bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Shuttle diplomacy
Authors: Dicht Burton
Published: July 2018

This article analyzes the decisions and technological challenges that drove the Space Shuttle’s development. The goal of the Shuttle program was to create a reusable vehicle that could reduce the cost of delivering humans and large payloads into space. Although the Shuttle was a remarkable flying machine, it never lived up to the goals of an airline-style operation with low operating costs. In January 2004, a year after the Columbia accident, President George W. Bush unveiled the “Vision for U.S. Space Exploration” to guide the U.S. space effort for the next two decades. A major component of the new vision, driven by the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, was to retire the Space Shuttle fleet as soon as the International Space Station assembly was completed. With cancellation of the Constellation program in 2010, the planned successor to the Shuttle, the U.S. space program is now in an era of uncertainty.
Solving the Puzzle of Bolted Joints
Authors: Hayman Edward , Neely Clyde
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the various ways of solving the puzzle of bolted joint assembly. In 2001, The PCC-1-2000 Guidelines for Pressure Boundary Bolted Flange Joint Assembly presented with knowledge and practices specific to the assembly of bolted flange joints. The puzzle solution that came from this box was the most definitive to date and allowed those dealing with bolted joints to assemble the variables by methods that had been used successfully for many years by many people. This document is helping people across industry not only to assemble bolted flange joints, but also to establish joint integrity programs, procedures, and best practices. PCC-1-2010 shifts the emphasis to gasket stress and gasket type and provides instruction and information pertinent to bolt torque values. The 2010 document contains, for instance, a whole section on bolt stress—the unit load that should be put on the bolts—and includes tables as well.
Engineering for Change
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article elaborates about E4C’s website, www.engineeringforchange.org, which seeks to connect engineers and humanitarian organizations to create smart, sustainable development projects. Its focus includes projects on water, energy, health, infrastructure, agriculture, sanitation, and information technology. Its purpose is to serve the underserved populations of the world. The website makes it easy for engineers to volunteer their time and skills, and for humanitarian groups to find the engineering help they need. The site will also help them discover what others have done, so each new project does not have to reinvent past innovations—or repeat mistakes. E4C is an initiative of ASME and two founding partners, IEEE and Engineers Without Borders–USA. The site is divided into seven areas of interest: water, energy, health, structures, agriculture, sanitation, and information systems.
Why Care About PLM?
Authors: Mendel Alan F.
Published: July 2018

This article studies the role of product lifecycle management (PLM) in industrial engineering. The basic concepts of PLM—product data management, engineering change management, and product structure management—were also discussed. PLM provides data and management capabilities to reduce the non-value-added tasks required of engineers. It also increases engineering productivity, provides insight into engineering efforts, and improves product quality and customer satisfaction. Companies are receiving significant value and return from their PLM investments. Many companies begin implementing PLM by establishing a single source of product data, or product record. Most PLM solutions offer sophisticated interfaces to many design automation and office applications, which reduce the need to capture, store, and validate product data. Product designs are maintained as assemblies and parts in the PLM system, and that arrangement allows engineers easy searching when they are looking, for example, for legacy components, with software providing a critical control and value portion of the product. With PLM, disparate engineering teams work more collaboratively.
Mounting Troubles
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article analyzes the problems encountered in developing the first jumbo jet, the Boeing 747. In the 1960s, the jumbo jet—a wide-body aircraft with two aisles and up to 10 seats per row—was the logical next step in the progression of the airliner. For the Pratt & Whitney JT9D, which was causing the 747 trouble, the engine skin casing was both bending and ovalizing—exhibiting non-circular distortion—under thrust loading that could be as high as 43,500 pounds on takeoff. The ovalizing distortion resulted in turbine and compressor blade rubbing against the interior of the engine case and necessitated power-robbing increases in blade tip clearance gaps. The result was a serious reduction in thrust, and increased fuel consumption as much as 7 percent above guaranteed rates. Boeing chose to mount the JT9D engines well forward of the 747 wing leading edges. The successful resolution of ovalization problems encountered in mounting the JT9D to the first Boeing 747s has provided guidance for future installations of large fan commercial jet engines.
Powering Ahead
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article explores the increasing use of natural gas in different turbine industries and in turn creating an efficient electrical system. All indications are that the aviation market will be good for gas turbine production as airlines and the military replace old equipment and expanding economies such as China and India increase their air travel. Gas turbines now account for some 22% of the electricity produced in the United States and 46% of the electricity generated in the United Kingdom. In spite of this market share, electrical power gas turbines have kept a much lower profile than competing technologies, such as coal-fired thermal plants and nuclear power. Gas turbines are also the primary device behind the modern combined power plant, about the most fuel-efficient technology we have. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is developing a new J series gas turbine for the combined cycle power plant market that could achieve thermal efficiencies of 61%. The researchers believe that if wind turbines and gas turbines team up, they can create a cleaner, more efficient electrical power system.
No Testing Allowed
Authors: Thornton Jack
Published: July 2018

