PART ONE

Engineering

I. INTRODUCTION

Engineering, term applied to the profession in which a knowledge of the mathematical and
natural sciences, gained by study, experience, and practice, is applied to the efficient use of
the materials and forces of nature. The term engineer properly denotes a person who has
received professional training in pure and applied science, but is often loosely used to
describe the operator of an engine, as in the terms locomotive engineer, marine engineer, or
stationary engineer. In modern terminology these latter occupations are known as crafts or
trades. Between the professional engineer and the craftsperson or tradesperson, however, are
those individuals known as subprofessionals or paraprofessionals, who apply scientific and
engineering skills to technical problems; typical of these are engineering aides, technicians,
inspectors, draftsmen, and the like.

Before the middle of the 18th century, large-scale construction work was usually placed in the
hands of military engineers. Military engineering involved such work as the preparation of
topographical maps, the location, design, and construction of roads and bridges; and the
building of forts and docks. In the 18th century, however, the term civil engineering came
into use to describe engineering work that was performed by civilians for nonmilitary
purposes. With the increasing use of machinery in the 19th century, mechanical engineering
was recognized as a separate branch of engineering, and later mining engineering was
similarly recognized.

The technical advances of the 19th century greatly broadened the field of engineering and
introduced a large number of engineering specialties, and the rapidly changing demands of the
socioeconomic environment in the 20th century have widened the scope even further.

Answer the following questions:

1) What is engineering?
2) What does the term ‘engineer’ denote?

3) Does a locomotive engineer have professional training in pure and applied science?

4) Who was construction work largely done by before the middle of the 18th century?

5) Why did the term ‘civil engineering’ come into use?

FIELDS OF
II. ENGINEERING

The main branches of engineering are discussed below in alphabetical order. The engineer
who works in any of these fields usually requires a basic knowledge of the other engineering
fields, because most engineering problems are complex and interrelated. Besides the principal
branches discussed below, engineering includes many more specialties than can be described
here, such as acoustical engineering, architectural engineering, automotive engineering,
ceramic engineering, transportation engineering, and textile engineering.

A. Aeronautical and Aerospace Engineering

Aeronautics deals with the whole field of design, manufacture, maintenance, testing, and use
of aircraft for both civilian and military purposes. It involves the knowledge of aerodynamics,
structural design, propulsion engines, navigation, communication, and other related areas.
Aerospace engineering is closely allied to aeronautics, but is concerned with the flight of
vehicles in space, beyond the earth's atmosphere, and includes the study and development of
rocket engines, artificial satellites, and spacecraft for the exploration of outer space.

B. Chemical Engineering

This branch of engineering is concerned with the design, construction, and management of
factories in which the essential processes consist of chemical reactions. It is the task of the
chemical engineer to select and specify the design that will best meet the particular
requirements of production and the most appropriate equipment for the new applications.

C. Civil Engineering

Civil engineering is perhaps the broadest of the engineering fields, for it deals with the
creation, improvement, and protection of the communal environment, providing facilities for
living, industry and transportation, including large buildings, roads, bridges, canals, railroad
lines, airports, water-supply systems, dams, irrigation, harbors, docks, aqueducts, tunnels, and
other engineered constructions.

D. Electrical and Electronics Engineering

The largest and most diverse field of engineering, it is concerned with the development and
design, application, and manufacture of systems and devices that use electric power and
signals. Among the most important subjects in the field in the late 1980s are electric power
and machinery, electronic circuits, control systems, computer design, superconductors, solid-
state electronics, medical imaging systems, robotics, lasers, radar, consumer electronics, and
fiber optics.

Despite its diversity, electrical engineering can be divided into four main branches: electric
power and machinery, electronics, communications and control, and computers.

D.1. Electric Power and Machinery

The field of electric power is concerned with the design and operation of systems for
generating, transmitting, and distributing electric power. Engineers in this field have brought
about several important developments since the late 1970s. One of these is the ability to
transmit power at extremely high voltages in both the direct current (DC) and alternating
current (AC) modes, reducing power losses proportionately. Another is the real-time control
of power generation, transmission, and distribution, using computers to analyze the data fed
back from the power system to a central station and thereby optimizing the efficiency of the
system while it is in operation.

A significant advance in the engineering of electric machinery has been the introduction of
electronic controls that enable AC motors to run at variable speeds by adjusting the frequency
of the current fed into them. DC motors have also been made to run more efficiently this way.

D.2. Electronics

Electronic engineering deals with the research, design, integration, and application of circuits
and devices used in the transmission and processing of information. Information is now
generated, transmitted, received, and stored electronically on a scale unprecedented in history,
and there is every indication that the explosive rate of growth in this field will continue
unabated.

Electronic engineers design circuits to perform specific tasks, such as amplifying electronic
signals, adding binary numbers, and demodulating radio signals to recover the information
they carry. Circuits are also used to generate waveforms useful for synchronization and
timing, as in television, and for correcting errors in digital information, as in
telecommunications.

