Introduction to

Engineering
Prof. Dr. Adel Abdel-Salam
Dean, Faculty of Engineering.
ACU February 2017
Engineering Fields
Of
Specialization
Lectures No. 1&2
Important Terminologies:

Added Value:
Feasibility Study (Technical, Economical):
Environmental Impact:
Social Impact:
Resources:
Professional Integration:
Stake Holders:
ABET: Accreditation Board of Engineering and Technology.
 DEFINITION OF ENGINEERING
1- ENGINEERING

Engineering is based on a knowledge of mathematical and natural sciences.

Both the engineer and scientist are thoroughly educated in the mathematical and natural sciences,
but the scientist primarily uses this knowledge to acquire new knowledge, whereas the engineer
applies the knowledge to design and develop usable devices, structures and processes. In other
words, the scientist seeks to know, the engineer aims to do.
An engineer has, by comparison, almost limitless opportunities. He can, and frequently does, create
dozens of original designs and has the satisfaction of seeing them become working realities. He is a
creative artist in a sense never known by the pure scientist. An engineer can make something. He
creates by arranging in patterns the discoveries of science past and present, patterns designed to fit
the ever more intricate world of industry. His material is profuse, his problems fascinating, and
everything hinges on personal ability.
 1- ENGINEERING (cont.)

Ultimately, all of the engineer's work must benefit mankind, "to safeguard life,
health and property, and to promote the public welfare." Engineers must
objectively evaluate their designs to insure that the positive effects exceed any
adverse effects and that, on balance, their solutions are for the public benefit.

The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology (ABET) defines

engineering as "the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and
natural sciences gained by study, experience, and practice is applied with
judgment to develop ways to utilize, economically, the materials and forces of
nature for the benefit of mankind."
 2. ENGINEERING SUPPORT PERSONNEL

Although it is possible for engineers to work alone,

more commonly they work with a group of support personnel.

The engineer and the support personnel comprise the engineering team,

and the roles of each specialty group are often described in terms of an occupational spectrum.

This spectrum includes

the engineer, engineering technologists, engineering technicians, and craftsmen, arranged vertically as Table
illustrates.
 2. ENGINEERING SUPPORT PERSONNEL (Cont.)
At the top of the spectrum is the engineer
who serves as innovator, designer, decision maker, and leader of the engineering team.

Next is the engineering technologist,

who assists the engineer in the planning, construction, and operation of engineering
facilities.

Typical activities for technologists include technical sales, construction supervision, routine
product development, and coordination of work force, equipment, and materials.

The engineering technologist's post-secondary education consists of a four-year program of

study culminating in a Bachelor of Engineering Technology degree.

The educational emphasis of the technologist's program of study is less theoretical and less
mathematical than that of an engineer, but is more hardware and process oriented.
 2. ENGINEERING SUPPORT PERSONNEL (Cont.)

Finally comes the Engineering technicians

are specialists in methodology devoted to the accomplishment of Practical
objectives.

Typical activities of technicians include

drafting, surveying, estimating, collecting data, and performing field inspections
on construction projects.

Technicians normally have been trained in a two-year program in engineering

technology leading to an associate degree.
2. ENGINEERING SUPPORT PERSONNEL
Specialist Typical Activities

Engineer Conceptual design

Research
Project planning
Product innovation
System development
Supervision of technologists, technicians, and craftsmen
Technologist Routine product development
Construction supervision
Technical sales
Hardware design and development
Coordination of work force, materials, and equipment
Supervision of technicians and craftsmen
Technician Drafting
Estimating
Field inspections
Data collection
Surveying
Technical writing
Craftsman Uses hand and power tools to service, maintain, and
operate machines or products useful to the engineering
team
3- ENGINEERING FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION

Engineering is a diverse profession. It is composed of several major branches or

fields of specialization and dozens of minor branches. Engineers have created
these branches in response to an ever-widening base of technological
knowledge.

In the following paragraphs, some of the more prominent branches of

engineering are characterized.

It should be remembered that there is considerable overlap

among the various specialties. It is not uncommon for an
engineer to practice more than one specialty within a major
branch during the course of his or her career.
 The largest of all engineering branches,
electrical engineering is concerned with
electrical devices, currents, and systems.
Electrical engineers work with equipment
ELECTRICAL ranging from heavy power generators to
tiny computer chips.
ENGINEERING
Their work contributes to almost every sector
of society: electrical appliances for homes,
electronic displays for business, lasers for
industry, and satellite systems for
government and businesses. Electrical
engineers usually work in one of six specialty
areas:

Power generation and transmission.

Electronics.
Communications systems.
Instrumentation and measurement.
Automatic controls.
Computers
 One of the oldest and broadest areas of engineering
activity, mechanical engineering, is concerned with
machinery, power, and manufacturing or production
methods. Mechanical engineers design and manufacture
machine tools-the machines that make machines-and
machinery and equipment for all branches of industry.
MECHANICAL
ENGINEERING For example, they design turbines; printing presses;
earth-moving machinery; food processors; air
conditioning and refrigeration systems; and engines for
aircraft, diesel locomotives, automobiles and trucks, and
public transportation vehicles.

They design and operate power plants and concern

themselves with the economical combustion of fuels, the
conversion of heat energy into mechanical power, and the
use of that power to perform useful work.

Mechanical engineers may also be found working in

marine engineering, designing machinery for boats,
naval vessels, and merchant ships; in the automotive
industry designing and manufacturing automobiles,
trucks, and buses; and in the aerospace industry working
in the design of new aircraft and spacecraft.
 Civil engineering affects many of our daily activities: the buildings we
live in and work in, the transportation facilities we use, the water we
drink, and the drainage and sewerage systems that are necessary to
our health and well-being. Civil engineers:

Measure and map the earth's surface.