This article describes various features of Stockpile Stewardship programme meant for testing of nuclear weapons. Simulating the thermodynamics of a nuclear blast requires millions of variables. Although the simulations are challenging, the role of simulations continues to increase significantly in the absence of nuclear testing. Stockpile Stewardship is groundbreaking science in which experiments must comply with the nuclear test moratorium, arms limitation treaties, and budgetary and political realities that go with them. Due to the complexity and uncertainties in simulations, leading engineering organizations such as Los Alamos are changing their approach to simulating large, complicated problems such as the thermodynamics of nuclear explosions. The Department of Energy is encouraging the recognition of verification and validation as a scientific discipline in and of itself. In the Predictive Science Academic Alliance Program, five universities—California Institute of Technology, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Stanford University and the—conduct research to support the National Nuclear Security Administration’s stockpile stewardship mission, which includes training scientists and engineers in the new field of ‘predictive science’.
Sustainability
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article summarizes results of ASME’s third annual survey on the importance of sustainability in different engineering streams. The survey shows that students’ attitudes generally mirror those of more experienced engineers. The survey respondents argued that government regulations are the only way to ensure sustainable practices. Several respondents argue that waste, suboptimal energy usage, carbon emissions, and decommissioning issues are all costs that society must pay. Government regulations would ensure those costs are carried by producers. Sustainability is part of the core curriculum for 27% of the students and an elective for another 61%. Fifty-seven percent say their schools offer extracurricular projects and competitions, and 39% special assignments on sustainable engineering. The article also highlights that industry organizations such as ASME and ISPE can encourage and develop technical practices that the industry can leverage to meet regulatory requirements as well as improve the sustainability of assets.
Total Immersion
Authors: Thornton Jack
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on various aspects of immersive engineering and its application in a product lifecycle. Immersive engineering can shorten development time and reduce production and maintenance costs. Studies show that immersive engineering also improves resource utilization and material flow, increases producibility, and reduces rework and scrap. Various company case studies show that the benefits of immersive engineering include fewer injuries, lower cost of tooling changes, higher quality, and faster time to market. In order to prepare an immersive engineering simulation, tasks under study are performed or mimed by technicians and workers who wear a couple of dozen spherical reflectors or markers that enable the digital replication of their body movements—motion tracking. The advantage of immersive engineering is that issues involving quality, productivity, manufacturability, lifecycle costs, and ergonomics across broad spectrum can be discovered and addressed early, when changes are less costly than they are after a company has invested in tooling or made other commitments.
Engineering Spelled Out
Authors: Petroski Henry
Published: July 2018

This article presents an alphabetical order as a type of abecedary of brief essays on concepts and practices that are central to mechanical engineering. Codes and Standards is one of the topics, which highlights that the development of standards is generally identified as a sign of professionalism, in which voluntary committee efforts go toward writing standards that are adopted widely. The Mechanical Engineering essay explains that with the rise of specialization, civil engineers focused on alignment, grades, roadbeds, and bridges, and mechanical engineers on locomotives and rolling stock. The development of such divergent interests led to the feeling that the civil engineering societies that initially encompassed all of non-military engineering could not satisfy an increasingly diverse membership. Hence, new and more specialized societies began to be established in the middle of the nineteenth century. The Symbols of Engineering essay explains that the legal profession is symbolized on many a courthouse façade by a representation of blindfolded Justice holding a pair of scales—and sometimes a sword in her other hand—an image that also has roots in Greek culture.
Under the Hood at GM
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews various changes and developments that the General Motors’ (GM) management has brought after going bankrupt. According to a study, GM began to make plants more standardized and flexible years before Ford. Yet, Ford progressed faster because its centralized management was better able to make and implement decisions. GM needs to improve the speed of its decision-making. It plans to invest billions in United States and European manufacturing. It continues to expand in China, where it makes more vehicles than in the United States. GM’s plants focused on differentiating those things that gave its brands their character: sheet metal, power train, and interiors. Most importantly, GM began assembling every vehicle in every plant in the same sequence. The company has placed a large bet on the Volt, a plug-in electric car with an internal combustion engine. The combination means that the car is not limited to its 40-mile battery range. GM is making profits and succeeding now these days because it is building vehicles that customers want to buy, not vehicles they have to buy.
Stressing the Science of Engineering
Authors: Bejan Adrian
Published: July 2018

