me magazine march 2012

VOL.134/NO.3 MARCH 2012 | WWW.ASME.ORG

THE MAGAZINE OF ASME

ReanimatingDinosaurs

Next Wave ofEngineers

Systematic Safety

THE MAGAZINE OF ASME

ReanimatingDinosaurs

Next Wave ofEngineers

Systematic Safety

MarchCoverPoster.indd 1 2/7/12 3:27 PM

ASME Verification andValidation Symposium

REGISTER NOW!

asmeconferences.org/VVS2012

Ground-breaking event

Cross-disciplinary approach

ANNOUNCING the first large-scale symposium dedicated entirelyto Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification of computer simulations. If you’re passionate about this emergingmethodology, then this is the event you’ve been waiting for!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:• Aerospace engineering • Materials science & engineering• Automotive engineering • Mechanical engineering• Atmospheric & earth science • Medical device design / analysis• Civil engineering • Nuclear power system design• Defense applications • Solid mechanics• Fluid & thermal mechanics • Space science & astrophysics• High-energy density physics • Structural dynamics

May 2 - 4, 2012 Planet Hollywood Resort Las Vegas, Nevada USA

JOIN published technical experts from: General Motors, ANSYS,Southwest Research Institute, Federal Aviation Administration, U. of Alabama Huntsville, The Boeing Co., Simulia, Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, TexasA&M, Westinghouse, Exponent, Sandia National Laboratory, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Medtronic, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Boston Scientific , U. of Tokyo, and more.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:• Dr. Arthur G. Erdman, U. of Minnesota• Dr. Douglas B. Kothe, Oak Ridge National Laboratory• Dr. William L. Oberkampf, Consultant• Dr. Patrick J. Roache, Consultant

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comsol.com /reactor

STRUCTURAL DAMPING: This model performs a structural analysis of a damper made from a viscoelastic material. The picture shows the displacement in one axial direction (color plot), while the shape plot illustrates the overall displacement. The graph shows the extent of the variation of the viscoelastic moduli with frequency.

comsol.com /conference/cd

With COMSOL Multiphysics ® you are empowered to build simulations that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs. The key is the ability to include all physical effects that exist in the real world. This multiphysics approach delivers results —tangible results that save precious development time and spark innovation.

Order a free CD containing 700 multiphysics presentations.

Capture the Concept.

© 2012 COMSOL. COMSOL and COMSOL Multiphysics are registered trademarks of COMSOL AB. Capture the Concept is a trademark of COMSOL AB. Other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

you are empowered to build simulations that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.Capture the Concept. you are empowered to build simulations

that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs. With COMSOL Multiphysics that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.With COMSOL Multiphysics that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.Capture the Concept.

of a damper made from a viscoelastic material. The picture shows the displacement in one axial direction (color plot), while the shape plot illustrates the overall displacement. The graph shows the extent of the variation of the viscoelastic moduli with frequency.Focus on complex systems

28 Complexity by DesignAs engineered systems grow, it’s imperative to understand them well enough to forestall unexpected failures.By Shannon Flumerfelt, Gary Halada, and Franz-Josef Kahlen

34 training for the next WaveThe increasing complexity of technology requires new methods to prepare engineers and the workforce.By Ahmed Noor

38 things happenAn excerpt from To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure.By Henry Petroski

features

depa

rtm

ents

6 Editorial 8 Letters 10 News & Notes 14 Global Window 16 Washington Window 18 Computing 22 Software Exchange 24 Tech Focus Power Transmission & Motion Control

51 Bookshelf 52 Standards & Certification 53 New Products 58 Positions Open 61 Ad Index 63 ASME News

on

th

e c

ov

er

2 mechanical engineering | March 2012

42 a system approaCh to safetyA report recommends ways to avoid a repeat of the Macondo well blowout.By Alan S. Brown

p 44 fossils anD feaPaleontologists use an engineering technology to explore animal evolution and see how extinct animals behaved.By Jean Thilmany

48 me 2011: inDex of artiCles

64 input/outputCross Country on CNGBy Jean Thilmany

03 12VOLuME 134 /NO.3

On The COver:Dynamic systems, mechanical or otherwise, are challenging in their complexity. The cover graphic was created by Forrest Stonedahl for research work involving the use of evolutionary search processes to explore multi-agent simulations of complex adaptive systems. The image is a ray-traced visualization of a viral marketing simulation on part of the Twitter network. The space imagery in the background was retrieved from the Hubble Space Telescope.

contents0312.indd 2 2/6/12 11:38 AM

comsol.com /reactor

STRUCTURAL DAMPING: This model performs a structural analysis of a damper made from a viscoelastic material. The picture shows the displacement in one axial direction (color plot), while the shape plot illustrates the overall displacement. The graph shows the extent of the variation of the viscoelastic moduli with frequency.

comsol.com /conference/cd

With COMSOL Multiphysics ® you are empowered to build simulations that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs. The key is the ability to include all physical effects that exist in the real world. This multiphysics approach delivers results —tangible results that save precious development time and spark innovation.

Order a free CD containing 700 multiphysics presentations.

Capture the Concept.

© 2012 COMSOL. COMSOL and COMSOL Multiphysics are registered trademarks of COMSOL AB. Capture the Concept is a trademark of COMSOL AB. Other product or brand names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

you are empowered to build simulations that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.Capture the Concept. you are empowered to build simulations

that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs. With COMSOL Multiphysics that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.With COMSOL Multiphysics that accurately replicate the important characteristics of your designs.

Capture the Concept.Capture the Concept.

of a damper made from a viscoelastic material. The picture shows the displacement in one axial direction (color plot), while the shape plot illustrates the overall displacement. The graph shows the extent of the variation of the viscoelastic moduli with frequency.


contents0312.indd 3 2/6/12 3:17 PM

• Superior Reliability

• Unmatched Quality

• Local Sales and Support

• Quickest Delivery Available

When it comes to industrial electric motors, power transmission products and drives, no other manufacturer offers more than Baldor...that is why Baldor is The Industrial Choice! Whether your application requires a fractional or 15,000 Hp motor, a variable frequency drive, mounted bearings or gearing, a pulley or sheave or even a standby generator, Baldor is the choice most preferred by industry.

When your next project demands the most reliable and energy efficient products available, look to Baldor as your one source for more industrial solutions.

baldor.com 479-646-4711

©2011 Baldor Electric Company

The Industrial Choice

From a mechanical point of view the automobile of today is rapidly breaking its traditional connection with the car of yesterday. Free wheeling, which was introduced for the fi rst time into the American automobile market last year, has spread like wild-fi re, until now it is used by practically every company—with the exception, however, of one large manufacturer of a popular low-priced car—which is not surprising in view of the great advantages which this device possesses. ... The employment of free wheeling has led to further development—that of the automatic clutch—with the result that gear shifting has lost most of its terrors, especially for the novice in driving. In this connection reference may be made to another device which thus far has been introduced only on a small scale on buses, and that is the backslide lock, a contrivance that prevents a car from sliding backwards unless the gear shift is in reverse. The convenience of such a device will be appreciated by those who have acquired the knack of coordinating the brake and the clutch. Another novelty which seems to be fi nding favor with the automobile manufacturers is the so-called red control, for the fi rst time introduced on an American car last year. By means of this device, which is actuated by a slight movement of a handle, the rigidity of hydraulic shock absorbers can be modifi ed, with the result that their action can be adapted to the kind of the road over which the car is traveling.

4 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | March 2012

what our community is saying online

Mechanical Engineering (ISSN 0025-6501) is published monthly by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Three Park Avenue, New York, NY 10016-5990. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offi ces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mechanical Engineering, c/o The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 22 Law Drive, Box 2300, Fairfi eld, NJ 07007-2300. Return Canadian undeliverable addresses to P.O. BOX 1051, Fort Erie, On, L2A 6C7. PRICES: To members, annually $32 for initial membership subscription, single copy $7; subscription price to nonmembers available upon request. COPYRIGHT © 2012 by The American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Canadian Goods & Services Tax Registration #126148048. Printed in U.S.A. Authorization to photocopy material for internal or personal use under circumstances not falling within the fair use provisions of the Copyright Act is granted by ASME to libraries and other users registered with the Copyright Clearance Center Transactional Reporting Service, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. Request for special permission or bulk copying should be addressed to Reprints/Permissions Department.

ASME.ORG | ON.FB.ME/MEMAGAZINE | MEMAGAZINEBLOG.ORG ON.FB.ME/MEMAGAZINE

“

THIS MONTH ON WWW.ASME.ORG

Look for us here!

>> With hundreds of new applications being launched for tablets and smart phones every month, it’s hard to decide which is the most useful for your engineering job. ASME.org presents a roundup of APPS FOR THE IPAD that could make your work easier.

>> By linking EIGHT VIBRATORY PILEDRIVING HAMMERS into one large unit, a U.S. equipment manufacturer succeeded in driv-ing 120 72-foot-diameter, 130-foot-long steel piles to form two circular seabound walls in the South China Sea. The giant piles are the largest ever driven and the walls will form the bulkhead for two artifi cial islands for the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Seaway project.

80 years ago this month in Mechanical Engineering magazinefrom the vault March

1932

The Cars of 1932Things seen at the recent National Automobile Show in New York: free wheeling

Both ASME.ORG and EngineeringForChange.org are commemorating their first anniversary.

Re: EngineeringForChange.org

Happy birthday,@Engineer4Change! The collaborative forum for change turns 1!

Get involved: http://bit.ly/seIgkM

Erik Hersman’s PopTech talk recirculated on social media again this month when

Paul Polak tweeted that it’s “One of my all-time favourite @WhiteAfrican talks.” Hersman helped found Nairobi’s iHub and

Ushahidi, and Polak founded iDE and wrote the book Out of Poverty.

At least 1 billion people could be infected with hookworm, ringworm, or similar parasites,

but installing latrines can cut the infection rate by half, a new study has found.

There’s one good way to electrify the homes of the more than 1 billion people who lack energy access: Launch a global solar power initiative.

#BoPDesign the Web’s home for low-cost tech & crowd-sourced design is turning 1 year old.

Happy B-Day, @Engineer4Change

In honor of @Engineer4Change’s 1st anniversary, learn how to

put your skills to use: http://bit.ly/seIgkM

Mechanical Engineering digital is now in the Knowledge Base area of ASME.ORG

contents0312p2.indd 4 2/6/12 11:37 AM

• Superior Reliability

• Unmatched Quality

• Local Sales and Support

• Quickest Delivery Available

When it comes to industrial electric motors, power transmission products and drives, no other manufacturer offers more than Baldor...that is why Baldor is The Industrial Choice! Whether your application requires a fractional or 15,000 Hp motor, a variable frequency drive, mounted bearings or gearing, a pulley or sheave or even a standby generator, Baldor is the choice most preferred by industry.

When your next project demands the most reliable and energy efficient products available, look to Baldor as your one source for more industrial solutions.

baldor.com 479-646-4711

©2011 Baldor Electric Company

The Industrial Choice


contents0312p2.indd 5 2/5/12 7:01 PM

>> Find out how LabVIEW can make you better at ni.com/labview/better 800 453 6202

©2010 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 2805

NI LabVIEW

NameDr. Laurel Watts

Job TitlePrincipal SoftwareEngineer

Area of ExpertiseChemical Engineering

LabVIEW Helped MeControl multipleinstruments operating in harsh conditions

Latest ProjectEngineer the ultimate storm chaser

INTEGRATIONLabVIEW makes me better because the

with hardware is so seamless

2805.indd 1 12/21/10 8:57:15 AM

edito

rial THE GOOD NEWS is that complex

systems rarely fail. The bad news is that, inevitably, things happen. The unenviable challenge lies in fi guring out a way to mitigate the risks of occurrence and the e� ects of the aftermath.

