Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering, abbreviated as ME, is an engineering discipline that utilizes the application of principles of physics for analysis, design, manufacturing, and maintenance of mechanical systems.  It requires a solid understanding of many key concepts including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics and energy.  Practitioners of mechanical engineering, known as mechanical engineers, use these principles and others in the design and analysis of automobiles, aircraft, heating & cooling systems, manufacturing plants, industrial equipment and machinery, medical devices and more.

Mechanical engineers can be used as project managers or design engineers for many different applications.  Mechanical engineers design and specify individual components to complete systems and facilities.

Science Branches

Science
Applied Science
Engineering
Mechanical Engineering
• Acoustical
• Aerospace
• Agricultural
• Automotive
• Design
• HVAC
• Fire Protection
• Forest
• Industrial
• Maintenance
• Manufacturing
• Marine
• Mechatronic
• Nuclear
• Paper & Pulp
• Petroleum
• Plumbing
• Process
• Railway
• Reservoir
• Welding

Nomenclature & Symbols

• $$a$$  -  acceleration
• $$\omega$$  -  (Greek symbol omega)  -  angular velocity
• $$CE$$  -  Consulting Engineer
• $$F$$  -  force
• $$f$$  -  friction
• $$HP$$  -  horsepower
• $$MECH$$  -  mechanical
• $$ME$$  -  Mechanical Engineer
• $$P$$  -  power
• $$PE$$  -  Professional Engineer
• $$RE$$  -  Registered Engineer
• $$s$$  -  speed
• $$\tau$$  (Greek symbol tau)  -  torque
• $$W$$  -  work

Mechanical engineering Glossary

A

• Acceleration  -  The rate of change of velocity.  Whenever a mass experiences a force, an acceleration is acting.
• Angular velocity  -  The speed that an object moves through an angle, θ.  The calculation below calculates ω but does not calculate the relative velocity of a point as it moves throughout the curve.

F

• Fitting  -  A piping component that is used to join piping, change the direction or diameter of piping or end the pipe.
• Flange  -  A bolted connection where two pieces of pipe, equipment, fittings or valves are connected together to form a piping system.
• Force  -  The push or pull of an object resulting in a change from rest or motion.
• Friction  -  The mechanical resistance to the relative movement of two surfaces.

H

• Horsepower  -  A measure of power or the rate of doing work.

N

• Newton's first law  -  A object at rest remains at rest and a object in motion continues to move at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force.

P

• Pipe  -  A hollow tube that can carry products such as fluid, gas, granular and more.
• Power  -  The rate of doing work and is measured by the amount of foot pounds of work done in a particular unit of time.

S

• Speed  -  The rate of change or distance with time.

T

• Torque  -  A measure of how much twisting is applied to a fastener.

V

• Valve  -  A mechanism used to stop or open and regulate flow.  The type of valve used depends on the application.

W

• Work  -  The overcoming of resistance through space and is the measure of force x distance.

Z

Display #
Title
Beam Bending Stress
Block Flow Diagram
Equipment Index
Line List
Piping One-Line Drawing