This article describes the concept of engineering science and its different principles. Engineering science consists of few principles on which nature is founded: the laws of mechanics, thermodynamics, and design because these principles lead us straight, not on a blind and crooked path of trial and error. These few principles unite the animate systems with the inanimate systems, which are much older on Earth and unite the ‘natural’ with the ‘artificial.’ The article also focuses on linking engineering with science and shows through numerous examples that engineering and science are one. The paper shows that science is a story, and the better story is the better science, and science with engineering is a much better story than science without engineering. The value of science is a lot subtler, and it is monumental. There have been several mechanical engineers whose works have had a significant impact on science that most academics think these men were physicists and not engineers.
What's that Noise?
Authors: Manning Lynn
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on various features of a finite element analysis (FEA) program designed by IDIADA, a Barcelona-based company providing design, engineering, testing, and homologation services to the automotive industry. The program has been designed as a solution to the problem of squeaks and rattles in an automobile. FEA software used by engineers from automotive testing company IDIADA detects potential automotive noise. The company uses Abaqus Unified Finite Element Analysis from Dassault Systèmes’ brand Simulia. The team delivered a paper at the Simulia Customer Conference in Barcelona in May 2011 to present the latest improvements in their methodology, applied to rattle in a car instrument panel and correlated with real-world testing. Research has shown that a standard noise-and-vibration analysis method alone can’t model, or predict, the contact that will result in a rattle. The engineers need to come up with a simulation that can accommodate both frequency for noise and vibration and contact for squeak and rattle.
Patent Atomic Bomb Defused
Authors: Teska Kirk
Published: July 2018

This article explains why an appeals court felt the need to reinterpret a disclosure rule that had caused an explosion of paperwork in patent-related cases. In May 2011, the Federal Circuit, in the case of Therasense Inc. v. Becton Dickinson & Co. involving blood glucose test strip technology, changed the standards for proving inequitable conduct. Following this change, a withheld reference must invalidate the patent in order to be material and support a charge of inequitable conduct. A withheld reference that merely presents an argument for invalidity fails as grounds for a charge of inequitable conduct. So long as the non-cited article does not disclose or render obvious the patented invention, the article is not material. Even if the article is material, that alone is not enough. The accused patent violator must also prove that the reference was knowingly and deliberately withheld. The patentee does not have to provide an explanation for the missing information.
The Human Touch
Authors: Skakoon James G. , Wiklund Michael
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the significance of human touch in mechanical design. Designers need to be familiar with basic ergonomic standards and guidelines for their industries. In the mechanical area, these include anthropometric data describing the range of human size, shape, strength, and reach. Understanding and explicitly managing user-applied forces, reaction forces, and the resulting motion constitute a large part of human factors engineering (HFE) in mechanical design. An important early step in mechanical HFE is to select the preferred grip or grips. Making invalid assumptions about how users will grip a product is a common error among designers. Human factors engineering may not yield a perfect solution, but by understanding and applying basic principles of human factors engineering throughout a project, designers can spare design iterations and establish a firm human factors foundation for their products.
Lost in Translation
Authors: Prawel David
Published: July 2018

This article explains how software and networked information sometimes become a problem for mechanical engineers. Many mechanical engineers find themselves deeply challenged by their digital work environments. Supposedly created to relieve them of tedious and repetitive work, the ubiquitous computer systems all too often thwart collaboration among engineers. The variety of data involved in computer-aided design, simulation, and analysis is overwhelming. New-product development regularly presents translation challenges, starting with sophisticated geometry such as blended surfaces and variable-radius splines. Graphic formats also advance steadily. Software developers regularly update graphical user interfaces and enhance their data-capture capabilities. Because each drawing and its information are used again and again, every engineer who imports files into a new system has to choose between modifying as necessary and recreating them keystroke by keystroke. Recreating means that the original cannot be trusted and can entail an enormous waste of time. Manipulating information from one format to another is tedious and stressful, with big opportunities for error.
Built to be Reclaimed
Authors: Saitou Kazuhiro
Published: July 2018

