Talk:Mechanical engineering

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To-do list for Mechanical engineering: edit  · history  · watch  · refresh
  • Expand history section
    • THIS IS IMPORTANT! The current history section is pulled almost directly from another encyclopedia article, and is therefore violating copyright. Replacing this text should be our number-one priority
  • Add information from US labor reports
    • Job outlook
    • Salary range
    • Education requirements
  • Add relevant pictures
  • Add Professional Organizations section
    • Partial list to get started: ASME, ASHRAE, SME, SAE
  • Add more Current Areas of Research
    • There is a lot of research in materials engineering, among other things. We need some experts to discuss the frontiers of mechanical engineering.
  • Add a 'Related Disciplines' section. Because mechanical engineering is so broad, there is overlap between mechanical engineering and other branches of engineering. For example, in aerospace the design of aircraft bodies is performed by both mechanical engineers (who look at structure) and aerospace engineers (who look at drag and lift).

Mechanical enginnering is not just " ...application of principles of physics..." it's much more, e.g., combustion is more of a chemistry than physics.

Contents

[edit] Latest Changes

Added several pictures and links to wikibooks -Âme Errante 22:15, 3 July 2006 (UTC)

I just made an expansion to the subdisciplines section, and as this is my first wikipedia edit, I was hoping that somebody would double-check my work and let me know of anything I should be doing differently.

  • I also took the stuff about education out of the intro section and made an Education section, added info about accreditation and did some misc. cleanup and additions there, added the statistics section, added the current areas of research, and added a number of references. If someone could check these sections as well, I would much appreciate it.

Also, I am an engineering student specializing in CAD/FEA, so if anyone has questions regarding those subjects as they pertain to this article, please feel free to send them my way. -Brandon

[edit] Uncategorized discussion

Included in Mechanical Engineering is often the supervision of fabrication, and construction of engineered systems. This involves coordination with other engineering specialties such as electrical engineering and structural engineering. Instrumentation and control of engineered systems is often part of the mechanical requirements and this involves the coordination with instrumentation specialists. Such systems may: measure and control flow of materials, stress and strain on equipment, and recording of operational parameters. Engineered systems include Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) specialties.

UK government appointed Ann Dowling, a mechanical engineer, to head its study of nanotechnology molecular assembler issues. This seems to imply they're worth mentioning here.

  • There is now a subsection on Nanotechnology. If you feel more information is necessary, feel free to add it here. -Brandon

From the old introduction: Some major divisions of mechanical engineering are: designs and controls, thermo-science and fluids, engineering mechanics, and manufacturing. In addition, specialized fields exist within mechanical engineering or as a joint field of mechanical engineering and another engineering discipline. Some fields include: mechatronics (and more specifically robotics), transport and logistics, cryogenics, and biomechanics.

Modern analysis and design processes in mechanical engineering are aided by various computational tools like finite element analysis (FEA) and computational fluid dynamics (CFD), computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAM). In system design and controls, a mechanical engineer may apply CAD/CAM systems to feed “instructions" to computer numerically-controlled (CNC) machines such as robots, milling machines, and lathes.

A mechanical engineer working in thermo-fluids might design a heat sink, an air conditioning system, or an internal combustion engine. Other processes might focus on the fluid itself, such as a fan to cool an electrical system, a turbine to power a submarine, or a spray gun to apply chemical coatings.

[edit] What HVAC software is that?

Could anyone please enlighten me as to which HVAC software belongs this screenshot? The one in the caption...

Sorry if it's off topic, I'm just curious. --Clapaucius* 22:51, 26 August 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Help

I am a mechanical engineer. I passed last year. Now I am searching for jobs. The main problem is this that I live in a country(Bangladesh) which offers very poor fields for mechanical engineers. So i am searching for foreign jobs. Can any one tell me how can i get a foreign job???