The consequences of large com-plex system failures are mostly and undeniably catastrophic, yet we must remind ourselves that most complex systems have a strong record of reliability.

It is not only the celebrated sys-tems like aircraft, energy plants, and large infrastructures that are complex; even seemingly modest designs can prove very complex. But it is when the large systems fail that the public rightly pays the most attention because these are the spectacular cases of failure that bring dire consequences.

One of the complexities about these large systems—beyond the design itself—is that if they fail, the reasons are as multifaceted as the system itself is complicated. Al-though many things can go wrong with a complex system, usually most things go consistently right. Failure can be traced to engineer-ing, operations, outdated infra-structure, human error, or often a combination of causes.

The mere thought of a complex system failure keeps engineers up at night because engineering is ex-act, but failure, not so much. Clear-ing the hurdle to build e� ective complex systems is an engineering challenge. Designers design for systems to work, not fail. But by nature most complex systems are hazardous.

So how do we make sense of failure? The answers lie as much in engineering books as they do in the annals of philosophy. After all, how does one predict what is unpredictable? Risk and volatility

are not linearly tied to engineering performance, and this month we pry deeply into the whys and why-nots.

We’re still learning the lessons from recent examples where com-plex systems failed or where natural disasters jeopardized their perfor-mance. One of the lessons learned is clear: Engineers must remain vigi-lant over the design, development, and operations of large-scale, com-plex, dynamic human-engineered systems. This includes assessing the ethical responsibilities associ-ated with process management and maintenance.

ASME has been on the forefront in collaborating with stakeholders to keep engineers actively vigilant in assessing critical factors related to risk from engineered systems. Next month, for example, ASME, along with China’s State Adminis-tration of Foreign Experts A� airs and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, will hold a forum on disaster prevention and mitigation in Beijing.

Despite the technology develop-ments, we remain very much at the whim of Mother Nature, as recent disasters in Japan, Haiti, and Chile remind us. Managing the impact of natural disasters on infrastructure is where engineers come in.

As layers of technology defenses are being developed as safeguards, the same thought must be given to address cognitive issues associ-ated with human factors. Active training and refi ning the skill sets of those working on complex systems is as important a piece of the puzzle. A conversation about complex system failures cannot oc-cur if both areas are not given the same priority.


Editor-in-Chief John G. Falcioni

Executive EditorHarry Hutchinson

Associate EditorsAlan S. Brown, Jean Thilmany,Jeffrey Winters

Electronic Publishing EditorBenedict Bahner

Art & Production DesignerTeresa M. Carboni

Director, Advertising Sales and Publishing DevelopmentNicholas J. Ferrari

Marketing and Promotion ManagerAnthony Asiaghi

Classifi ed and Mailing List Manager(212) 591-7534

Circulation CoordinatorMarni A. Rice

Managing Director, Publishing & Unit Support Philip V. DiVietro

Online www.asme.org(212) 591-7783; fax (212) 591-7841E-mail: [email protected]

The American Society of Mechanical EngineersPresident Victoria A. RockwellPresident Elect Marc W. GoldsmithPast President Robert T. SimmonsGovernors Richard C. Benson, Betty L. Bowersox, Julio Guerrero, Said Jahanmir, Robert N. Pangborn, Thomas D. Pestorius, Edmund J. Seiders, J. Robert Sims Jr., Charla K. Wise

Executive DirectorThomas G. Loughlin

Deputy Executive DirectorMichael K. Weis

Secretary and TreasurerWilbur J. Marner

Assistant SecretaryJohn Delli Venneri

Senior Vice PresidentsStandards & Certifi cation Kenneth R. BalkeyInstitutes Dilip R. BallalKnowledge & Community Thomas G. LibertinyPublic Affairs & Outreach Stacey Swisher Harnetty

ME Editorial Advisory BoardRobert E. Nickell, Chairman; Harry Armen; Leroy S. Fletcher; Richard J. Goldstein; Thomas G. Libertiny

For reprints, contactEdward Kane, (866) 879-9144, [email protected]

Opinions expressed in Mechanical Engineering magazine do not necessarily refl ect the views of ASME.

COMPLEX SYSTEMS IN PERSPECTIVE

John G. Falcioni, [email protected]

twitter.com/johnfalcioni


editorial0312B.indd 6 2/6/12 11:20 AM

>> Find out how LabVIEW can make you better at ni.com/labview/better 800 453 6202

©2010 National Instruments. All rights reserved. LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, and ni.com are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies. 2805

NI LabVIEW

NameDr. Laurel Watts

Job TitlePrincipal SoftwareEngineer

Area of ExpertiseChemical Engineering

LabVIEW Helped MeControl multipleinstruments operating in harsh conditions

Latest ProjectEngineer the ultimate storm chaser

INTEGRATIONLabVIEW makes me better because the

with hardware is so seamless

2805.indd 1 12/21/10 8:57:15 AM


editorial0312B.indd 7 2/5/12 7:04 PM


lettersHeadquartersASMEThree Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5990(212) 591-7722fax: (212) 591-7674www.asme.org

Customer CareASME22 Law DriveFairfield, NJ 07007(973) 882-1170; fax: (973) 882-1717In U.S., toll-free (800) THE-ASME;international (973) 882-1167e-mail: [email protected]

ASME Washington Center1828 L St., N.W., Suite 906Washington, DC 20036-5104(202) 785-3756fax: (202) 429-9417www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/GovRelations

ASME InternationalGas Turbine Institute6525 The Corners Parkway, Suite 115Norcross, GA 30092-3349(404) 419-1646fax: (404) 847-0151http://igti.asme.org/

ASME InternationalPetroleum TechnologyInstitute11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 865Houston, TX 77079-1733(281) 493-3491fax: (281) 493-3493www.asme-ipti.org

ASME Europe Field OfficeAvenue De Tervueren, 3001150 Brussels, Belgiumphone: (32-2) 743-1543 fax: (32-2) 743-1550

ASME Asia Pacific LLCUnit 09A, EF Floor, East Tower of Twin Towers No. B12, Jianguomenwai Avenue, Chaoyang District Beijing, 100022 Peoples Republic of China(86-10) 5109-6032fax: (86-10) 5109-6039

India Officec/o Tecnova India Pvt.Ltd. 335, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV, Gurgaon 122 015 (Haryana) (91-124) 430-8413 Fax (91-124) 430-8207 [email protected]

To the Editor: The article “Renewables—Disruptors or Disrupted?” in the December issue gave a good status of the development of renewables. However, like most information on renewables, this article did not address the impact to the electricity grid of variable energy resources, namely wind and solar. The electricity grid must be viewed as a very large system with high public expectations for reli-ability and precise operational requirements

to maintain power quality. Wind and solar generators can change output quickly, and accuracy in forecasting output is limited, raising two expensive operational problems.

First, the grid requires fast response reserves, probably gas-fired, to com-pensate and stabilize the flow of electricity as these renewable sources vary. Typically, electricity systems are built with 15 percent reserves to respond to fossil fuel or nuclear outages. Wind resources, however, must be backed with 80 to 90 percent reserves. Consequently, a second backup generator must be available and maintained on immediate standby. The true installed cost of wind and solar resources is far higher than the cost of the renewable generator itself.

Second, moment-to-moment changes in wind speed and solar insolation mean that the compensating fossil fuel generators are not operated at a con-stant optimum design point resulting in higher fuel and maintenance costs, and emissions, per unit of electricity. Therefore, on a system basis, any claim that renewables deliver free and totally clean energy is misleading.

In addition to these operational considerations, the best sites for wind and solar generators are typically far from load centers. Transmission infrastruc-ture must be installed that is not required for traditional electricity sources.

Electricity from renewable sources has a place in our energy future, but it is not a panacea for economic or environmental problems. Any consider-ation of renewables must look beyond the generator output terminals to ad-dress the serious integration issues.

William B. NorToN, P.E.Birmingham, ala.

Renewables and the Grid

letters to the Editormechanical EngineeringThree Park avenueNew York, NY 10016-5990

fax: (212) 591-7841e-mail: [email protected]

The editors reserve the right to edit letters for clarity, style, and length. We regret that unpublished letters cannot be acknowledged or returned.

letters to the editor Mechanical Engineering welcomes comments from our readers. letters can be typewritten or e-mailed, and must include the author’s full name, address, and telephone number. address your submission to:

+


Letters0311.indd 8 2/5/12 7:05 PM

HeadquartersASMEThree Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5990(212) 591-7722fax: (212) 591-7674www.asme.org

Customer CareASME22 Law DriveFairfield, NJ 07007(973) 882-1170; fax: (973) 882-1717In U.S., toll-free (800) THE-ASME;international (973) 882-1167e-mail: [email protected]

ASME Washington Center1828 L St., N.W., Suite 906Washington, DC 20036-5104(202) 785-3756fax: (202) 429-9417www.asme.org/NewsPublicPolicy/GovRelations

ASME InternationalGas Turbine Institute6525 The Corners Parkway, Suite 115Norcross, GA 30092-3349(404) 419-1646fax: (404) 847-0151http://igti.asme.org/

ASME InternationalPetroleum TechnologyInstitute11757 Katy Freeway, Suite 865Houston, TX 77079-1733(281) 493-3491fax: (281) 493-3493www.asme-ipti.org

ASME Europe Field OfficeAvenue De Tervueren, 3001150 Brussels, Belgiumphone: (32-2) 743-1543 fax: (32-2) 743-1550

ASME Asia Pacific LLCUnit 09A, EF Floor, East Tower of Twin Towers No. B12, Jianguomenwai Avenue, Chaoyang District Beijing, 100022 Peoples Republic of China(86-10) 5109-6032fax: (86-10) 5109-6039

India Officec/o Tecnova India Pvt.Ltd. 335, Udyog Vihar, Phase IV, Gurgaon 122 015 (Haryana) (91-124) 430-8413 Fax (91-124) 430-8207 [email protected]


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Letters0311.indd 9 2/7/12 2:44 PM

Many analysts are pinning their hopes on natural gas extracted from widespread shale strata to provide cheap and abundant fuel in the coming decades. The growth in shale gas production in the United States

over the past ten years has more than offset declines in conven-tional gas production, so much so that gas, which was selling for more than $15 per million Btu at the end of 2005, dipped below $2.50 in January.

But shale gas may not be abundant as some recent reports have estimated, according to new projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In an early draft of the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 distributed in January, the EIA reported that the shale gas resource in the Marcellus Formation—a region of sedimentary rock that stretches from Virginia to upstate New York—“is substantially below the estimate used for AEO2011.”

Drilling in the Marcellus region has been occurring at a break-neck pace thanks to technical advances that include hydraulic

fracturing. That has generated a stream of data that enables researchers to better characterize the resources available in the shale bed.