This article elaborates a new design approach that aims at designing products with built-in disassembly means to be activated at the end of a product’s life. Two projects explored in this area are the design of a new class of joints that can be detached by the application of localized heat, and the design of assemblies that can disintegrate via a domino-like process triggered by the removal of one or only a few fasteners. The detachable joints (heat-reversible locator-snap systems) allow easy, non-destructive, and clean detaching of product enclosures. They consist of locators and snaps molded on the internal surfaces of thin-walled product enclosures. During disassembly, thermal expansion of the enclosure walls constrained by locators and the temperature gradient along the wall thickness are exploited to realize the deformation required to release the snaps. In self-disintegrating assemblies, the relative motions of components are constrained by the locators integral to the components, in such a way that the removal of one or few fasteners would cause the self-disintegration of the assembly in a desired sequence.
Automation vs. Jobs
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article examines the impact of automation on jobs. Since the end of the Great Recession in June 2009, the GDP of the United States has grown 75% as fast as its average between 1948 and 2007. Ordinarily, such growth would spur companies to hire more workers. However, the fact is that overall unemployment has hovered above 9% for most of the past three years and remains stubbornly high. The percentage of working adults is at its lowest level since 1983, when women were still entering the workforce. Instead of hiring workers, companies are now investing in equipment and technology, which rebounded quickly after the recession. Some economists contend that advanced information and communications technology is transforming the economy by capturing jobs that only humans could have done before. They even consider digital technology when looking at the potential causes of unemployment. They also believe this is a sign of deeper structural changes in the economy.
Heavy Duty
Authors: Testa Bridget Mintz
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the obstacles in producing ultraheavy duty products for nuclear reactors in the United States. There has not been much call for making reactor vessels in the United States for decades. Even in the 1970s, the peak decade for building nuclear power plants in the United States, only around a dozen reactor vessels were installed in the best years. To produce ultraheavy products, entirely new forging facilities would have to be built. As per some estimates, one new ultraheavy forging facility would cost $1.5 billion to $2.5 billion, and it would take five to seven years to build. There is also problem related to profit making. Changing these conditions to favor building domestic ultraheavy forging capability would take a coherent energy policy for the United States regarding nuclear power, making it much more important in the energy capabilities.
The Coming Single-Aisle, Narrow-body Aircraft Bonanza
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article describes the lucrative market for single-aisle narrow-body (SANB) commercial aircraft for the next 20 years. The SANB market has been the most lucrative for engine manufacturers. Boeing’s 737 and Airbus’s A320 families are powered by twin 30,000 pounds-thrust engines from CFM International or from International Aero Engines number in the many thousands. Of the 19,400 airplanes now in the worldwide air transport fleet, according to Airbus, for aircraft above 100 seats, 87% of all routes flown and 78% of all seats offered are in SANB airplanes. With the single-aisle jet liner market at record levels, not surprisingly, new players want a piece of this Boeing/Airbus duopoly pie. Both Airbus and Boeing have relied extensively over the last few years on customer financing support from export credit agencies such as the U.S. Export–Import Bank. The Russian and Chinese jets are government funded. Bombardier is getting Canadian and provincial government aid to develop the CSeries.
Designing for Technology's Unknown Tribes
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article elaborates how anthropology is opening new design opportunities in everything from consumer products and computer interfaces to mechatronics systems and industrial design. Anthropology can reframe human understanding of familiar places and behavior. Unlike market researchers and designers, anthropologists start with people rather than products. Design anthropology has become a fixture in the tech world. Citrix, Claro, Facebook, Fujitsu, Google, IBM, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, and Sapient, all employ anthropologists. Even anthropologists employed by non-tech firms, such as JCPenney and Target, often work on the tech side. Design anthropology is the kind of lens that enables designers to see things in a new light. They can see the people who use a product and how they use it. They can also understand what the product means to the person who buys it.
Charging Forward
Authors: Thornton Jack
Published: July 2018