Please ask questions unrelated to the development of this encyclopedia article at Wikipedia:Reference desk. Thanks. — Edward Z. Yang(Talk) 21:58, 7 May 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Terse page

The ideology of this page seems to be descendant of Laconia? Is there some reason for the resistance to expand the page to include more detailed information about mechanical engineering? Just wondering where everyone's coming from around here? Cypa 18:09, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

:There is an open request that the article be expanded. Subdisciplines and History look open if you would like to add something there. Tom Harrison (talk) 14:41, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

:: I'm planning to expand it soon! deeptrivia (talk) 14:49, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

The History is still wide open for editing, but this article is no longer quite as terse -Brandon

[edit] A Broad Area

Mechanical engineering covers a very broad area. Depends on where you are in the world, your experience about this subject may differ. People should add whatever they know about this topic as much as possible. A complete write up is quite impossible at this moment without the help of many professional writers. Perhaps this is why it is in such a sorry state. If you are interested, please take a look at Electrical engineering. hoo0 10:00, 20 February 2006 (UTC)

[edit] History Section

As it was explained to me, the mechanical engineer gets his roots from the steam engine. This is alluded to in the article, but not fully. The idea is that only an ME has the skills necessary to design the entire engine. Thermodynamics, structures, kinematics and dynamics, and some controls (Centrifugal governor) are necessary to design the whole thing successfully. - EndingPop 02:35, 12 September 2006 (UTC)

I would argue the mechanical engineer gets his roots in the beginning of engineering (i.e. Ancient Rome, etc.). I wouldn't agree the roots are from steam engines. It was part of the evolution and addition to the field. Taalo 06:15, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
I would say that it started even sooner, to say that the person who first used a wheel was not an engineer would be an injustice. However, the main point is finding references to expand the history section rather than putting in our own assumptions. I'll look into this a little if I get some time over the weekend and post. Jeb8828 17:43, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
We are definitelly on the same page, my friend. I just brought up Ancient Rome as an example, but didn't mean to imply any sort of specific start date with it. :-) I like to think of mechanical engineering as the grandfather of all disciplines. Something that started out as engineering, but expanded into civil, electrical, etc. Just my assumption though, yup! Taalo 17:51, 6 October 2006 (UTC)
I both agree and disagree. I would say mechanical engineering was a child of necessity, just as others were. While engineering has been around for a long time, ME as a profession didn't appear until the steam engine. Before that it was a civil engineer. Just my 2 cents. - EndingPop 12:55, 9 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Structural Failure Analysis

I think this should be just Structural Analysis, minus the failure bit. Failure analysis is really just one subset of structural analysis, not to mention any design/engineering area (controls, etc.) is going to have some sort of "failure" analysis. Taalo 06:17, 6 October 2006 (UTC)

Agreed. It should really point to Structural Analysis and be rewritten in that context. It's more about prediction of structure behavior, not necessarily whether failure occurs or failure mode. Structural analysis is still pretty intense when trying to design for cost or packaging or durability even when failure isn't likely to occur. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by EndingPop (talk • contribs).
  • I reworded/rewrote the section to be more general. Failure analysis is one part of Structural Analysis. Please review. -Fnlayson 17:12, 10 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Just a note

Here is an old engineering joke. It's funny because its true. What is the difference between a mechanical engineer and a civil engineer? Mechanical engineers build weapons, while civil engineers build targets. Zengief 15:50, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] This article reads like a textbook

And I'd be willing to wager that it was written by an American teacher judging by the MASSIVE number of references to Mech Eng in US colleges/universities. "Solid understanding of key concepts"? What? Lets cut the vague crap and get right to the point shall we? ANY area of professional expertise requires a solid understanding of key concepts, we needn't tell people what anyone with half a brain stem already knows. Lots of little things like this add up to one big wording problem.

Also, not everyone reading this encyclopedia is an American student, and therefore I DON'T think a section on "coursework" specific to the US is really necessary! Nobody cares that some schools offer a 4 year degree either - this is an encyclopedia not a bulletin board for the American higher education system to advertise it's wonderful opportunities. Mainly this is because it has NOTHING whatsoever to do with Mechanical Engineering!

Come on guys, you should all know better than this. Clean it up, or at least reword some of it. If you don't, then I'll be forced to clean it up for you (and you don't want that, because I'll just delete the entire section on education). ▫Bad▫harlick♠ 00:51, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

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