Introduction to Engineering

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Introduction to Engineering

• Presentation slides for
• ENGR 110
• Engineering Graphics and Design
• Fall 2008
• by Matthew R. Stein
• Roger Williams University

2
Industry representatives prioritized list of
attributes and engineer should possess

• Problem solving skills
• Effective communication skills
• Highly ethical and professional behavior
• An open mind and a positive attitude
• Proficiency in math and science
• Technical skills
• Motivation to continue learning
• Knowledge of business strategies and management
  practices
• Computer literacy
• Understanding of world affairs and cultures

Summarized from Studying Engineering, R.B. Landis
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Highly ethical and professional behavior

• Ethics can seem over simplistic
• Litany of thou shalt nots.
• But Professional is a weighty expression,
  meaning
• Prompt, neat, attentive and courteous
• Solid work ethic will not slack, dodge or bail
• Avoidance of personal rancor
• Understanding that reputation is the name of the
  game
• Will not steal, cheat, lie or deny responsibility

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Proficiency in Math and Science
Engineering Math and Science
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Differences between science and design
Engineering Science
Design

• Problems well posed
• Complete
• Unambiguous
• Free from internal contradiction
• Solutions unique and compact
• Answers in back
• Identifiable closure
• Require application of specific knowledge
• Problems indexed to chapter, section

• Poorly posed
• Never complete
• Usually ambiguous
• Always contain internal contradiction
• Solutions never unique and rarely have
  identifiable closure
• Usually required integration of diverse knowledge
• Joy ride on the moon

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This class provides preparation in

• Problem solving skills
• Effective communication skills
• Highly ethical and professional behavior
• An open mind and a positive attitude
• Proficiency in math and science
• Technical skills Engineering Graphics
• Motivation to continue learning
• Knowledge of business strategies and management
  practices
• Computer literacy
• Understanding of world affairs and cultures

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Problem Solving Skills - Design

• Half of this course content is participation in a
  semester long, open-ended group design project

• Big and small problems - hurdler
• Problem solving has a method
• Called The Engineering Design Process
• What you came to learn

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What is design ?

• ABET (Accreditation Board of Engineers and
  Technology) definition

Engineering Design is the process of devising a
system, component or process to meet desired
needs. It is a decision making process, (often
iterative) in which the basic sciences are
applied to convert resources optimally to meet a
stated objective. Among the fundamental elements
of a design process are the establishment of
objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis,
construction testing and evaluation.
Engineering Design is the process of devising a
system, component or process to meet desired
needs. It is a decision making process, (often
iterative) in which the basic sciences are
applied to convert resources optimally to meet a
stated objective. Among the fundamental elements
of a design process are the establishment of
objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis,
construction testing and evaluation.

• Not synonymous with invention

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The Method

• All activities related to the design project are
  documented in the Engineering Design Notebook
• Good old fashioned paper
• Most of the project grade
• Weekly meetings with agenda and notes (minutes)
• Hand written during the meeting
• Record decisions and conclusions, recreate
  thinking
• Bi- weekly progress report
• Stop periodically, assess progress and write it
  down
• Writing clarifies thinking in a way blab does not
• All group members formally acknowledge status
• Schedule

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Notes on working in groups

• Do not wait until your group is meeting to work
  on the project.

• Don't waste meeting time with idle blab or
  divergent conversations
• Getting four students in a room is hard, dont
  squander the effort

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Notes on working in groups

• Avoid wasting time "waiting for someone to finish
  something

Do not wait until the end of the semester to
address attendance or participation problems
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Notes on working in groups

• Don't shift meeting times around - decide on a
  meeting time and stick with it as much as possible

• Share responsibility for all major activities.
• Do not assign one member responsibility for
  "calculations", another for "CAD", and another
  for "report"

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Team Working Agreement

• Discussing and defining expectations
• Do all team members share a common goals?
• Example We all want to complete the assignment
  and get a good grade
• Are all expectations of a good grade the same
• Do all team members want to compete?
• How hard are members willing to work to achieve
  this?
• Produce a written document of agreement
• Please individually complete the Team Working
  Agreement Exercise before your first meeting and
  complete the TWA before the first notebook check

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Notes on design projects

• START NOW! A semester is an incredibly short time
  
• it will take twice as long as you expect.
• The weeks will fly by and it will always seem
  there is something more urgent to do
• Schedule explicit times to work on the project
  yourself, separate from meeting times
• Do not put it off until deadlines from other
  courses are met no such thing

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The Design Process

• Seven () Distinct Phases
• Identification of the problem (Section 5.1)
• Gathering needed information (Section 5.2)
• Searching for Creative Solutions (Section 5.3)
• Stepping from ideation to preliminary designs
  (Section 5.4)
• Evaluation and selection of preferred solution
  (Section 5.5)
• Evaluation of reports plans and specifications
  (Section 5.6)
• Implementation of the design (Section 5.7)

No universally accepted number, some authors
list as many as 20, but there is universal
agreement that the process is stepwise and the
differences are primarily in terminology.
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Step 1 Identification of the Problem

• Service to Humanity?
• Economic activity
• Making a difference
• Client is the person or group you are responsible
  for satisfying. The client is the ultimate
  arbiter of success.
• Think carefully and formally for whom this design
  activity is being performed.
• Example For the design project in this course,
  who is the client?
• Me?