This article outlines the challenges for automobile engineers in designing electric-drive vehicles. Understanding the way noise travels differently through an electric-drive vehicle is one of the main challenges for engineers as they design this new generation of vehicles. Moreover, bodies and chassis are evolving away from traditional sheet metal to more exotic materials, and consequently, the whole production process is being re-engineered. The power density of even the best battery is small when compared to the chemical energy in an identical volume of gasoline. Hence, electric vehicles (EVs) can at most eke out only around 100 miles per charge. Overcoming that challenge is the subject of decades-long research projects. The lithium-ion batteries found in most EVs generate so much heat in use that they require their own cooling systems. Temperatures of all cells within the battery pack also must be held within a few degrees of each other, lest internal current loops form that may slash battery life. Some other issues include cost, service life, and safety.
Performance Optimization of Wind Turbine Rotors with Active Flow Control (Part 2)
Authors: Pechlivanoglou G. , Nayeri C.N. , Paschereit C.O.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the performance optimization of wind turbine rotors with active flow control. An extensive multi-parameter investigation with a thorough matrix-grading system was performed to identify the most suitable solution for industrial quality, short/mid-term implementation on actual utility scale wind turbines. A very wide selection of aerodynamic flow control solutions was analyzed based on extensive multi-disciplinary literature review and through aerodynamic and aeroelastic simulations. It is suggested that the trailing edge devices have the most favorable performance in the field of system integration and mechanical design performance. Compliant structures like the flexible flap keep the number of moving parts to a minimum while maintaining high performance and manufacturing simplicity. The use of flexible and elastic materials based on polymers or rubber material improves the lightning strike resistance of these solutions and allows for low-cost large-scale production. The actuator principle, sensitivity, and reliability are decisive parameters, and pneumatic actuators seem to strike a good balance between performance, cost, and reliability.
Storing Energy Underwater
Authors: Cheung Brian , Carriveau Rupp , Ting David S.-K.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the advantage of compressed air energy storage (CAES) system. CAES has been proposed as an alternative to pumped hydro storage for large-scale, bulk energy management. CAES systems typically rely on electrically driven air compressors that pump pressurized air into large underground geological formations such as aquifers and caverns for storage. When the power is needed, turboexpanders connected to generators convert the compressed air back into electrical energy. Like pumped hydro, CAES can be scaled to sizes compatible for supplementing large renewable energy facilities. The lifetime costs for a CAES system can make it work as a means for storing cheap off peak electricity and selling it during peak hours, but capital costs and difficulties finding suitable geological structures have limited the technology’s applications. To make CAES more useful for storing wind-powered electricity, the systems have to become less expensive and have greater flexibility in sitting.
Experimental Investigation of Turbulent Boundary Layer Flashback Limits for Premixed Hydrogen-Air Flames Confined in Ducts
Authors: Eichler Christian , Baumgartner Georg , Sattelmayer Thomas
Published: July 2018

This article discusses the results of experimental investigation of turbulent boundary layer flashback limits for premixed hydrogen-air flames confined in ducts. A tube burner experiment was set-up to double-check the findings of the channel rig. Unconfined flashback experiments were carried out by stabilizing the flame on top of the pilot burner in free atmosphere. A confined flame configuration was achieved by simply fixing a ceramic ring with a diameter higher by 4 mm on top of the pilot burner. Flashback measurements with unconfined flame holding neatly reproduced literature values for fully premixed, atmospheric H2–air mixtures and turbulent flow. The results of unconfined and confined tube burner experiments were plotted. The results showed that the drastic decrease of wall flashback stability for confined flames was the very same for both, tube and channel.
Smooth Track and Trade
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article discusses implementation of a new product lifecycle management (PLM) system at Parker Hannifin Corp.’s aerospace group. This group employs 6100 across its 18 design centers located around the world, where engineers create parts for commercial aircraft, including helicopters, and many military aircrafts. Managers within the Parker Hannifin aerospace group had been tracking digital documents with a document-management system since the early 1990s. The group recently upgraded its PLM system and is working on supplier access to design documents stored within the system. The new PLM system was rolled out in 2008. The Enovia MatrixOne system is from the same vendor that supplies the company’s main computer-aided design system, which is Catia from Dassault Systèmes of Paris. Regardless of how that project plays out, Parker Hannifin is now miles ahead of where it was only a few years ago when it comes to managing design documents and related data. The smoothing of any chinks among suppliers and in maintaining legacy information has all been worth the upgrade.
Some IGTI History
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article presents an overview of the history of International Gas Turbine Institute (IGTI). The IGTI gas turbine conference has been ASME's leading international technical meeting from its very beginning. The annual meeting is held in North America and in Europe on alternate years. Currently, more than half of the papers presented are from non-North American parts of the gas turbine community, most coming from Europe and Asia. The IGTI First Annual Gas Turbine Conference and Exhibit was held on April 16–18, 1956 at the Hotel Statler in Washington, DC. This very fist ASME all-gas turbine meeting had 25 exhibitors, six technical sessions, a total of 17 papers, and an attendance of about 750. In recent years, IGTI has been able to fund about $1M in gas turbine scholarships, as well as providing the world's leading forum for gas turbine technology.
Heeding the Lessons of History
Authors: Marcus Gail H.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on learning from the successes and failures of the first-generation reactor development. Reactor designs have evolved over time to meet increasingly rigorous demands for safety and to take advantage of technological developments to improve their economics, but these changes have been piecemeal. Although light-water reactors are the most common reactor technology in use today, heavy-water reactors were actually developed earlier. The earliest demonstration of a heavy-water moderated and cooled reactor took place in May 1944 at Argonne. The reasons for the domination of water-cooled reactors, and particularly of light-water reactors, are complex. The article suggests that it is interesting to speculate on how the new initiative to develop more advanced designs may play out. There are already strong pressures to focus on the integral light-water design; based on well-understood light-water technology, the argument goes, such designs will be much easier to develop and license. In the longer term, however, some of the non-light water reactors could ultimately achieve greater levels of passive safety, efficient fuel utilization, economic performance, and proliferation resistance.
A Future at Risk
Authors: Duffey Romney
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the need of formulating and applying a risk model that integrates not just potential loss of life but social, economic, and political costs as well. The risk from nuclear energy use poses special questions, as its potential radiation threat is unseen and not very well understood by the public. The uncertainty of the risk of any event, whether a giant global tsunami or a local gas leak, is given by its probability or chance. It has been pointed out that with both Fukushima and the Deepwater Horizon, the loss of life was insignificant compared to everyday accidents. There is need to adopt integrated relative risk as a measure for all technologies with extreme events to quantify social-consequence costs and impacts. Equally important is the creation of a learning environment at all the operational, regulatory, managerial, political, and social levels to help promote assurance of societal acceptance. The goal is restoration of perceived public and political acceptance and trust.
Maintaining Standards
Authors: Copa Mario M.
Published: July 2018