Until recently, those revisions had been upward: the United States Geological Survey, for instance, had raised its estimates of the Marcellus shale’s technically recoverable gas resource from 2 trillion cubic feet in 2002 to between 43 trillion and 144 trillion cubic feet in 2010. The EIA had been even more optimis-tic, pegging the recoverable resource at 410 trillion cubic feet, enough fuel to power the entire U.S. economy for four years.

The new EIA estimate for the technically recoverable gas resource in the Marcellus shale formation is 141 trillion cubic feet, and the estimate for all shale gas in the U.S. is 482 tril-lion cubic feet. That’s still a lot of gas, and the EIA expects that by 2035 shale formations will be producing half the nation’s natural gas.

The full report of the Annual Energy Outlook 2012 will be released later this spring.


Gas Leak

news&notes

A Detroit-area law firm has introduced a web page devoted to legal issues arising from hydraulic fracturing. The firm, Foley, Baron & Metzger PLLC, says it set up the page at www.fbmlaw.com/blog in response to mounting claims and lawsuits from incidents related to hydraulic fracturing.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a method of drilling for natural gas reserves, oil, and geothermal energy in deep shale formations. The process involves injecting large quantities of water into wells under pressure to frac-ture the shale and release gas. The fluid used for hydraulic fracturing is mostly water, with sand or other proppant added to keep the fissures open. Chemi-cal additives, amounting to perhaps less than half a percent of the total fluid, are in the mix as friction reducers, scale inhibitors, iron controls, and biocides.

Fracking has become the subject of controversy, in which claims have been made that it can harm water supplies.

Among the features of the site are links to the websites of regulatory agen-

cies and to other information resources, and a list of recent news articles related to hydraulic fracturing.

Richard Baron, the environmental practice group leader at the firm, said that the idea for the site arose after

he spoke about hydraulic fracturing issues at a gathering of insurance professionals.

Baron said the firm wants to estab-lish a resource to help professionals manage the complexities that surround the process. This includes the circum-stances that arise from fracking-related events such as a surface spill caused by

a natural disaster or pollution from the negligent release of hazardous waste materials.

Foley, Baron & Metzger PLLC, is based in Livonia, Mich.

Fracking is a growing area of poten-tial litigation, and other law firms have weighed in on the issue. For instance, two attorneys, Matthew Francois and Earl Hagström, of the San Francisco office of Sedgwick LLP have written a book that is highlighted on the firm’s website, www.sdma.com. The title is Hydraulic Fracturing in the Marcellus Shale – Strategies for Legal and Regula-tory Compliance.

An international law firm, Fulbright & Jaworski LLP, has formed a shale and hydraulic fracking task force. According to the firm’s website, www.fulbright.com/fracking, “The task force consists of lawyers experienced in representing U.S. domestic and international energy companies in investing in shale plays across the U.S. and in navigating the contentious production issues, chief among them the environmental con-cerns related to hydraulic fracturing.”

Law Firm Launches Web Resource on Fracking

s Foley, Baron & Metzger's fracking page.

News0312.indd 10 2/5/12 6:57 PM


Standing Tail Flip

A long tail might seem like a dangerous appendage for a lizard. After all, the more of the lizard there is, the more

there is for a predator to grab. But biomechanical researchers have

found that a lizard’s tail has an impor-tant function: It helps the animal keep

its balance. When running at full speed, a lizard uses its tail to adjust its attitude and recover from stumbles. It even works when the lizard flips.

Could a tail do the same for scurrying robots? Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley added a tail to a robotic car they named Tailbot, but they discovered that maintaining bal-ance isn’t as simple as throwing one’s tail in the air, said team leader Robert Full, a professor of integrative biology.

The research team was made up of undergraduate and graduate engineer-ing and biology students.

Robots and lizards have to adjust the angle of their tails just right to counter-act the effect of a stumble, Full said.

“We showed for the first time that lizards swing their tails up or down to counteract the rotation of their bodies, keeping them stable,” he said.

Full and his students used high-speed videography and motion capture to record how an African redhead agama

lizard handled leaps from a platform that had different degrees of traction, from slippery to rough. The researchers coaxed the lizards to run down a track, vault off an obstacle, and land on a verti-cal surface. When the friction on the obstacle was reduced, lizards slipped, potentially causing their bodies to spin

out of control. The team

found that the lizard must swing its tail upward to pre-vent a forward pitch, the kind that could send it head-over-

heels into a tree, Full said.Next, the researchers created a math-

ematical model to better understand the reptile’s skills and to see how they could be translated to a robot.

With a tail, but no sensors to give feedback about its body position, the robot took a nosedive when driven off a ramp, which mimicked a lizard’s takeoff, Full said.

When body attitude was sensed and fed back into the tail motor, however, Tailbot was able to stabilize its body in midair. The actively controlled tail effectively redirected the angular momentum of the body into the swing of the tail, he said.

“Inspiration from lizard tails will likely lead to far more agile search-and-rescue robots, as well as ones having greater capability to more rapidly detect chemical, biological, or nuclear hazards,” Full said.

The team’s findings appeared in the Jan. 12 edition of the journal Nature.

Virtalis of Cheshire, England, has launched a range of virtual reality glasses, which are known as ActiveWorks 3D and used for stereoscopic viewing. /// NVIDIA of Santa Clara, Calif., has released an upgrade to its CUDA parallel computing platform used by engineers, computational biologists, chemists, physicists, geophysicists, and other researchers for simulations and computational work. /// Shannon Lucid, one of the earliest U.S. women astronauts, has retired after more than three decades with NASA. Lucid made five space flights and logged more than 223 days in space. From August 1991 to June 2007, she held the record for the most days in orbit by any woman in the world. Lucid is the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian Mir space station.

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s Biologists and engineers at the University of California, Berkeley studied agama lizards, and how they use their tails. They used that knowledge for the Tailbot robot and its tail.

News0312.indd 11 2/6/12 3:13 PM

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NEWS & NotES

Most electric motors and generators turn only one way. Yet nearly all of them are designed to offer equal performance rotating in either direc-tion. Could they be more efficient if they were designed to rotate in only one direction?

Dionysios Aliprantis, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineer-ing at Iowa State University, believes they would be. He is half way through a five-year, $400,000 National Science Foundation grant to develop a methodology for optimizing motors to rotate in only one direction.

“I’m looking for a little bit of increase, maybe 5 percent or 1 percent,” he said. “But multiply that number by the number of hybrid cars, let’s say, and you could get sav-ings in the billions of dollars. The potential here could be huge.”

Aliprantis and doctoral student Yanni Li have created a computer modeling program that incrementally changes the design of stator and rotor surfaces to alter the electromagnetic field in the air gap and the motor’s electromechanical torque.

They are looking at the teeth that hold the wire coils within an electric motor. They are typically symmetrical to achieve equivalent performance in either direc-tion. By making the teeth asymmetrical, Aliprantis and Li hope to boost power and efficiency when rotating in the preferred direction.

“We are trying to develop a systematic way of getting to the right shape,” Alipran-tis said. “This idea is very simple, but motors are still being designed using tech-niques that are essentially one hundred years old.”

Aliprantis is also developing models that do a better job of predicting how differ-ent power electronics and control technologies affect motor performance.

Seeking Efficiency in One-Way Motors

EVs in the U.K.: Building InfrastructureOne of the disincentives to becoming an early adopter of technology is the lack of supporting infrastructure. That’s especially true with electric vehicles: a drained battery far from home might leave an owner stranded.

The potential market of EVs can be linked to the growth of recharging stations, making an array of initiatives going on in the United Kingdom espe-cially noteworthy. According to a recent report by the research firm Frost & Sullivan, £7.8 million in funding by the U.K. Office for Low Emission Vehicles will help northeast England estab-lish an integrated network of electric vehicle charging stations—as many as 1,500 by the end of next year.

What’s more, the report predicts that London will become the European capital of EVs, with a £9.3 million award from OLEV leading to the deploy-ment of 25,000 charging stations by 2015. Already, there are more than 500 charging stations in London.

According to the report, the British government has set ambitious targets

for building EV infrastructure. The gov-ernment, working with private sector partners, hopes to place EV charging stations along curbsides, in parking garages, and in parking lots.

According to the Frost & Sullivan report, the market for EV charging infrastructure is expected to grow rapidly over the next five years, with 2012 to 2015 becoming the most cru-cial years.

According to Frost & Sullivan's find-ings, Europe as a whole is expected to have around 2 million charging points by 2017; of those, nearly 400,000 will be in the U.K. Countries such as Belgium, Estonia, and Portugal may join the U.K. in most actively promoting EVs with subsidies and discounts.

In spite of this support, the research report found that sales of EVs in the U.K. were slow in 2011. But it expects that new electric vehicle models reach-ing the market in the next couple of years, together with the growth in the supporting infrastructure, will lead to greater adoption of the new technology.

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.”


As the leading manufacturer of OEM pumps and compressors, our innovation in design and technology has helped our customers create new innovative products and become leaders in their marketplace.

For more information on how Thomas innovation can help you lead your industry, go to gd-thomas.com/me3.

- Steve Jobs

850-797 Thomas_geese.indd 1 1/31/12 3:45 PMNews0312.indd 13 2/5/12 6:57 PM

Anuclear power company executive predicts that China’s first AP1000 nuclear power reactor, in Zhejiang province, will begin operating on schedule in 2013, according to a report carried by Xinhua, the Chinese news agency.

Wang Binghua, board chairman of the State Nuclear Power Technology Corp., said construction on the country’s third-generation nuclear reactors is on schedule and that the experience of the Japanese nuclear crisis last year will not derail plans to bring the first plant online on schedule.

The country started to construct its new pressurized water reactors in 2009, the first to use AP1000 technologies developed by Westinghouse.

Construction progress was slowed after the earthquake and tsunami dam-aged the reactors at Fukushima in Japan last March. Safety concerns resulted in delays ranging from six to twelve months for reactors under construction in China’s coastal areas, Wang said. Wang said there were also delays due to design adjustments during construction.

Wang said that the project designers have strengthened the safety evaluation after the incident in Japan. “Both the State Nuclear Power Technology Corpo-ration and Westinghouse have agreed that the new reactors would be able to survive the same shock experienced by the Japanese plant,” he said. The two companies are considering further steps to ensure nuclear safety.


New Reactor on Schedule in China

GLOBAL windOw

europe launches a Green Traffic ManaGeMenT projecTResearch clusters in five European regions will work together to ease road congestion during a three-yearproject launched by the European Union. Researchers and engineers from the Uni-versity of Leicester in England, the Univer-sity of Molise in Campobasso, Italy, the Pol-ish Institute of Geodesy and Cartography in Warsaw, and elsewhere will participate.

The project, with the unwieldy name of Traffic-Health-Environment Intelligent Solutions Sustaining Urban Economies, or THE ISSUE, will be funded with 2.7 million euro as part of the E.U.’s Regions of Knowledge initiative. The aim is to improve traffic management systems to increase mobility through European cities, many of which were designed and built well before the introduction of the automobile, and to reduce the impact of traffic on human health and safety and on the wider environment.

Some of the approaches that are expect-ed to be investigated include integrating computer intelligence and satellite naviga-tion data into existing traffic management systems and deploying hydrogen fuel cell-powered cars to reduce emissions.

The European regions participating are the East Midlands of England, Molise in Italy, Mazovia in Poland, and the Midi-Pyre-nees and Aquitaine, both in France.

Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region has become China’s leading importer of coal after handling more than 27 million metric tons in 2011, according to a report in the People’s Daily.

Citing the customs authority in the regional capital of Nanning, the paper said that the volume of coal going through the ports of Guangxi in 2011 represented an increase of 61.3 percent from the previous year and accounted for 15 percent of China’s total coal imports.

Guangxi is not a coal-producing region and is suffering a prolonged drought, which has curbed its capac-ity for hydroelectric power. The province has experienced increasing demand for power from local indus-trial users.

China’s largest coal producer, China Shenhua Group Co. Ltd., has signed an agreement with the Guangxi regional government to build a ther-mal power plant in Beihai city. It will have eight units with a capacity of one gigawatt each.

The chief executive of an Indian information technology provider has predicted that his $6 billion company will create 10,000 jobs in Europe and the United States over the next five years, The Economic Times has reported.

According to the publication, a supplement to The Times of India, Vineet Nayar, vice chairman and CEO of HCL Tech-nologies, said in an address to the World Economic Forum that the company would work with schools, governments, and customers to create the jobs.

“In the context of a rapidly changing world, the expectation

from businesses is evolving to balance pursuits of profit with social and individual imperatives in order to create a sustain-able growth model,” Nayar said. “HCL is now taking those efforts to the next level by positively impacting the com-munities through local job creation and development of an ecosystem to support and encourage innovation.”

Nayar said HCL is taking various initiatives, including establishment of Global Centers of Excellence, to recruit and train college graduates and to provide platforms for develop-ing IT skill pools in local communities.

Region’s Coal Imports Top 27 Million Tons

Indian IT Firm Says It Will Create 10,000 Jobs in West

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B udget season is in full swing in the nation’s capital and advocates for science and engineer-ing research programs are once again working to shore up support amid the clamor of election year

politicking. The research community is coming off of what can only

be viewed as a major win given the austere fiscal envi-ronment over the last few years. In recognition of their importance to U.S. economic competitiveness, research programs fared surprisingly well last year. While overall government spending for fiscal year 2012 was cut by $7 billion from the previous year, basic and applied research accounts at federal agencies generally saw flat funding or slight increases. Some construction and applied research accounts suffered, but Congressional leaders and the White House managed to come to an agreement that preserved and strengthened the funding for core research activities at agencies like the Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The year ahead may not prove so generous to science and engineering programs.

The Budget Control Act of 2011 set tight spending limits through fiscal 2021. Under this legislation, the discre-tionary budget limit for fiscal 2013 has been set at $1.047 trillion— $4 billion above the fiscal 2012 level. Even with the increase, discretionary spending will remain below the fiscal 2011 level of $1.050 trillion.

The $4 billion increase will be devoted entirely to “non-security” spending. Even so, the budget is expected to yield flat funding levels, or slight reductions when adjusted for inflation.

In addition, the act provides for automatic “sequestra-tion” cuts that are slated to begin in January 2013. These automatic cuts are the result of the failure of last year’s Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to reach a broad agreement to reduce the deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next ten years.

The automatic spending cuts of the Budget Control Act are designed to be a painful incentive for Congress to achieve an agreement on $1.2 trillion in savings. Congress

still has until January to stave off automatic cuts, yet given the election year, a sweeping agreement seems unlikely. Even so, many are contemplating ways to avoid significant cuts for their favored portfolios, and the indiscriminate nature of the cuts is still a powerful incentive for action.

Assuming Congress cannot reach an agreement on $1.2 trillion in savings, non-security spending would face an additional 7.8 percent cut in fiscal 2013, while security spending would face a roughly 10 percent cut.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, cuts of this size would amount to reductions of about $55 billion for each category of spending, and similar cuts would

follow in each year for the next ten years. By 2021, the final effect of automatic cuts, adjusted for inflation, would bring spending for non-security accounts to the equivalent of 2.8 percent of Gross Domestic Product.

The Congressional Budget Office notes that non-security spending has totaled approximately 4 percent of GDP over the last 40 years. Funding for defense, which has averaged 3.4 percent over the last decade, would total 2.7 percent of GDP after the reductions. CBO’s figures exclude expenses for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, because they are consid-ered emergency spending, so the actual cuts for defense would be much larger.

According to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, at least one million defense-related jobs would be lost in a seques-tration scenario, including military and civilian employees of the Defense

Department as well as hundreds of thousands of jobs in the defense industry. Additional impacts would be felt at small businesses and universities around the country, due to fewer new research grants and a scaling back or cancella-tion of existing research programs.

In light of the strict limits on spending imposed by the Budget Control Act, Congress may spend the remainder of the year debating how to achieve its deficit-reduction goals.

Paul Fakes is an ASME government relations representative. He can be reached at [email protected]. Links to more legislative and regulatory information are at http://bit.ly/MEWashingtonWindow. For ASME’s views of public policy issues, visit the ASME Advocacy & Government Relations Website at: http://www.asme.org/about-asme/advocacy-government-relations.

Researchers Brace for a Tough Budget Year By Paul Fakes

washington window

The automatic spending cuts of the Budget

Control Act are designed

to be a painful incentive for Congress to achieve an

agreement on $1.2 trillion in

savings.


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Report on Mercury Standard Sees No Danger of Blackouts A report released by the Congressional Research Service analyzes emissions standards for mercury and other toxic pollution completed by the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency in December 2011. The report found that claims of widespread blackouts due to the new stan-dards are grossly overstated.

The standards seek to reduce mercury and other toxic emis-sions from electric generating units by approximately 90 per-cent. The EPA estimates that the annualized cost of maximum achievable control technology could total $9.6 billion. It also predicts that the rule will save $37 billion to $90 billion, largely by avoiding 11,000 premature deaths annually.

According to the report, “EPA’s Utility MACT: Will the Lights Go Out?” the rule’s costs will fall primarily on older coal-fired units that do not have state-of-the art pollution controls.

The CRS report reviews industry data on planning reserve margins and potential retirement of units that do not currently meet the standards. Based on these data, it appears that, although the rule may lead to the retirement or derating of some facilities, almost all of the capacity reductions will occur in areas that have substantial reserve margins.

The EPA estimates that the rule will raise the average price of electricity nationally by 3.1 percent by 2015.

High-Tech Manufacturing Jobs Have Taken a Hit in the Past Decade

The United States remains the global leader in sup-porting science and technology research and devel-opment, but only by a slim margin that could soon be eliminated by rapidly increasing investments in

Asia, according to the National Science Board.The NSB, the policymaking body for the National Science

Foundation, makes the prediction in Science and Engineering Indicators 2012 , a study of the science, engineering, and tech-nology workforce, education efforts, and economic activity.

According to the study, the largest global science and technology investment gains occurred in the “Asia-10” coun-tries—China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand. Between 1999 and 2009, the U.S. share of global research and develop-ment dropped from 38 percent to 31 percent, while it grew from 24 percent to 35 percent in the Asia-10.

U.S. employment in high-technology manufacturing reached a peak in 2000, with 2.5 million jobs. The recession of 2001 caused “substantial and permanent” job losses, the report said. By the end of the decade, more than a quarter of the jobs were gone.

NSF initiatives designed to better position the U.S. globally focus on enhancing international collaborations, improving education, and establishing new partnerships between NSF-supported researchers and those in industry.

WashingtonW0312.indd 17 2/5/12 7:06 PM

Next-Day Dreams

Imagine watching your nightly dreams the morning after. On YouTube.

Whether you fi nd the notion intriguing or cringe-induc-ing, scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, said such a thing will one day be possible via a blend of brain imaging and computer simulation software that will also serve a variety

of altruistic needs beyond dream reconstruction.

Through use of functional magnetic resonance imaging and computational models, the university researchers have been able to decode and reconstruct people’s visual experiences, said Jack Gallant, a professor of neuroscience at the school. He coauthored a paper about his group’s work, which was published in the Sept. 22, 2011, online version of the journal Current Biology.

As yet, the system only reconstructs movie clips people have already viewed, Gallant said. But the work paves the way for reproducing the movies inside our heads such as dreams and memories, he added.

The technology could give doctors and scientists a better understanding of what goes on in the minds of stroke vic-tims, coma patients, and others who can’t speak. It may also lay the groundwork for a brain-machine interface so that people with cerebral palsy or paralysis, for example, can

guide computers with their minds.“Our natural visual experience is like watching a movie,”

said Shinji Nishimoto, a post-doctoral researcher in Gallant’s lab. “In order for this technology to have wide applicability, we must understand how the brain processes these dynamic

visual experiences.”Nishimoto and two oth-

er research team mem-bers served as subjects for the experiment, because the procedure requires volunteers to remain still inside the MRI scanner for hours at a time.

They watched two sepa-rate sets of Hollywood movie trailers, while the scanner measured blood fl ow through the visual cortex, the part of the brain that processes visu-al information. The brain activity recorded while subjects viewed the fi rst

set of clips was fed into a computer program that learned, second by second, to associate visual patterns in the movie with the corresponding brain activity, Nishimoto said.

Ultimately, Nishimoto said, scientists need to understand how the brain processes dynamic visual events that we experience in everyday life.

“We need to know how the brain works in naturalistic conditions,” he said. “But for that, we need to fi rst under-stand how the brain works while we are watching movies.”

COMPUTING This section was written by Associate Editor Jean Thilmany.

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m The top row shows segments of a Hollywood movie trailer that a subject viewed while in the MRI. The bottom row shows the reconstructions of these segments from brain activity measured using fMRI.

The complicated organization of the liver’s interior is tricky to reproduce in a laboratory-grown culture of cells.

To study the molecular underpin-nings of a disease, scientists often rely on an animal model of the disease or cells grown in a Petri dish. But neither of these methods has shed much light on hepatitis C virus, which affects the liver. Because it’s exclusively a human disease, animal models are limited.

And liver cells don’t survive in typical

cell cultures, confounding scientists who want to grow them in the lab.

Now, Sangeeta Bhatia has designed a workaround: a system that allows liver cells to thrive in the lab. Bhatia, a tissue engineer at the Massachusetts Insti-tute of Technology, creates what she calls micro-livers by using computer-engineering tools to visualize and then to dot microscopic patterns of liver cells on glass slides.

The tools Bhatia developed allow sci-

entists to create an organized environ-ment that lets the cells fl ourish outside the body.

Bhatia and her team showed that liver cells grown in their micro-liver system could be infected with hepatitis C for up to two weeks—enough time to poten-tially screen drugs or test how the virus behaves inside the cell culture.

Bhatia said the technique for applying organization to liver cell cultures may also work for studying other cell types outside the human body.

In-Lab Liver Cells

Comp0312B.indd 18 2/6/12 3:16 PM

F aced with a seemingly immove-able object—in this case the enormous steam generators of a nuclear power plant—engi-

neers at Perkins Specialized Transpor-tation Contracting of Northfi eld, Minn., needed to build an irresistible force. And what they came up with is a very, very long truck.

The engineers at Perkins, which makes transportation vehicles for long, heavy, and oversize objects, designed a 400-foot-long truck.

The transporter trailer has 192 wheels and 48 axles, each of which can turn independently, enabling the truck to effectively navigate sharp turns and different road grades, said Neil Perkins, president of the company. The truck, which took nearly three years to design, recently carried four immense steam generators from the San Onofre Nuclear

Generating Station in southern California to a disposal site in Clive, Utah.

