.
These allow products and components to be checked for flaws;
assess fit and assembly; study ergonomics; and to analyze static and dynamic
characteristics of systems such as stresses, temperatures, electromagnetic
emissions, electrical currents and voltages, digital logic levels, fluid flows,
and kinematics. Access and distribution of all this information is generally
organized with the use of product data management software.