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Step 1 Forming the problem statement
The mere formulation of a problem is far more
essential than its solution, which may be merely
a matter of mathematical or experimental
skill - Albert Einstein
The mere formulation of a problem is far more
essential than its solution, which may be merely
a matter of mathematical or experimental
skill - Attila the Hun

• Once you identify a problem, you need to define
  it in words.
• Most essential step
• Statement of the real problem to be solved
• Undocumented anecdote Design a new lawnmower
  that will be the most popular product in its
  field
• Focus on the functions that are desired in the
  solution to the problem and formulate the problem
  statement in terms of these functions
• Design an effective means of maintaining lawns

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Step 1 Forming the problem statement

• What is the real problem you are trying to solve?
• How does word choice influence the process
• 3-4 sentences
• Please use a four person version of the
  Statement-Restatement technique which is posted
  on the website
• Member A writes the problem statement, member B
  rewrites it, then member C rewrites it.
• Please include the four versions, and the final
  version of the problem statement in the second
  notebook check. 10 points

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Step 2 Gathering Needed information

• Engineer needs to collect the information she
  needs to solve the problem
• Sources
• In situ measurements
• Laboratory measurements
• Literature Journal articles, old product
  catalogs
• Patent Searches Many times, some potentially
  innovative products do not ever get to market.
• Recommendation In situ testing of design
  project materials (SE119 - back)
• PVC wood -Stand on
• Bottles - hurl, lift, try it yourself
• Tubing energy capacity per foot?

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Stages of team development

• Forming - polite but untrusting
• Storming - testing others
• Norming - valuing other types
• Performing - flexibility from trust

• Dr Bruce Tuckman, 1965

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Stages of team development

• 1-Forming
• Politeness preserved and members are treated as
  strangers
• Attempt to define tasks and roles
• Determine acceptable behavior
• Attempt to understand personal interaction style
• Common problems/pitfalls
• Over politeness, conflict avoidance
• Floundering about where to begin
• Over depending on a single individual
• Diving into solutions
• Impatience with getting starting
• Lack of confidence and confusion

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Stages of team development

• 2-Storming (Challenging)
• Initial politeness/timidness gives way to genuine
  expression of differing opinions
• Conflict is common, and may be necessary
• Common problems/pitfalls
• Arguing and quarrelsome behavior
• Attacking credibility/seeking discredit
• Choosing sides and passing blame
• Personal acrimony and rudeness
• Anger and suspicion
• Defensiveness and overconfidence

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Stages of team development

• 3-Norming (Accepting)
• Agreement of standards of behavior forms
• Growing sense of cohesion and camaraderie
• Growing satisfaction with work and increasing
  confidence
• Increasing commitment to team effort
• Beginning identification as a team member
• Common problems/pitfalls
• Complacency
• Inappropriate avoidance of conflict
• Slacking, disappearance

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Stages of team development

• 4-Performing (Collaborating)
• the team works in an open and trusting atmosphere
  where flexibility is the key and hierarchy is of
  little importance
• Common problems/pitfalls
• Slacking
• Disengagement
• Unwillingness to criticize, make waves, question
  majority opinion
• Please complete Peer and Self Assessment Tool

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Recycling Operations w/ WaterJet

• Rolla, Missouri

5 Shell
De-palletizing system - me
Shell carrier - me
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From ideation to preliminary designs

• I wouldnt trust this project to a bunch of
  slap-happy fabricators
• Jim Lennox (Wilkes Engineering Technician, ROW
  project)

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From ideation to preliminary designs

• Modeling is one of the activities that
  differentiates engineers from people who rely
  entirely on experience or trial and error
  experimentation
• - Engineering by Design, Voland
• A model represents the essential functional
  components of the design without costly
  construction

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Four Reasons to Model

• Develop a better understanding of the problem and
  potential solutions
• Vary parameters and explore interdependencies
• Caveat models should represent important
  characteristic
• Reduce the cost of making changes in the field
• Many-fold increase in cost in changing existing
  hardware
• Cost in time and reputation as well as money