“With a project this large, there is no do-over if the truck fails halfway through its journey,” Perkins said. “You only get one shot to get it right.”

Engineers at the company used digital prototyping software from Autodesk of

San Rafael, Calif., to carry out the proj-ect. They started with 2-D sketches of the transporter created in AutoCAD soft-ware, then brought them into Autodesk Inventor software to model them in 3-D and to perform motion analysis and check for interferences as the various axles turned and rotated, Perkins said.

AU

TO

DE

SK

March 2012 | MECHANICAL ENGINEERING 19

q A truck longer than a football field and boasting 192 wheels recently carried

four steam generators from a nuclear generating station in southern California

to a disposal site in Clive, Utah.

Many Wheels Rolling

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V ideo games have their good and bad sides, according to researchers who recently collaborated on an article

that looked at the games from various perspectives.

The article, for which six research-ers wrote independent perspective,

appeared in the December issue of the online journal Nature Reviews/Neuroscience. The article looked at current understanding of the positive and negative e� ects of playing video games on cognition and behavior, and talked about how the games can be harnessed for educational and reha-bilitative purposes.

In the article, University of Roch-ester researchers Daphne Bavelier and C. Shawn Green looked at a study they did on the futuristic fi rst-person shooter game “Unreal Tournament,” in which they found players improved perceptual and attention skills by playing. In a fi rst-person shooter, players shoot from their own perspective, as if they’re holding the shooting device.

For his part, Douglas Gentile, an associate professor of psychology at Iowa State University, said he’s

found both positive and negative e� ects from playing video games.

“If content is chosen wisely, video games can actually enhance some skills,” Gentile said. “But overall, the research has demonstrated that they’re far more powerful teaching tools than we imagined. But the power

can be both good and bad.” For instance, the evidence that playing

video games induces criminal or serious physical violence is much weaker than the evidence that games increase the types of aggression that happen every

day in school hallways, Gentile wrote. “As a developmental psychologist,

I care deeply about the everyday aggression—verbal, relational, and physical—whereas critics of the research seem to be mostly interested in criminal violence,” he wrote.

The games o� er signifi cant promise for education, particularly since they have been found to be such e� ective teaching tools, he wrote. But while studies of educational software dem-onstrate that children do learn from playing educational games, Gentile said that the amount of money spent on educational games is a tiny fraction of the amount spent on commercial entertainment games.

“Therefore, most educational games aren’t as interesting, fun, or good as even a mediocre commercial game,” he wrote.

In addition to Bavelier, Green, and Gentile, also quoted in the article were Doug Hyun Han, a researcher in the department of psychiatry at Chung Ang University in Seoul, Korea; Perry Renshaw, researcher in the department of psychiatry and at the Brain Institute at the University of Utah; and Michael Merzenich, researcher at the W.M. Keck Founda-tion Center for Integrative Neurosci-ence at the University of California, San Francisco.

BRIEFLY NOTED

SolidCAM of Washington Crossing, Pa., has released InventorCAM 2012, the latest version of its CAM system, which integrates with Autodesk Inventor from Autodesk of San Rafael, Calif. /// Mentor Graphics Corp. of Wilsonville, Ore., has acquired the Flowmaster Group of Northants, England, which makes computational fl uid dynamics software for system design. Mentor Graphics also makes software for electronic design. /// CCE of Farmington Hills, Mich., has released EnSuite 2012, which provides access to CAD data regardless of which CAD system was used to author it. /// Aveva of Cambidge, England, has released Aveva Surface Manager 12.1, which is part of the developer’s marine portfolio. The soft-ware allows the transfer of surfaces to and from external systems by the use of neutral standards. /// Schroff Development Corp. of Mission, Kans., has released the book Engi-neering Design with SolidWorks 2012 by David and Marie Planchard. /// The SolidWorks reseller Computer Aided Technology Inc. of Buffalo Grove, Ill., has acquired the Solid-Works business from reseller Tridaq Inc. of Kansas City, Mo. Tridaq clients in Missouri, Kansas, and Illinois will now be served by Computer Aided Technology.

COMPUTING


Gaming Pros and Cons

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l People who play the first-person shooter game "Unreal Tournament" have increased perception and attention, according to a study from the University of Rochester in New York.

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GTGEN_ASME-IPTI-SPE_FP_1692.indd 2 1/13/12 12:45 PM

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designs will be converted to the IGES format.Cost: $19.95 per month subscription for Local Motors community members. Anyone can join this community by registering at www.local-motors.com.www.me.hotims.com/40244-72 or circle 72

Viewer AppCapability: The three-dimensional file viewer TurboViewer App allows viewing of three-dimensional drawing files on the iPad and iPhone, including the viewing of Autodesk, AutoCAD, and Drawing Exchange format, or DXF, files. Updated features include support for AutoCAD’s SHX font and memory optimizations. Other features include the capability to restore saved Auto-CAD views to display the best vision of a design and to navigate by touch while panning, zooming, and orbiting.Hardware: iPad or iPhone.Developer: IMSI/Design, 25 Leve-roni Court, Novato, CA 94949; (415) 483-8000; fax (415) 884-9023; www.imsidesign.com.Cost: Free at App Store at www.iTunes.com/AppStore. www.me.hotims.com/40244-73 or circle 73


ConVert And printCapability: VariCAD Viewer 2012-1.0.3 is a viewer, convertor, and printer soft-ware that works with two-dimensional Drawing and Drawing Exchange files, with three-dimensional STEP files, and with both 2-D and 3-D VariCAD file formats. VariCAD is CAD software. The viewer allows a user to convert DWG to DXF or vice-versa, convert STEP to 3-D IGES or STL formats, print 2-D DWG, DXF, or VariCAD formats, and use batch print or batch conversions. All conversions are also available between the VariCAD format and other listed formats. Users can set the 3-D display methods to account for light source or perspective. The 3-D display also can be exported into a high-resolution bitmap file.Hardware: PC running the Windows operating system.Developer: VariCAD s.r.o., Husova 678/42, Liberec 460 01, Czech Republic; +420 485 100 529; www.varicad.com.Cost: Free.www.me.hotims.com/40244-71 or circle 71 CAd for CArsCapability: The CAD system Solid Edge Design1 has been introduced through Local Motors, a Siemens PLM Software partner, exclusively to the Local Motors global design community for a monthly subscription price. Local Motors cus-tomers build a customized vehicle with professional assistance and have an op-tion for limited production at its micro factory in Phoenix. Solid Edge Design1 is based on the same technology found in the full function version of Solid Edge and includes capabilities such as core assembly and 3-D part modeling.Developer: Siemens PLM Software, 5800 Granite Pkwy, Ste. 600,Plano, TX 75024; (800) 498-5351; www.plm.automation.siemens.com/en_us/.Hardware: PC running the Windows or Macintosh operating system. CAD

plAstiC MoldCapability: Project Scandium Tech-nology Preview 3 for Moldflow makes available new solver technologies for the plastic injection molding simula-tion software Autodesk Moldflow Insight 2012. Users can offer their feedback on the solver technologies. The technology preview is only for use with an existing Autodesk Moldflow Insight 2012 license. New features included in Preview 3 include the capability to simulate mold tempera-ture fluctuations during the molding cycle or over many cycles of produc-tion start-up. This capability is now available for 3-D thermoset molding and for dual domain thermoplastic molding. The new long-fiber breakage feature calculates the resultant fiber length of long-fiber composite materi-als as a result of breakage during the filling process.Hardware: PC running Windows 7, Vista, XP, or Windows Server 2003 or Server 2008 and Moldflow Insight 2012.Developer: Autodesk Labs, 111 McIn-nis Pkwy., San Rafael, CA 94903; (800) 964-6432; http://labs.autodesk.com.Cost: Free at http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/moldflow_scandium/.www.me.hotims.com/40244-70 or circle 70

software exchange

Describe the software program in detail, following the format shown here. You may include artwork. Send your submissions to:

Software ExchangeMechanical EngineeringThree Park AvenueNew York, NY 10016-5990fax: (212) 591-7841e-mail: [email protected]

ME does not test or endorse any software program described in this section.

+submissions for software exchange


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p autodesk Moldflow Insight offers plastic injection molding simulation for digital proto-types, above. now a technology preview from autodesk Labs lets users try out and com-ment on new solver technologies to accom-pany future versions of the Moldflow software.

software0312.indd 22 2/6/12 3:14 PM

join us for this free webinar! WEBINAR SERIES

magazine

Conjugate Heat Transfer withCOMSOL MultiphysicsConjugate Heat Transfer withCOMSOL MultiphysicsMarch 28, 2012 • 2:00 p.m. ET / 11:00 a.m. PTRegister today at: http://bit.ly/wNNK1U

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MODERATOR: JOHN FALCIONIEditor-in-Chief, Mechanical Engineering

SPEAKER: NIKLAS ROMVice President Engineering, COMSOL

Register today at http://bit.ly/wNNK1U

Of all physics, perhaps heat transfer is one of the

most central phenomena to the analysis of

engineering and scientific systems. Most analyses

include some form of heat effect and this effect is

frequently central to the accuracy of the simulation.

How hot something gets is of critical importance,

but so is the effect on other physics of temperature

varying material properties, or swelling due to

thermal expansion, or the temperature effects

on the kinetics of chemical reactions to name

just a few. Thermal analysis is key to many

multiphysics problems.

This webinar will explore heat transfer analysis

in combined fluid and solid systems, sometimes

referred to as conjugate heat transfer. The primary

simulation goal is explored and how it frequently

links to other physics in multiphysics simulations.

We will conclude the presentation with an

example analysis in which we show, step by step,

how to solve this class of problems with

COMSOL multiphysics.

COMSOL webinar ad March 2012:Layout 1 2/6/12 3:56 PM Page 1


software0312.indd 23 2/6/12 4:36 PM

Two decades ago, fieldbus networks began to invade manufacturing facilities. Not only did they deliver real-time distributed control for complex systems of automated equipment, but they simplified installation. Instead of wiring each sensor and actuator individually, engi-neers connected fieldbus-capable devices to a single fieldbus cable. The fieldbus network

instantly recognized them and did the rest. It was a revolution in control. Unfortunately, though, it stopped

at the control box. Inside the cabinet, switches, contactors, cir-cuit breakers, and other digital and analog inputs had to be wired the old fashioned way, by hand. The typical result, at least for large cabinets, is a complex jangle of wires that takes hours to connect, test, and verify.

Now Eaton has extended distributed intelligence to the control panel. The company’s new SmartWire-DT uses a single eight-wire cable and smart modules to connect motor control components inside the cabinet. Technicians crimp the modules to connect them to the wire. SmartWire-DT recognizes the components when it starts up, and acts as a gateway between cabinet components and the fieldbus network of programmable logic controllers.

“It really does change the landscape,” Eaton’s product man-ager, Richard Chung, said. While the cost of individual compo-nents is higher than conventional control panel devices, they let

technicians duplicate panels seven to ten times faster, Chung claimed.

Simplifying wiring also avoids error. “The more wires you have, the more mistakes you’re prone to make, and the more likely something will to go wrong in the future,” he said.