This article explores the need to establish an engineering maintenance management system and presents a case study of the same at Minera San Cristobal S.A. (MSC), a Bolivian mining company owned by Sumitomo Corp. Plant operational reliability elements are design, equipment, processes, and people. The company developed a format for maintenance management key performance indicators; for instance, comparing scheduled and unscheduled work orders or equipment availability vs. operational availability. These helped in measuring the performance of the equipment on which preventive maintenance had been performed. Within a short period of time, MSC has shown remarkable improvement. Early in 2009, the company had faced bankruptcy, and has now returned to profitability. The establishment of an engineering maintenance management system has produced change and growth, has raised the company’s standards, and has advanced MSC toward its goal to become a world-class company.
MEs in Nano-Medicine
Authors: Genin Guy M. , Devireddy Ram V.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the use of mechanical engineering techniques in the field of nano-engineered medicines. Nano-engineered solutions now exist for a range of medical diagnostics, therapeutics, and imaging, and are at the core of many of the current generation of regenerative medicine and tissue engineering strategies. Nanoparticles can be developed to absorb energy with high efficiency from photons of certain frequency ranges. The ability to understand specific diseases such as osteogenesis imperfecta based upon such fundamental analyses has been demonstrated by ASME member Sandra Shefelbine of Imperial College London in collaboration with the Buehler group. The tools of nanotechnology have enabled mechanical engineers to engineer the beginnings of an entirely new generation of cures and therapies, and this article has discussed just a sample. In order to serve as a forum for discussion of these advances ASME is recommissioning the Journal of Nanotechnology in Engineering and Medicine.
Design in Nature
Authors: Bejan Adrian , Peder Zane J.
Published: July 2018

This article is adapted from the Introduction of Design in Nature: How the Constructal Law Governs Evolution in Biology, Physics, Technology, and Social Organization, written by Adrian Bejan and J. Peder Zane. This law sweeps the entire mosaic of nature from inanimate rivers to animate designs, such as vascular tissues, locomotion, and social organization. The constructal law tears down the walls that have separated the disciplines of science by providing a new understanding of what it means to be alive. The constructal law defines life in physics terms, and it covers all live-system phenomena. The author believes that the constructal law also challenges another idea that has become dogma since Darwin—that there is no overarching direction to evolution. The constructal law, by contrast, predicts that evolution should occur because of the tendency of all flow systems to generate better and better designs for the currents that flow through them.
Complexity by Design
Authors: Flumerfelt Shannon , Halada Gary , Kahlen Franz-Josef
Published: July 2018

