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Portal:Engineering

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The Engineering Portal

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The steam engine, the major driver in the Industrial Revolution, underscores the importance of engineering in modern history. This beam engine is on display in the Technical University of Madrid.

Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to design and improve systems, devices, or processes that solve problems under constraints. The traditional disciplines of engineering are civil, mechanical, electrical, and chemical. The academic discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized subfields, and each can have a more specific emphasis for applications of mathematics and science. In turn, modern engineering practice spans multiple fields of engineering, which include designing and improving infrastructure, machinery, vehicles, electronics, materials, and energy systems. For related terms, see glossary of engineering.

As a human endeavor, engineering has existed since ancient times, starting with the six classic simple machines. Examples of large-scale engineering projects from antiquity include impressive structures like the pyramids, elegant temples such as the Parthenon, and water conveyances like hulled watercraft, canals, and the Roman aqueduct. Early machines were powered by humans and animals, then later by wind. Machines of war were invented for siegecraft. In Europe, the scientific and industrial revolutions advanced engineering into a scientific profession and resulted in continuing technological improvements. The steam engine provided much greater power than animals, leading to mechanical propulsion for ships and railways. Further scientific advances resulted in the application of engineering to electrical, chemical, and aerospace requirements, plus the use of new materials for greater efficiencies.

The word engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium. Engineers typically follow a code of ethics that favors honesty and integrity, while being dedicated to public safety and welfare. Engineering tasks involve finding optimal solutions based on constraints, with testing and simulations being used prior to production. When a deployed product fails, forensic engineering is used to determine what went wrong in order to find a fix. Much of this product lifecycle management is now assisted with computer software, from design to testing and manufacturing. At larger scales, this process is normally funded by a company, multiple investors, or the government, so a knowledge of economics and business practices is needed. (Full article...)

An engineer is a practitioner of engineering. The word engineer (Latin ingeniator, Ir is the term and or title of an engineer in countries like Belgium, The Netherlands, and Indonesia) is derived from the Latin words ingeniare ("to contrive, devise") and ingenium ("cleverness"). The foundational qualifications of a licensed professional engineer typically include a four-year bachelor's degree in an engineering discipline, or in some jurisdictions, a master's degree in an engineering discipline plus four to six years of peer-reviewed professional practice (culminating in a project report or thesis) and passage of engineering board examinations. (Full article...)

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Tungsten arc welding

Gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW, also known as tungsten inert gas welding or TIG, and heliarc welding when helium is used) is an arc welding process that uses a non-consumable tungsten electrode to produce the weld. The weld area and electrode are protected from oxidation or other atmospheric contamination by an inert shielding gas (argon or helium). A filler metal is normally used, though some welds, known as 'autogenous welds', or 'fusion welds' do not require it. A constant-current welding power supply provides electrical energy, which is conducted across the arc through a column of highly ionized gas and metal vapors known as a plasma.

The process grants the operator greater control over the weld than competing processes such as shielded metal arc welding and gas metal arc welding, allowing stronger, higher-quality welds. However, TIG welding is comparatively more complex and difficult to master, and furthermore, it is significantly slower than most other welding techniques.

TIG welding is most commonly used to weld thin sections of stainless steel and non-ferrous metals such as aluminium, magnesium, and copper alloys.

A related process, plasma arc welding, uses a slightly different welding torch to create a more focused welding arc and as a result is often automated. (Full article...)

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Type Ln2 steam tractor with steam boiler.
Type Ln2 steam tractor with steam boiler.
Credit: Paweł Michalik
A boiler is a closed vessel in which water or other fluid is heated. The fluid does not necessarily boil. (In North America, the term "furnace" is normally used if the purpose is not to actually boil the fluid.) The heated or vaporized fluid exits the boiler for use in various processes or heating applications, including water heating, central heating, boiler-based power generation, cooking, and sanitation.

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