Eaton has built its system around two components. The first is the slim flat wire used to connect devices. Each of its eight rib-bons is 24 gauge. Fieldbus cables, on the other hand, are round and much larger. “Imagine trying to make a connection in a panel box and then turning that cable around to connect the next row. It’s not feasible,” he said. “We intentionally kept our wire

gauge small and flexible so we could wire it in tight spaces.”

The other enabling technol-ogy is the inexpensive chip used to identify each device and control its I/O. “It’s truly distributed processing. You connect all the devices, turn on the power, push the auto con-figuration button, and it checks the devices on the gateway and maps them,” Chung said.

Engineers can use software to prevent unauthorized wiring changes. SmartWire-DT connects to PLC fieldbuses, such as Profibus-DP, CANopen, Ethernet/IP, and Modbus TCP.

Chung noted that one customer switched to SmartWire-DT and reduced the time needed to wire a control panel with 12 pilot devices to less than one hour, from an entire day. He estimated that the system achieves breakeven in cabinets with 15 to 25 devices, depending on the types of devices and PLCs.


techfocus This section was edited by Associate Editor Alan S. Brown

Power Transmission & Motion Control

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A new voice coil motor from Equipment Solutions of Sunnyvale, Calif., uses a flexure bearing to provide precise positioning in a very compact package. The RVC-5 was designed to tilt a mirror or grating in laser and optical systems.

Potential uses include laser mark-ing, cutting, and welding, as well as light shows, semiconductor fabri-cation, optical testing, scanning

microscopy, and anywhere engineers need to manipulate optical elements.

The motor was originally created for diode-pumped lasers. According to Equipment Solutions’ president, Paul Swanson, the frequency of these lasers drifts during operation. By shining the light beam onto a grating before it exits the laser and manipu-lating the grating’s angle, the device can correct for drift and keep the

laser tuned to a single frequency. The device has two elements, a

voice coil motor and a flexure bear-ing attached to a lever. The motor consists of a magnetic housing and coil. Applying voltage causes the coil to move linearly along the length of the housing. As it moves, it pushes or pulls a flexure bearing. This moves the lever, which tilts the mirror plus or minus 5 degrees.

Small Voice Coil Motor Drives Laser Mirrors

tech0312.indd 24 2/5/12 6:54 PM

Is energy harvesting ready for prime time? It is certainly getting closer, according to Silicon Laboratories, which develops low-power wireless transmitters, and IDTechEx, a consultant in the field.

Energy harvesters are devices that capture or recapture energy—vibration, heat, solar, electrostatic—that is otherwise lost. Most often, harvesters store the energy and reuse it later for power. Common technologies range from small piezoelec-tric devices that convert machinery vibration into enough electricity to power a small wireless sensor to regenera-tive braking systems that recharge batteries for use when starting a car.

One popular applica-tion is wireless sensors. As Silicon Laboratories noted in a white paper, “Running mains power to wireless sensors is often neither possible nor convenient, and since wireless sensor nodes are commonly placed in hard-to-reach locations, changing batteries regularly can be costly and inconvenient.”

Until recently, this was a problem most engineers had to live with. Energy harvesting devices simply could not generate enough electricity to power wireless communications. This has begun to change.

Piezoelectric devices, among the most common energy harvesters, have grown increasingly efficient. Four years ago, they broke through the microwatt barrier and into the mil-liwatt regime. This is the power domain were most microcir-cuits operate.

“It’s not just energy harvesters that are getting better though. It’s also power consumption requirements that are coming down,” IDTechEx technology analyst Harry Zervos noted. Wireless sensors are increasingly integrating func-tions into single chips to minimize power draw. They sleep

between measurements to conserve power. When they do broadcast, they used stripped-down protocols to minimize the amount of information they need to send, and may adjust their range to available power.

Intel’s prototype Claremont microprocessor actually adjusts its workload when it has less power. When running on solar power alone, it draws less than 10 milliwatts. While the Claremont is a research demonstrator, Intel could adapt the technology for commercial chips, the company’s chief

technology officer, Justin Rattner, said. The combination of improved harvesters and low

powered electronics have yielded new products. Last year, Germany’s Micropelt introduced two sensors based on its thermoelectric technology. The first, developed with MSX Technology, is a

sensor for pots and pans that controls kitchen cooktop tem-perature. It can reduce energy use during cooking by up to 50 percent. The second, qNode, created with Schneider Elec-tric, is a wireless machinery condition monitor.

Zervos expects future harvesters to generate more power. Last November, for example, the National Institute of Aero-space demonstrated a multilayer piezoelectric device that can harvest four times more energy than conventional piezoelec-tric systems. The researchers, led by Tian-Bing Xu, hope to demonstrate harvests of up to 1 watt in 2012.

Researchers at the Stony Brook University in New York at led by Lei Zuo have developed small generators that harvest electricity from the motion of shock absorbers. Zuo estimated that a passenger car traveling down a smooth highway could generate 100 to 400 watts of energy under normal driving conditions.

Such energy could power a vehicle’s auxiliary electrical systems. Or a system could store electricity in supercapaci-tors and use the energy to drive an electric motor that assists vehicles accelerating from a full stop.

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According to Swanson, the flexure bearing will last the life of the motor. It can oscillate or move to any fixed point, and achieves a smooth, linear velocity profile free of friction and stiction. An absolute angle electrooptic position sensor directly monitors the motion of the attached mirror or grating with microradian resolution and high repeatability.

Restricting the rotational angle to a maximum of 5 degrees enabled

Swanson to shrink the size of the motor. By restricting motor and sensor operation to a narrow range

of angles, Swanson was able to build a motor that responds faster and has more accurate sensor resolution.

The entire package, motor and integrated sensor, is tiny. It mea-sures only 25 mm (1.0 in.) wide by 40 mm (1.5 in.) long. “It is much more compact than the galva-

nometers used for this application, and less costly. While its performance is not quite as high, it can fit into any pumped diode laser,” Swanson said.

Energy Harvesting Comes of Age

m Motor keeps laser from drifting.

l Above, a thermal har-vester powers an electrical condition monitor. Right, Intel's Claremont chip runs on solar power.

tech0312.indd 25 2/5/12 6:54 PM


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Simplifying Shop Floor PLC Security

Belt Tension Constant for Car’s Lifetime

Not so long ago, companies protected trade secrets by limiting knowledge of critical elements to a small circle of insiders. Yet as factories grew more automated, engineers had to encode those trade secrets into the pro-grammable linear controllers that ran their processes. Once that happened, industrial spies could steal the data and reverse engineer the process.

This vulnerability is why we are likely to see more partnerships like the one signed between two German firms, Wibu-Systems, which makes software encryption tools, and Smart Software Solutions, developer of CoDeSys, a popular European PLC programming software. Their new product, CoDeSys Security, enables engineers to add security features within their standard programming environment.

CoDeSys conforms to the Interna-

tional Electrotechnical Commission 61131-3 standard. It provides a com-mon program structure and set of tools (from ladder logic and function blocks to structured text and instruction lists). Working with this one software pack-age, engineers can program controllers from different vendors, as long as they conform to the 61131-3 standard.

Wibu-Systems’ CodeMeter encryp-tion tools are completely integrated into the CoDeSys development environ-ment. CodeMeter encrypts executable code and communications, and man-ages who has access to make changes.

Wibu-Systems also provides a smartcard-based hardware key that uses encryption algorithms for an additional layer of security. Accord-ing to Wibu-Systems’ CEO, Oliver Winzenried, the card provides “a high level of security, flexibility, and

robustness within factory envi-ronments, and at the same time

offers a variety of form factors that retrofit easily into exist-

ing PLCs.”One surprising aspect of

the new platform is that it makes it possible for

machinery manufactur-ers to program advanced

functions into their PLCs and machinery, and charge users on a pay-per-use or feature-on-demand basis. The use of Internet-connect-able hardware would enable them to create and supply the required licenses for customers as needed.

m encrypted smart cards improve PLc security.

Anew auxiliary drive system developed for Volkswa-gen’s Up features a V-ribbed belt designed to last for the vehicle’s entire service life and achieve constant tension without an automatic tensioner. In

addition, the new drive system is easier to install and maintain than conventional units.

"With this design, we have reached a new performance class," Klaus Schütte, Con-tiTech Power Transmission Group's head of application engineering, said.

The Up is a subcompact, four-passenger car designed primarily for city use. It went into pro-duction December 2011, and features a 1.0 liter, three-cylinder engine. The auxiliary drive uses a fraction of the engine's output to power the alterna-tor and hydraulic system.

The system consists of two parts. The first is ContiTech's Elastic Plus V-ribbed belt, which it developed especially for Volkswagen. Its elastic-ity provides the tension needed for the drive. According to Philip Nelles, who heads the group's original equipment manufac-turer segment, "Use of an optimized tensile member enables the belt to transmit more power. This makes it suitable even for demanding drive units and reduces fuel consumption." The optimized tensile member is fiber reinforcement.

The system's second component is a fixed eccentric pulley developed by Schaeffler Technologies. Running the elastic belt around the fixed point provides all the tension the system needs.

The design replaces the conventional automatic ten-sioner, whose location floats to provide constant

tension as typical V-belts wear and stretch. The elimination of the automatic tensioner yields several advantages, Nelles said. "The tensioner pulley makes possible fast, easy,

and safe mounting on the factory assembly line as well as in the replacement trade."What is more, the stability of the system throughout the lifetime of the engine results

in reduced forces from the very beginning. This advantage over conventional drive units with

elastic belts reduces CO2 emissions. Alongside this, there is less wear and tear on the power units and on engine components like the crankshaft bearing," he said.

ContiTech has several other mechanical products on the new Up. These include a timing belt for the camshaft, shock absorb-er mounts to reduce vibration, and membranes to regulate fuel flow. The company's Benecke-Kaliko unit makes upholstery for the car's interior. It contains none of the antimony trioxide and heavy metal stabilizers used to keep the material pliant.

m An auxiliary belt lasts the life of the motor.

tech0312.indd 26 2/5/12 6:55 PM

March 2012 - HoustonCH139 Conceptual Development and Capital

Cost Estimating Mar. 5-6CH764 Fuel Process for Fuel Cells

by Microprocess Technology Mar. 5-6PD621 Grade 91 and Other Creep Strength Enhanced

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and Brazing Qualifications Mar. 5-7PD513 TRIZ: The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving Mar. 5-7CH751 Fuels Blending Technology and Management Mar. 5-7PD448 BPV Code, Section VIII, Division 2:

Pressure Vessels Mar. 5-8PD632 Design in Codes, Standards and Regulations

for Nuclear Power Plant Construction Mar. 5-8PD644 Advanced Design and Construction of Nuclear

Facility Components Per BPV Code, Section III Mar. 5-8CH758 Project Evaluation and Cost Estimating

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and Financial Analysis Mar. 7-8PD391 ASME B31.4 Pipeline Transportation Systems

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tech0312.indd 27 2/5/12 6:55 PM


ComplexFeature3B.indd 28 2/6/12 11:17 AM

March 2012 | mechanical engineering 29March 2012 | mechanical engineering 29

Complexityby 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. Instead of shrugging at the opacity of the technology, engineers have to use tools that make the inner workings transparent. Those tools may be bits of technology—or they may be bodies of knowledge that engineers tap into.

Complex systems come in all sizes. For instance, consider the system that routes customer baggage through a modern airport. In such a system, users rely unquestioningly on an almost inconceivable level of sophistication.

