【重庆大学 专业英语】Engineering Problem-Solving Methodology

机械工程专业英语EnglishInMechanicalEngineering PreparedbyXiaominDongFromCollegeofMechanicalEngineeringChongqingUniversity 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology Overtheyearsandacrossmanyindustriesandtechnicalfields engineershavedevelopedawell deservedreputationforbeingclearthinkerswhopayattentiontodetailandwhogetanswerright Thatrespecthasbeenearned andbasedonit thepublicgivesitstrustandconfidencetotheproductsthatengineersdesignandbuild Engineersexpectoneanothertopresentcalculations testresults andtechnicalworkinaclear convincing andwell documentedmanner Eachquantityinmechanicalengineeringhastwocomponents anumericalvalueandaunit Oneissimplymeaninglesswithouttheother andpracticingengineerspayascloseandcarefulattentiontotheunitsinacalculationastheydotothenumbers 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology Asidefromthequestionofunits engineersmustobtainnumericalanswerstoquestions howstrong Howheavy Whattemperature ofteninthefaceofuncertaintyandincompleteinformation Atthestartofanewdesign forinstance theshapeanddimensionofthefinalproductarenotknown iftheywere thenitwouldnotbenecessarytodesigninthefirstplace Onlyroughestimatesmightbeavailable Nevertheless anengineerstillhasajobtodo andthedesignprocessmuststartsomewhere Forthatreason engineersmakeapproximationsinordertoassignnumericalvaluestoquantitiesthatareotherwiseunknown Thoseapproximationsareunderstoodtobeimperfect buttheyarebetterthanrandomguessesandarecertainlybetterthannothing Mechanicalengineersusetheircommonsense experience intuition judgment andphysicallawstofindanswersthroughaprocesscalledorder of magnitudeapproximation Mechanicalengineersarecomfortablemakingreasonedapproximation 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology Inyourstudyofmechanicalengineering youshoulddevelopproblem solvingskillsthatmeetthestandardsofwhatotherengineerswillexpectfromyou Properproblem solvingmethodologyisimportantforyoutogetthecorrectanswerandtoconvincinglycommunicatetheresulttoothers Forthepurposeofsolvingtheproblems thefollowingguidelineswillbehelpful 1 Starteachproblematthetopofanewpage evenifthesolutionwillbelessthanonepageinlength Separatingproblemsinthismannermakesiteasierforotherstolocateandreadeachofyoursolutions Onlywriteononesideofthepaper Thishabitalsomakesiteasierforotherstoquicklyfind review andreadyourwork 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology 2 Writeashortsummaryoftheproblem sgivensandunknownperhapsoneortwosentencesinlength Bybeingclearastotheobjectiveoftheproblem youwilldisregardextraneousinformationandfocusonsolvingtheprobleminamoredirectmanner 3 Thinkabouttheproblembeforeyoustartcalculatingandputtingpenciltopaper Makeashortsummaryinwordstoexplainthegeneralapproachthatyouwilltake andlistthemajorconcepts equations andassumptionsthatyouexpecttouse 4 Useadrawingofthesystemthatisbeinganalyzed labelsforthemajorcomponents andrelevantdimensions Engineerstendtothinkandlearnvisually andyourdrawingsandgraphsarethebestwaytoconveycomplexinformationquickly Animportantfirststepinsolvingnearlyeveryengineeringproblemistorepresenttheproblemgraphically 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology 5 Drawthecoordinatesystembeingusedinordertoshowthedirectionsandpositivesignconventionsthatyouareadopting Ifyouwrite Fx 30N inasolution forinstance butyoudonotindicateinadrawingwhatyouconsidertobethexdirection thesolutionwillmeanlittletosomeonereviewingthework 6 Ateachstepinyourcalculation andinthefinalanswer besuretoincludetheunitswitheachnumericalvalue Anumberwithoutaunitismeaningless justasaunitismeaninglesswithoutanumericalvalueassignedtoit 7 Checkthenumberofsignificantdigitsinyouranswerandbesurethatthesolutionisnotpresentedasbeingmoreaccuratethanitreallyis Theprecisionofanumberishalfaslargeasthelastsignificantdigitusedinexpressingthenumber Thefactorofone halfarisesbecausethelastdigitofanumberrepresentstherounding offprocess eitherhigherorlower ofthetailingdigits 20EngineeringProblem SolvingMethodology 8 Itisnotsufficientthatyourcalculationmakessensetoyou Itmustalsomakesensetootherswhowanttoreadyourwork Ifanotherengineercan treviewandquicklyunderstandyourwork itwillbeignoredorviewedasbeingconfusing incomple