CIVIL
ENGINEERING Design and supervise the construction of bridges,
tunnels, large buildings, dams, and coastal structures.

Plan, layout, construct, and maintain railroads,

highways, and airports.

Devise systems for the control and efficient flow of

traffic.

Plan and build river regulation and flood control

projects.

Provide plants and systems for water supply and

sewage and refuse disposal.

major specialized areas of practice: Structural engineering,

Construction engineering and management.,
Transportation engineering, Geotechnical engineering,
Hydraulic and water resources engineering, Environmental
engineering, Geodetic engineering.
 Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing
and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings,
are often perceived as cultural symbols and as works of art. Historical

Architectural civilizations are often identified with their surviving architectural

achievements.

ENGINEERING
Architecture can mean: A general term to
describe buildings and other physical
structures.

The art and science of designing buildings

and some non building structures.

The style and method of design and

construction of buildings and other physical
structures.

The design activity of the architect, from the macro-

level (urban design, landscape architecture) to the
micro-level (construction details and furniture).

Architecture has to do with the planning,

designing and constructing form, space and
ambience that reflect functional, technical,
social, environmental, and aesthetic
considerations. It requires the creative
manipulation and coordination of material,
technology, light and shadow.
 Chemical engineering involves the application of chemistry, physics,
and engineering to the design and operation of plants for the
production of materials that undergo chemical changes during their
manufacture. Such materials include various chemicals, such as paints,
lubricants, fertilizers, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, petroleum
products, foods, metals, plastics, ceramics, and glass.

CHEMICAL
ENGINEERING In these and other industries, chemical engineers are
responsible for creating systems for producing large
quantities of materials that chemists make in small
quantities in the laboratory.

Chemical engineers select appropriate processes and

arrange them in proper sequence to produce the desired
product. These include:

1. Heat transfer processes.

2. Mass transfer processes such as absorption, humidification, and

drying.

3. Processes that involve mechanical action such as mixing, crushing,

grinding, sizing, and filtering.

4. Processes that involve chemical reaction, including chlorination,

polymerization, oxidation, and reduction.
 Industrial engineers are concerned with the design,
improvement, and installation of integrated systems of
people, materials, and energy in the production of either
goods or services

INDUSTRIAL Most of the activities of industrial engineers fall into one

of four categories:
ENGINEERING
Those related to plant layout.

Those designed to increase worker productivity.

Those designed to control the quality of products.

Those designed to reduce and control costs.

Industrial engineers perform:

Time and motion studies of workers.

Set standards of work performance.

Propose new and improved work methods to increase productivity.

They employ quality control techniques to reduce waste and customer complaints.

They use statistical procedures to establish reasonable tolerances in quality and develop
procedures for making routine checks of product quality
 Aerospace engineering is concerned with all aspects of vehicular flight
at all speeds and altitudes.

AEROSPACE It covers all phases of research, design, and development in this broad
area that includes hovercraft designed to operate a few feet above land
ENGINEERING and water, helicopters that hover and maneuver in all directions, a
variety of conventional airplanes, and complex spacecraft for orbiting
the earth and exploring the solar system.

The term aeronautical engineering is used to refer to the engineering of

atmospheric flight, while astronautical engineering deals with space
flight.

Aerospace engineers commonly work in one of several specialty areas

such as aerodynamics, structural design, propulsion systems, and
guidance and control.

Aerospace engineering offers one of the most exciting and challenging

fields of activity for those who choose engineering as a career.
 The term materials engineering refers in a general way to a group
of engineering specialties that are concerned with the
development, production, fabrication, and use of materials in
specific technologies. Some of these specialties are:

Metallurgical engineering, which is concerned with

the production of metals from ores and the

MATERIALS development of metallic alloys.

ENGINEERING Mining engineering, which encompasses the

exploration, location, development, and operation
of mines for extracting coal, metallic ores such as
copper and zinc, and other minerals.

Petroleum engineering, which is concerned with

the exploration, extraction,

storage, and transportation of crude petroleum

and natural gas.

Plastics engineering, which involves the

formulation, manufacture, and applications of
materials (e.g., polymers) that permanently deform
under stress.

Ceramic engineering, which deals with products

manufactured or used at high temperatures (above
1000F) and the physical and chemical processes
used in their manufacture.
 Computer engineering is the field of engineering
responsible for the design and implementation of
digital systems and the integration of computer
technology into an increasing number of systems and
applications.
COMPUTER
ENGINEERING The rapid improvement in computer technology has
challenged computer engineers:

(1) to invent hardware and software

design, and the tools to develop these
integrated circuit chips and

(2) to imagine, design, and verify

systems containing these chips.

Rapid advances in computer technology, resulting

in ever smaller, less costly, high-performance
computers, have resulted in a vast number of
applications containing embedded computers as
elements. These range from highly complex
communications systems to biomedical imaging
devices, sophisticated consumer products, and
household appliances.
 Bioengineering is an interdisciplinary field that
applies engineering principles to the study of
biological processes.

BIOENGINEERING The purpose of bioengineering research is to develop

new and better physical and mathematical concepts
and techniques that address problems in medicine
and biology.

Bioengineering is being applied to a wide variety of

problems, including the design and development of
new medical devices such as assistive devices for
people with spinal cord injuries and sensory aids for
people with poor vision.

Recent bioengineering research has included the

development of ultrasonic and magnetic resonance
instrumentation, which produces better imaging for
medical diagnoses and treatment
Questions?
Thank You