Twenty years ago, after a bag entered the system

at the check-in counter, its exact whereabouts in the baggage system running on conveyor belts was largely unknown. Locating a particular piece of lug-gage in transit between planes or from a plane to the baggage claim could take several hours. This level

of uncertainty reduced the ability of airlines to schedule connecting flights with less than a 45-minute window to transfer bags, and even then, lost lug-gage was a fact of air travel.

To speed luggage transfer and reduce uncertainty in the location of bags, new

systems were designed in the 1990s that combined high speed carts to replace conveyor belts and automated barcode readers. One of the first large-scale experienc-es with such system came in 1993 when the Denver In-

Shannon Flumerfelt is an endowed professor of Lean and director of Lean Thinking for Schools at The Pawley Lean Institute at Oakland University in Rochester, Mich. Gary P. Halada is an associate professor in materials science and engineering at Stony Brook University in New York. Franz-Josef Kahlen is an associate

professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Cape Town, South Africa.

By Shannon Flumerfelt,

Gary Halada, and Franz-Josef Kahlen

We encounter engineered systems every day, whether we realize it or not. The logistics that deliver your cup of coffee or the technology that enables you to place a call on a smart phone are incredibly complex.

And yet, most people don’t take time to consider the workings of these systems. Either they work—and are thus ignored—or they fail and are seen as too opaque to understand.

Engineers don’t have the luxury of ignorance. We who design these

As engineered systems grow, it’s imperative to understand them well enough to forestall unexpected failures.



ternational Airport opened up. The scale of the airport required a new type of baggage system, but this did not become apparent until just two years before the facility was to open. The baggage system had to accommodate the existing arrival and departure hall architecture rather than have those be built around the system, and the short time table meant that the system was not vali-dated and that no backup system was prepared.

The first test runs of the newly installed, automatic, remote barcode readers were a disaster; luggage was delivered to other flights, disappeared totally, or was shredded. Indeed, the opening of the airport was pushed back by more than one year but the auto-mated baggage system never worked as designed and was finally decommissioned 10 years after the airport opened.

Another, more successful example of a complex sys-tem is the computer hard drive onto which digital data are stored. These are a marvel of electromechanical integration: Data are written onto disk drives in narrow tracks by a magnetic recording read/write head held in place by a suspension system capable of maintaining a stand-off distance to the actual disk of less than 10 nm.

The complex design pa-rameters for these suspen-sions in disk drive systems involve at least two levels that computer users gener-ally don’t appreciate. First, because disk drives operate at several thousand RPMs, the data must be written to and read from the disk drive quickly, all the time, every time. Considering the disk drive diameter and typical RPMs, and the requirement to maintain a stand-off dis-tance to the actual disk of less than 10 nm at all times, the task of the suspension can be scaled up to a Boeing 747 flying just two inches off the ground.

The second level of com-plexity is introduced by aerodynamic consider-ations inside the disk drive. The angular velocity at the edge of the SCSI disk drive can reach Mach numbers of around 0.4 to 0.5. The de-sign parameters for the suspension then must account for torsional stiffness against aerodynamic effects as well as longitudinal bending. Obviously, minimal mis-

calculations of the torsional stiffness or the longitudi-nal bending will lead to unreliable data storage on the disk drive.

Given those conditions, it’s a triumph that hard drive manufacturers can mass produce these miniature com-plex systems with a failure rate of just four per million.

How do engineers design complex systems to remain reliable? Some of the most important tools for system design and optimization have been computer-aided engineering or comput-

er-aided design. Engineers have used CAE or CAD tools extensively for the past forty years to draw and more recently simulate and test engineering designs. The development of commercial graphics software starting in the 1960s revolutionized engineering design in large companies in the automotive, defense, and aerospace industries, but the impact was limited. Early computer mainframes and their accompanying software and in-put devices were expensive and required detailed train-ing. Thus, at first, only the largest companies develop-ing complicated engineered systems could justify using

these computer-based design systems.

Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, professionals in both academia and the private sector worked to create more-advanced packages capable of han-dling the increasingly complex demands of in-dustry. Simple stick figure drawings were eventually replaced by surface model-ing and textures, and then by solid modeling. By the late 1970s, solid models would serve as the basis for computer-assisted milling machines to produce real objects. In time, the per-sonal computer revolution “opened the doors of the drafting room” and inte-grated CAE into every as-pect of the design process.

Computers also revolutionized the process of me-chanical and electrical analysis of engineered struc-tures and circuits, starting with analog computers in the 1930s and 1940s at MIT. Those early systems could analyze the forces in structures with 200 to 2,000

Because disk drives operate at several thousand RPMs, the data must be written to

and read from the disk drive quickly, all the time, every time. Considering the disk drive diameter and typical

RPMs, and the requirement to maintain a stand-off distance to the actual disk of less than 10 nm at all times, the task of the suspension can be scaled up to a Boeing 747 flying just

two inches off the ground.



degrees of freedom, sufficient for simple systems and components but not for real world, complex problems.

Finite element methods, developed in the 1950s and 1960s, could do much more—breaking a large computer model of an object into many small elements and then using mathematical expressions for physical properties, solved at the “nodes” be-tween elements, to solve for overall “systemic” re-sponses to a stress or a load at a particular location. That technique found im-mediate application in the aerospace industry where it was critical to understand structural responses to stress. By the late 1970s, the integration of FEM and graphical drawing and mod-eling software resulted in an improved way to design and test simultaneously in order to enhance perfor-mance and hence reliability.

But to expand this concept to complex systems, soft-ware had to be developed to simulate a wide range of responses, not only in the case of a static stress at a point, but also for motion, transmission of signals and energy, and other dynamic input. Engineers needed to visualize how a system would respond to variations in design criteria, how it would operate in whole or in part. Programs like ABAQUS and ANSYS (both devel-oped in the 1970s) were designed to allow engineers to expand on FEM and CAD to be able to solve so-called multiphysics problems, involving mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic and vibrational forces in a design. Software for electronics simulation and fluid dynam-ics and electrical control, such as Simulation Program with Integrated Circuit Emphasis, or SPICE, followed. Using computational fluid dynamics programs, de-signers could not only understand fluid flow through a complex system, but also could simulate surges in pres-sure, rapid temperature changes, and other dynamic changes that can affect overall system performance.

In recent decades, as the computing power of desktop systems expanded, creating simulations of motion, forces, flows, and operation became a commonplace tool for design engineers. They now had the ability to simulate the operation of electronic circuits through

readily available programs, analyze forces resulting from impact or stresses using finite element model-ing, and observe the flow of water, power, or informa-

tion through pathways. Control systems could be modeled with popular mathematical software combined with graphi-cal block diagramming software that can be used to link components and functions together to cre-ate dynamic simulations.

Such software packages can also be used to train engineers in operation of systems—as long as the computing speed and power are sufficient to create a realistic simula-tion of the engineered system. That’s a critical requirement: if the infor-mation used to create the simulation is insufficient—or wrong—the predicted operation, including the

result of any faults or overloads or other extreme conditions, will be inaccurate.

Control system design and modeling tools can do more than simply provide flow and analysis functions. Software designers and engineers have begun to incorporate functions into

those applications specifically to limit the possibility of failure. For example, a new software application for designing energy production systems also allows en-gineers to test what-if scenarios, such as what might happen during a transient power spike that might cause system stress and failure or how the entire sys-tem responds to increasing demand over time.

The development of sophisticated expert system software that can provide rapid and intuitive ac-cess 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. This is critical in helping to avoid failure from lack of knowledge.

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. This is, in a

Software can be used to train engineers in operation of systems—as long as the

computing speed and power are sufficient to create a

realistic simulation. If the information used to create the

simulation is insufficient—or wrong—the predicted

operation, including the result of any faults or overloads or

other extreme conditions, will be inaccurate.



sense, a biomimetic model for damage control, as most biological systems—including humans—constantly un-dergo stresses, damage, and corrective actions on a mo-lecular level. Failure of these automatic detection and repair processes lead to many, if not all, diseases. En-gineers have begun incorporating such “self-healing” processes, involving embedded detection, feedback, and correction, in a number of systems.

Many computer assisted design, operation, and main-tenance tools have been developed over the past two decades. These can provide both designer and on-site engineer with key knowledge to help limit the possibil-ity of failure. But these tools are only as good as the data they have access to, and engineers and engineering companies must make a conscientious and thorough effort to ensure that, to the best of industry standards and available knowledge, the information provided by a program is correct and appropriate to the task at hand. Results should be crosschecked if possible, with addi-tional calculations, and software should be chosen with the need for reliability and accuracy held paramount.

Computer simulations and automated control systems are not the only means for engineers to reduce the potential for failure. When consid-ering how to mitigate the likelihood of failure

in engineering, and in complex systems in particular, the proper use of comprehensive probabilistic risk as-sessment is critical.

As defined by Michael Stamatelatos of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, probabilistic risk assessment is “a systematic and comprehen-sive methodology to evaluate risks associated with every life-cycle aspect of a complex engineered technological entity from concept definition, through design, construction, and operation, and up to re-moval from service.” PRA has proven to be extremely valuable in a host of com-plex engineered systems, ranging from chemical pro-cessing facilities and nu-clear power plants to waste storage and treatment fa-cilities and aerospace mis-sions and devices.

The process of perform-ing PRA, in particular dur-ing the design phase of a

system, mirrors the engineering design process itself. It introduces key factors which need to be taken into account during concept generation and selection. While a number of representative equations have been developed to express what is most important in developing a PRA of an engineered system, there are three primary factors:

■The probability of failure, usually the likelihood of failure of individual components combined to express the degree of vulnerability or risk of failure for an entire system; multiplied by

■The degree of loss or magnitude of severity of the consequences of failure, and divided by

■The degree of preparedness or nature of preventive measures put into place.

As a formula, this is often written,

where R is the overall risk from failure, Pfn is the probability of failure of an individual component or subsystem (in a system composed of n independent components or subsystems), Mn is the magnitude or severity of consequences of failure of that component (in relation to the entire system), and Prep(sys) is a general term related to what measures have been taken to enhance preparedness for system failure.

Obviously, a three-factor equation for risk involves vast simplification, and it incorporates an assumption

that all components of the system are independent from one another. In reality, failure of one component most likely leads to failure of others. Both intentional and unintentional interac-tions often exist among components, subsystems, and functions, and these interactions often lie at the heart of failure mechanisms in complex systems.

Further, the concept of “preparedness” is a some-what abstract one and re-quires an engineer to make many assumptions about future use, possible site

R ∝ {∑ (Pfn × Mn ) } ÷ Prep (sys)n

1

Failure of one component most likely leads to failure of others. Both intentional and unintentional interactions

often exist among components, subsystems, and functions, and these

interactions often lie at the heart of failure mechanisms in

complex systems.



risks, and even human nature. Preparedness or precau-tionary activities may also be looked at in the context of risk management as well as assessment. Juergen Weich-selgartner, a researcher at the Institute for Coastal Research in Geesthacht, Germany, and an expert on nat-ural disasters, includes pre-paredness, physical hazards, degree of exposure of indi-viduals and infrastructure, prevention, and response all as the key factors which define the degree of vulner-ability. Weichselgartner fur-ther defines preparedness as “all precautionary activities and measures which enable rapid and effective response to hazard events.”