Prior to the 1960s, circuits consisted of separate electronic devices—resistors, capacitors,

inductors, and vacuum tubes—assembled on a chassis and connected by wires to form a bulky
package. Since then, there has been a revolutionary trend toward integrating electronic
devices on a single tiny chip of silicon or some other semiconductive material. The complex
task of manufacturing these chips uses the most advanced technology, including computers,
electron-beam lithography, micro-manipulators, ion-beam implantation, and ultraclean
environments. Much of the research in electronics is directed toward creating even smaller
chips, faster switching of components, and three-dimensional integrated circuits.

D.3. Communications and Control

Engineers in this field are concerned with all aspects of electrical communications, from
fundamental questions such as “What is information?” to the highly practical, such as design
of telephone systems. In designing communication systems, engineers rely heavily on various
branches of advanced mathematics, such as Fourier analysis, linear systems theory, linear
algebra, complex variables, differential equations, and probability theory. Engineers work on
control systems ranging from the everyday, passenger-actuated, as those that run an elevator,
to the exotic, as systems for keeping spacecraft on course. Control systems are used
extensively in aircraft and ships, in military fire-control systems, in power transmission and
distribution, in automated manufacturing, and in robotics.

Engineers have been working to bring about two revolutionary changes in the field of
communications and control: Digital systems are replacing analog ones at the same time that
fiber optics are superseding copper cables. Digital systems offer far greater immunity to
electrical noise. Fiber optics are likewise immune to interference; they also have tremendous
carrying capacity, and are extremely light and inexpensive to manufacture.

D.4. Computers

Virtually unknown just a few decades ago, computer engineering is now among the most
rapidly growing fields. The electronics of computers involve engineers in design and
manufacture of memory systems, of central processing units, and of peripheral devices.
Foremost among the avenues now being pursued are the design of Very Large Scale
Integration (VLSI) and new computer architectures. The field of computer science is closely
related to computer engineering; however, the task of making computers more “intelligent”
(artificial intelligence), through creation of sophisticated programs or development of higher
level machine languages or other means, is generally regarded as being in the realm of
computer science.

One current trend in computer engineering is microminiaturization. Using VLSI, engineers

continue to work to squeeze greater and greater numbers of circuit elements onto smaller and
smaller chips. Another trend is toward increasing the speed of computer operations through
use of parallel processors, superconducting materials, and the like.

E. Geological and Mining Engineering

This branch of engineering includes activities related to the discovery and exploration of
mineral deposits and the financing, construction, development, operation, recovery,
processing, purification, and marketing of crude minerals and mineral products.

F. Industrial or Management Engineering

This field pertains to the efficient use of machinery, labor, and raw materials in industrial
production. It is particularly important from the viewpoint of costs and economics of
production, safety of human operators, and the most advantageous deployment of automatic
machinery.

G. Mechanical Engineering

Engineers in this field design, test, build, and operate machinery of all types; they also work
on a variety of manufactured goods and certain kinds of structures. The field is divided into
(1) machinery, mechanisms, materials, hydraulics, and pneumatics; and (2) heat as applied to
engines, work and energy, heating, ventilating, and air conditioning.

H. Marine Engineering

Marine engineering is a specialized branch of mechanical engineering devoted to the design

and operation of systems, both mechanical and electrical, needed to propel a ship. In helping
the naval architect design ships, the marine engineer must choose a propulsion unit, such as a
diesel engine or geared steam turbine that provides enough power to move the ship at the
speed required.

I. Military Engineering

This branch is concerned with the application of the engineering sciences to military
purposes. It is generally divided into permanent land defense and field engineering. In war,
army engineer battalions have been used to construct ports, harbors, depots, and airfields.

J. Nuclear Engineering

This branch of engineering is concerned with the design and construction of nuclear reactors
and devices, and the manner in which nuclear fission may find practical applications, such as
the production of commercial power from the energy generated by nuclear reactions and the
use of nuclear reactors for propulsion and of nuclear radiation to induce chemical and
biological changes.

K. Safety Engineering

This field of engineering has as its object the prevention of accidents. Safety engineers
develop methods and procedures to safeguard workers in hazardous occupations. They also
assist in designing machinery, factories, ships, and roads, suggesting alterations and
improvements to reduce the likelihood of accident.

L. Sanitary Engineering

This is a branch of civil engineering which chiefly deals with problems involving water
supply, treatment, and distribution; disposal of wastes and reclamation of useful components
of such wastes; control of pollution of surface waterways, groundwaters, and soils; food
sanitation; housing and institutional sanitation; insect control; control of atmospheric
pollution; industrial hygiene, including control of light, noise, vibration, and toxic materials in
work areas; and other fields.
Abridged and adapted from: