The Engineering Method

1
The Engineering Method
Based on Discussion of the Method by Billy
Vaughn Koen

• EGR 3380
• Engineering Design I

2
What is an Engineer?

• An Engineer is not defined by her product
• Nano-robots
• Airplanes
• Embedded Computers
• An engineer is defined by her method
• Finding the best change
• Using available resources
• In an environment of uncertainty

3
To Engineer

• The clergy in Iran engineered the firing of the
  president.
• The chessmaster engineered a perfect countermove.
• The general engineered a coup d'état without the
  loss of life.

4
Why is Engineering Such a Mystery?

• The Scientific Method
• Well-understood, even by the layperson.
• Science is theory corrected by experiment.
• All variables held constant except one.
• Answer in the back of the book.
• Extensively analyzed by philosophers
• None of these are true for the Engineering Method
• Although engineers often employ science and
  scientific reasoning

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Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems

• Change the situation requires a change.
• Best the best change is desired...
• Resources using the available resources.
• Uncertainty knowledge about the situation is
  incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

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Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems

• Change the situation requires a change.
• Best the best change is desired...
• Resources using the available resources.
• Uncertainty knowledge about the situation is
  incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

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Change
A
Measure of Change
B
time
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Change

• Four practical difficulties in getting from A to
  B
• Engineer lacks complete knowledge of the world at
  A
• The exact final state, B, is unknown and cannot
  be anticipated
• There is no single path from A to B
• Engineering goals can change during the process
  (the location of B floats!)

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Change

• Is all change caused by engineers good?
• What about unintended consequences?
• Aswan High Dam in Egypt
• Can you name any others?
• Can you think of any engineering disasters?
• Tacoma Narrows Bridge, WindBelt
• Kansas City Hyatt Regency
• Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in U.S.S.R.

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The Final State (B) Cannot Be Fully Known!
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(No Transcript)
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Unforeseen Consequences

• Increased salinity of the Nile by 10
• Led to collapse of sardine industry
• Caused Coastal Erosion
• Displaced 100,000 Nubians
• Drastically altering their way of life
• BUT provides ½ of Egypts electrical needs

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Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems

• Change the situation requires a change.
• Best the best change is desired...
• Resources using the available resources.
• Uncertainty knowledge about the situation is
  incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

14
Best

• Best for whom?
• Westerners are conditioned to accept Platos
  notion of the Ideal
• A new concept of best
• Optimization theory
• The Optimum compromise
• Apollo Program
• Leapfrog learning
• Political vs. Economic tradeoffs

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Television Example Best
Consider a television with only one
knob Increased knob setting results in sharper
picture, Increased knob setting also results in
worse sound.
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Television Example Best
Assuming Picture and Sound are Equally Weighted
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Television Example Best
With Picture is half as important as Sound (for a
person with hearing problems)
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Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems

• Change the situation requires a change.
• Best the best change is desired...
• Resources using the available resources.
• Uncertainty knowledge about the situation is
  incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

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Available Resources

• Tangible Resources
• Money available for project
• Time to complete project
• Raw materials like steel, concrete, silicon
• Computer resources
• Number and education of engineers
• Intangible Resources
• Past experience with similar projects
• Engineers interests, passions, etc.

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Time as a Resource

• Problem estimate number of ping-pong balls that
  can fill the room in
• 60 seconds
• 2 days
• Unlimited time
• Each time limit defines a new engineering problem
  because the time resource is different
• Each solution would be valid from an engineering
  point of view because it was done within the time
  constraints imposed.

21
Four Key Elements of Engineering Problems

• Change the situation requires a change.
• Best the best change is desired...
• Resources using the available resources.
• Uncertainty knowledge about the situation is
  incomplete and sometimes inconsistent

22
Uncertainty

• Engineers are asked to find a solution to a
  problem while lacking complete information
• In Change both the starting and ending points (A
  B) are not fully known
• Resources intangible resources cannot be
  quantified, yet they affect the outcome
• Best the best design is not always clear, best
  for whom?

23
What is an Engineer?

• An Engineer is not defined by her product
• Electrical Engineer
• Computer Engineer
• Mechanical Engineer
• An engineer is defined by her method
• Finding the best change, using available
  resources in an environment of uncertainty
• Engineering Degree great training for
• Business, Medicine, Law, Politics, Development