This article discusses various engineering revolutions taking place to deal with challenges of complex systems’ design. Engineers who design complex systems have to understand how the various components of a system fit together and anticipate how the interactions between these components could lead to failure. The development of sophisticated expert system software that can provide rapid and intuitive access to vast amounts of data on materials and design features of available components also enables an individual engineer to tap into the expertise of many others. Adaptive risk management structures, such as those used in high-reliability organizations, which rely on expertise, planning, and communication, can help to reduce the uncertainty of human factor risk. Some automated control and feedback systems use embedded sensors and extremely rapid response mechanisms to prevent or limit damage from a failure far faster than a human operator could. The experts suggest that the rise of complex systems creates a challenge to traditional ways of engineering.
A System Approach to Safety
Authors: Brown Alan S.
Published: July 2018

This article presents results of a report that was undertaken to study system approach to offshore drilling safety. The study was conducted by the National Academy of Engineering and National Research Council, and led by former Navy Secretary Donald Winter, now a professor of engineering at the University of Michigan. The report’s systems approach for hardware would include better risk assessment, improved design guidelines, more realistic testing and modeling, and an enhanced systems-level understanding of offshore drilling equipment. The committee drew its recommendations from an analysis of the Macondo Well blowout, which destroyed the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig on April 20, 2010. The panel called for more instrumentation and computer-based expert decision aids for emergency warnings, as well as autonomous systems to shut down wells in emergencies. The committee recommended that operating companies be held responsible and accountable for well safety and integrity. The report recommended expanded safety R&D to improve design, testing, modeling, risk assessment, safety culture, and systems integration. It also supported educating and training personnel to implement system safety.
Fossils and FEA
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article explores the application of finite element analysis (FEA) in studying the evolution of animals, including dinosaurs. Scientists have applied the method to determine how dinosaurs originally looked and functioned, and how they and other animals changed and evolved through the years. FEA is a useful tool to reconstruct the mechanical behavior of the muscle and skeletal system in zoological and paleontological studies because it is non-invasive and reconstructs stress at multiple sites and depths throughout the skeleton. It can be used to study extinct animals by way of their fossilized remains and can deal with complex geometries and load conditions. FEA is now routinely used to interpret skeletal forms for function in both medical and biological applications. The scientists believe that FEA will hopefully allow to see the effect of eating hard foods, such as the belemnites with their bullet-shaped guards. FEA allows a far more intricate, accurate, and precise picture of the bone to be used in studies.
Bang for the Buck
Authors: Kreith Frank
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on the need to develop alternatives to fossil fuels for present-day and future energy systems. The direction of energy research ought to be toward material science that can extend the life and lower the cost of renewable energy systems, rather than toward highly theoretical analyses that have over-the-horizon payoffs. Additionally, the planning for a smooth transition from fossil based to sustainable energy must include a side-by-side analysis of the economics as well as the energy return on energy investment (EROI) of each potential system. The EROI analysis would ensure the long-term viability of the technology, and the commercial analysis would show how much the system will cost and, thereby, provide an estimate of the money required for the installation in the transition period. The transition from the oil- and coal-based economy to a sustainably based future is not expected to be easy; however, taking advantage of the low-hanging fruit of conservation and energy efficiency will make that transition easier and much less painful.
Breaking the Barriers
Authors: Langston Lee S.
Published: July 2018

This article explores the new developments in the field of gas turbines and the recent progress that has been made in the industry. The gas turbine industry has had its ups and downs over the past 20 years, but the production of engines for commercial aircraft has become the source for most of its growth of late. Pratt & Whitney’s recent introduction of its new geared turbofan engine is an example of the primacy of engine technology in aviation. Many advances in commercial aviation gas turbine technology are first developed under military contracts, since jet fighters push their engines to the limit. Distributed generation and cogeneration, where the exhaust heat is used directly, are other frontiers for gas turbines. Work in fluid mechanics, heat transfer, and solid mechanics has led to continued advances in compressor and turbine component performance and life. In addition, gas turbine combustion is constantly being improved through chemical and fluid mechanics research.
Patent Watch Weather Control
Authors: Teska Kirk
Published: July 2018

This article presents an overview of few patents on the fringe of environmental engineering involving weather control. In the Patent number 462,795 issued in 1891, liquefied carbonic acid gas is placed in a shell, shot into the atmosphere, and exploded. The gas evaporates and in so doing allegedly cools down the atmosphere producing moisture in a cloud and ultimately rain. The wildest rainmaking patent is number 1,103,490, dated July 14, 1914. The inventor, J.M. Cordray, describes numerous balloons released into the atmosphere and then a lot of explosions. Some balloons include bags of water; others include finely crushed bone and concentrated sulphuric acid; still other balloons include canisters of giant powder, and chloride [sic] of potash; and yet still another set of balloons includes oil burners and a tank of water to produce steam. The claimed method of producing rain involves violently disturbing the air above the earth, then heating the air and supplying moisture and nitrogen into the air.
Intelligent and Connected
Authors: Noor Ahmed K. , Beiker Sven A.
Published: July 2018