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Four Reasons to Model

• Provide a basis for optimization
• In what sense is the design optimal?
• Multi-variable optimization prone to local
  minimum/maximum
• Communication of design intent
• to other engineers and/or clients
• Parameters a manifestation of intent
• Clients, more often than not, are non-technical

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Descriptive models

• Depicts design in a way that is recognizable
• Cannot be used to predict performance unless
  performance is entirely visual

Whats this FOR?
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Predictive models

• Used to test and understand how design will
  perform
• Often bears no physical resemblance to the design
• Can be mathematical or computer programs
• Rarely based purely on geometry
• Mass and inertial properties
• Elasticity and plasticity
• Chemical and material properties
• Friction and non-linear effects

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Models and Prototypes

• Consider the following example

• Predictive model

Descriptive model This is what a shell looks
like in flight

• Newtons law (Fma) in trajectory direction

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Models and Prototypes

• Various Modeling Processes Available
• What do you want to know?
• Select modeling process based on the information
  desired

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Finite Element Analysis

• Force/stress/temperature distribution cannot be
  calculated for complex geometry
• We made gross and comic approximations
• Break complex geometry up into smaller, solvable
  problems (finite elements)

This was not much progress until the computer
came along
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Finite Element Analysis Example
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Finite Element Analysis Example
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Finite Element Analysis Example
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Autodesk Inventor

• COSMOS Exploration

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Modeling and Analysis tools at RWU

• SolidWorks ENGR110
• MathCAD Symbolic Math ENGR115
• Excel and VBA Numerical integration and
  programming ENGR115
• MathCAD Dynamics ENGR220 Homework
• Visual Analysis Design of Structures ENGR313
• PSpice Circuit theory ENGR240
• MathCAD Mechanical VibrationsENGR431
• Solid Works - Senior Project ENGR490 492

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Collaboration

• Effective collaboration increases the likelihood
  that all team members will feel committed to the
  solutions you identify

Kenneth Crow DRM Associates
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Managing Conflict

• Imagine a team where meetings consist of heated
  discussions, raised voices and no resulting
  consensus.
• Now imagine a team with perfect harmony, team
  members rarely disagree, meetings are always
  cordial, everything is fine..
• Which team is healthier?

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Managing Conflict

• Effective teams manage conflict
• First step is to understand different approaches
  to conflict
• Please complete Conflict Management Style
  Assessment

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Managing Conflict

• If you answered yes to questions 1-4 your team
  may be avoiding conflict
• Teams avoiding conflict often digress into other
  topics
• Symptom - meetings ending without conclusion and
  a sense of no real progress
• Just avoiding conflict is not managing it

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Managing Conflict

• If you answered yes to questions 5-8 your team
  may be too quick to accommodate
• Agreeing because you dont want to argue
• Teams make efforts to appear to be managing
  conflict
• Potential ideas are dropped without being fully
  explored

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Managing Conflict

• If you answered yes to questions 9-13 your
  team may be fighting
• Characterized by subgroups or cliques
• Team members lecture or state opinions
• Members interrupt or speak over others
• Meetings end in anger

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Managing Conflict

• If you answered yes to questions 14-16 your
  team may be too quick to compromise
• Teams make efforts to appear to be managing
  conflict well
• Issues resolved by voting before complete
  exploration
• Features added to accommodate a few members

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Managing Conflict

• Signs that your team is collaborating
• Open Communication
• team members listen to and respect other members
  even in disagreement
• Reason and Respect
• The criteria for a good solution drives the
  discussion
• not frustration, fatigue, anger or blame
• All alternatives are explored
• Alternatives are combined to create better
  solutions
• Everyone understands the steps in the process
• and agrees on what the next step is

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Project and People Skills

• Collaboration
• By far the most challenging aspect of this
  project
• Some groups have only 3 members
• Unfair advantage?
• When you have reached this phase there is still a
  good deal of work to do
• Can help to evaluate your interpersonal style
• Please complete Interpersonal Style Survey

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Project and People Skills

• Interpersonal Style Survey
• May be a tendency to fudge the results, that
  benefits no one
• Roughly speaking, four interpersonal styles
• Dominant
• Influential
• Conscientious
• Steadiness
• Key to understand that all interpersonal styles
  have their pros and cons, no style is the best or
  worst
• Cognizance of interpersonal style may lead to
  insights into group behaviors and steps to
  mitigate difficulties

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Project and People Skills

• Work Style
• Varying work styles can be equally effective
• Any work style is not equivalent to social
  loafing
• Social loafing occurs when members do not feel
  personally responsible for getting the job done
• Occurs all too often in undergraduate design
  projects
• College often requires a heightening of personal
  responsibility
• Fear of consequences should be less of a
  motivation than fundamentally improving personal
  character by keeping agreements
• Please complete Peer and Self Assessment Tool
  Table 1.1