This article reviews the research and development of automated connected vehicles that aim to reduce road accidents, money, fuel, and conserve environment. Major automotive companies have added automated functions to their vehicles, and various driver assistance systems—adaptive cruise control, video-based lane analysis, and steering and braking assistance—are currently available on high-end models. Automated systems can assess some traffic situations faster than humans can. As a result, automated driving is expected to significantly reduce accidents and traffic fatalities, improve traffic flow and highway capacity, achieve better fuel efficiency, and reduce emissions. However, on the way towards fully automated driving, many challenges need to be addressed. There are technology issues, including reliability, and non-technical issues of cost, regulation, and legislation. In order to accelerate the development of fully automated connected vehicles, there is a need for a cooperative approach. A practical evolutionary roadmap can be developed by an interdisciplinary panel of experts representing major car companies, government agencies, research centers, and academia.
Reduction to Practice
Authors: Kirkpatrick Allan , Danielson Scott , Warrington Robert O.
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on changes that are required to close the gap between engineering schools and industry. The ASME task force that was originated in 2008 initially set out to define the engineering knowledge and communication skills that mechanical engineering (ME) graduates should have if their employers are to be globally competitive. This resulted in the Vision 2030 report, which was recently released worldwide. A survey has revealed that young engineers and their professors saw themselves much better prepared than their managers did. Experts believe that ASME and its industry leaders can play vital roles by initiating faculty-industry exchanges, by endowing practice-based faculty chairs, by pressing for better faculty-student ratios, and by seeking out new faculty candidates with more industry experience. The successful implementation of a broader ME curriculum, with a tighter focus on professional skills, will produce savvier, more well-rounded, and more professional graduates. The Vision 2030 Task Force predicts that these graduates will always be thinking about the world’s grandest, and most daunting, challenges.
Freedom and Engineering for All
Authors: Wyndham Jessica M.
Published: July 2018

This article discusses benefits and challenges in engaging engineers in connecting engineering and human rights. Engineers have a vital role to play in giving visibility to human rights, particularly in matters relevant to their field or discipline. Academic instruction in ethics is increasingly viewed as integral to a rigorous educational program in science or engineering. The Science and Human Rights Coalition of the American Association for the Advancement of Science is one network of professional societies that recognize a role for scientists and engineers in human rights. An important way in which engineers can protect and promote human rights is by ensuring that the products they develop benefit people in need. Engineers have human rights that need to be respected in order for the engineering enterprise to flourish and the benefits of engineering to be broadly enjoyed. Engineers have opportunities to contribute to human rights compliance when designing and implementing projects, and to contribute to the realization of the right to benefit from scientific progress and its applications.
How True to Life
Authors: Thilmany Jean
Published: July 2018

This article focuses on research underway to build uncertainty into supercomputer simulations of hypersonic flight engines. A team of researchers headquartered at Stanford University is trying to quantify the uncertainty inherent in their supercomputer computations so that engineers can build appropriate tolerances into their designs. The group is investigating hypersonic aircraft, which would fly through the atmosphere at six or twelve times the speed of sound—and in particular the engine that might power such flight. The resulting simulation, scientists believe, will give a more accurate depiction of reality than a simulation that doesn’t correct for computational uncertainty. In the process of conducting their research, group members have created a new computer language that will make it easier to program and run complex simulations on the supercomputers of the future. This programming language of the future separates the computation from the coding.
Defense Against the Asteroids
Authors: Teska Kirk
Published: July 2018

This article lists various schemes that have been patented to deal with near-Earth asteroids. NASA surveys the solar system for near-Earth asteroids; schemes to deal with them include a spacecraft to sample their minerals, and a photon momentum plane and a laser tractor beam to deflect them. According to a patent by Gregory A. Piccionelli of Westlake Village, California, nuclear devices are detonated on the moon and propulsion devices are then attached to the resultant moon pieces. These moon pieces are then driven into the incoming meteor to alter its orbit. Another example of a scheme is a NASA patent, which has three or four spacecrafts place a Kevlar loop around an asteroid. The spacecraft then docks on the asteroid and deploys a rigidized photon momentum transfer plane. Photons from the sun strike this reflective surface and alter the position of the asteroid. A start-up by the name of Planetary Resources is also developing technology to mine asteroids.