In general, useful and accurate application of PRA to complex systems must take into account characterization of uncer-tainty. This uncertainty arises from both random, or probabilistic, causes as well as from uncertainty in the appropriateness and nature of the model used for PRA. As has been found in many cases of failure, uncertainty due to human factors, including behavioral, psycho-logical, and organizational is both difficult to quantify and hard to predict.

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. Embed-ded computer systems and sensor networks can also reduce the time required for a corrective response to a failure or an out-of-control process, also reducing risk due to human factors. More accurate models of systems based on expert system programs with broad and deep knowledge bases of expertise and ever im-proving “intelligent” inference engines also can serve to reduce risk from uncertainty due to use of inaccu-rate models for risk assessment and management.

There are other ways to improve the human side of risk management and to avoid catastrophic failure in complex systems. One is to focus on the development of knowledge within indi-

vidual engineers and to enhance the capacity for this

within organizations via knowledge management.Knowledge development begins with trying

to understand the system and how it relates to other systems and the outside world. Systems operate under the principle that the sum of the

interdependent elements holds inherently different characteristics and outcomes from those of the individual elements; this is the crux of complex adaptivity. In other words, one may understand elements of a system and have the ability to respond to the state of those individual elements, but a systems approach requires the ability to envision and grasp all of the elements and their synergistic properties as holistic thinking.

Dealing with the complex adaptivity of systems leads to a deeper understanding of risk management of systems, not as a trade-off position

between redundancy and efficiency, but to treating redundancy and efficiency as possible interdependent system attributes that may serve concurrently as barriers or enablers to system performance. Redundancy and efficiency can be considered as both confounding and stabilizing to a current system’s state of resilience, depending on the condition of complex adaptivity at the time.

To do this, engineers have to examine the system’s elements, map the state of interdependence between and among those elements, and measure the metrics that the elements and their interrelationships pro-duce in order to realize a system view of operations. The better that engineers understand the complex system they are designing or working on—that is, whether elements are missing or defective, not prop-erly interfacing or misaligned, or not performing cor-rectly or adapting to subpar metrics—the more they can minimize the potential for failure. This is as true for organizations as it is for individuals.

The rise of complex systems creates a challenge to traditional ways of engineering. Fortunately, we are developing the tools—both as technology and as pro-fessional practices—that can meet this challenge. n

The better that engineers understand the complex

system they are designing or working on—that is,

whether elements are missing or defective, not properly

interfacing or misaligned, or not performing correctly or

adapting to subpar metrics—the more they can minimize

the potential for failure. This is as true for organizations as it

is for individuals.


34 MECHANICAL ENGINEERING | February 2012

THE NEXT WAVETRAINING FOR

Design teams are also growing more complex as the variety of technology in a system requires in-creasingly interdisciplinary collaboration.

Interaction among the members of diverse teams can be further complicated by geography. During the course of a project key members may rarely, perhaps never, meet in person.

The workforce is short of people skilled to excel under these conditions. High-tech companies are having increasing di� culty fi lling positions of stra-tegic importance to maintain their competitive po-sition in the global market. This is particularly true for manufacturing of complex systems, requiring workers with competency in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to oper-ate, maintain, and repair sophisticated computer-driven machinery or industrial robots. It is also true for workers servicing complex systems, such as advanced aerospace or automotive vehicles.

Traditional engineering disciplines and formal engineering programs have often proved to be inadequate for meeting the challenges of both the current and emerging complex systems and the workplace. For one reason, established disciplin-ary boundaries do not mix well with the interdis-ciplinary nature of complex systems. Also design approaches, based on traditional top-down systems engineering, which work for the fully predictable response of the system in a well-understood envi-ronment, break down.

New bottom-up engineering approaches are need-ed for complex systems consisting of many inter-acting components and operating in an unpredict-able dynamic environment. Examples of complex systems range from smart vehicles to smart power grids, intelligent transportation and healthcare sys-tems, and virtual enterprises.

Rather than attempting to design the system as a whole, the components of the system are equipped with needed capabilities, and their interactions are enabled to meet dynamic goals. The role of the en-gineer is that of an enabler to support and guide the evolution of the system.

Several STEM improvement and pilot academic engineering programs have been proposed to ad-dress some of the needs and challenges of the high-tech workforce. For example, the NSF Cyber-infrastructure Training, Education, Advancement, and Mentoring for Our 21st Century Workforce program was created for improving STEM com-petencies through collaborations among universi-ties, schools, government, industry, professional societies, and international partners. The program aims at creating a comprehensive infrastructure for formal and informal learning, training, and profes-sional development of engineers and other profes-sionals working on future complex systems.

The nanoHUB, a multiuniversity network led by Purdue university, is one of the products of that program. It provides extensive online interactive

Ahmed K. Noor is Eminent Scholar and William E. Lobeck Professor of Modeling, Simulation, and Visualization Engineering at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va.

By Ahmed K. Noor


The engineering profession is facing a number of major challenges. As technology advances, systems are generally reaching new levels of complexity. A modern aerospace vehicle, for example, is a system in which embedded devices are networked to sense, monitor, and control physical hardware components. More than half the cost of the vehicle is for embedded devices, software, and system integration. That is in addition to the traditional aerospace issues of structures, aerodynamics, propulsion, guidance, navigation, and control.

Complex2Noor.indd 34 2/5/12 7:17 PM

Autonomous vehicles may cooperate in a new type of super-smart urban mobility network. Those who design, build, and maintain such complex systems will need advanced skills.

The NexT WaveAs the complexity of systems increases, the preparation of

engineers and the workforce will need to keep pace.



educational, simulation, and collaboration facilities for vari-ous aspects of nanoscience and nanotechnology, including manufacturing of complex nanomachines. Researchers and educators can access more than 160 on-line simulation tools, which let them analyze and visualize results through an ordi-nary Web browser.

Companies have launched their own educational pro-grams to address some of the reskilling and large-scale system integration needs of complex systems. For example, Boeing manages about 12,000 engineering and other courses, for a total of 49,000 hours of instructional mate-rial. In 2009, Boeing instructors provided over 7 million hours of instruction to 150,000 employees in 45 countries. The courses are intended to complement, through practical applications and lifelong learning, the formal engineering education at academic institutions, and to provide the skills needed for the Boeing workforce.

However, despite these and other efforts made over the last decades, the inadequacy of engineering programs to meet the challenges of complex systems and a general decline in STEM skills among high school graduates persist.

Recently, holistic approaches were proposed for addressing the engineering and STEM education needs for the workforce. The holistic approaches address some of the needs for the workforce, including interdisciplinary collaboration, new de-sign approaches for complex systems, and the characteristics of entrants to the workforce and their learning styles.

Learning science experts such as the late Craig Newell of Simon Fraser University, in Burnaby, B.C., have suggested viewing education as a complex adaptive system, in which individual components are people—instructors and learners—who interact and communicate with each other. They adapt to changes within the system, such as the changing composition of the groups, or in the environment, as learning technologies or spaces change.

Over time, an emergent organization develops, taking a shape that cannot be fully predicted at the start. If the compo-nents and their interactions with each other and the environ-ment are properly designed, the system dynamically evolves into a coherent, effective learning experience. For example, groups of geographically distributed learners need not be restricted to receiving knowledge, but they can be trained to work as teams, and encouraged to generate new knowledge.

Last year, senior managers at Boeing proposed an eco-system approach for addressing the challenges facing the engineering workforce, and accelerating STEM capacity. The development of such an ecosystem requires interdisciplin-ary collaborations among teams from academia, industry, research, and government organizations. The proposal was motivated by research at Boeing, and other organizations, on engineering education and training. The proposed ecosys-tem uses a complex adaptive systems perspective for learn-ing. It will connect formal and informal learning, through linking the competencies and learning strategies taught in the formal environment with learning and performance in the workplace. It provides an engaging learning environ-ment which supports learning by doing (applying the knowl-

edge acquired in assigned projects at the company). The proposed ecosystem and complex system approach for

training and education are steps in the right direction for ad-dressing challenges of the workforce. However, there is a need for a panel of thinkers from academia, industry, professional societies, and government to develop a more comprehensive education and training strategy for complex systems.

The overall goal of the strategy should be to enable generat-ing, analyzing, and sharing information pertaining to complex systems on a much larger scale, and in much less time than is currently possible. Such activity would foster innovation, dis-covery, and economic development.

intelligent ecosystems A step towards the implementation of the comprehensive strategy is the development of Intelligent Cyber-Physical En-gineering Ecosystems to advance collaboration among engi-neering and research institutions, industry, professional soci-eties, and other stakeholders working on complex systems.

The ecosystems will consist of large numbers of distributed interacting components that are continually updated and expanded. They include networked smart devices, cogni-tive robots (with high-level reasoning, planning, and deci-sion- making capabilities), cyber collaboration and collective intelligence facilities, blended physical and immersive virtual environments, and novel interaction technologies.

The ecosystems are expected to grow and to reach unantici-pated levels of complexity because of the relations among the continually expanding individual components. The ecosys-tems cannot be fully defined a priori, but rather emerge from the interactions among the components, as well as with the environment. Therefore, the design of the ecosystems cannot be based on the traditional top-down systems engineering ap-proach. Rather, a bottom-up emergent engineering approach is used, in which the components are designed and the inter-actions are engineered to enable the system to change and expand as needed.

Specifically, the ecosystems would provide knowledge-rich, immersive environments for integrating engineering practice with learning, training, and workforce development needed for complex systems. They will also serve as platforms for developing new interdisciplinary fields and for expanding the scope of current ones. A new interdisciplinary field, for exam-ple, is cyber engineering for future smart vehicles, which will require integrating novel electronic devices and sensors with communication networks and mechanical components.

Some of the key components of the ecosystems, which are not currently available in the NSF-supported cyberinfra-structure, are knowledge customization and information visualization facilities, visual simulation tools with 3-D ste-reo capability, and advanced multimodal interaction with the digital environment.

The knowledge-customization facilities should provide the right knowledge for the right purpose at the right time. They should incorporate intelligent question-answering systems that go beyond the capabilities of the current search engines to provide answers to technical questions, in an intuitive man-



ner, using the available digital information. It could leverage the technologies developed by the research teams at Wolfram Research for the computing search engine, Wolfram Alpha; and the IBM Watson project.

Three-D stereo provides for interactive experiences with visual simulations of complex systems.

Multimodal interactions might include new mobile and wearable devices, interfaces using voice or gesture, and me-dia-rich communication tools.

The ecosystems would amplify human cognitive and per-ceptual capabilities, revolutionize learning, and enable the engineering workforce to perform increasingly complex and imaginative tasks of synthesis and creativity. Engineers can be working with experts in artificial intelligence and other technology teams on transforming many current products, industries, and practices into complex adaptive systems. Some day, bridges and oil platforms may be able to alert their human minders that they need repair before failure occurs.

Smart TransportationNew concepts of complex adaptive systems-of-systems, such as urban mobility and intelligent transportation, can emerge. The concept is based on networking autonomous vehicles and equipping them with sophisticated sensors, machine learning, information processing, built-in custom software, and other technologies. The cyber-connected vehicles can access, cre-ate, and share real-time traffic, and other information, with passengers, public infrastructure, and other vehicles. The cars can be aware of their locations and the location of other vehi-cles, and can “self-organize” to avoid collision, optimize traffic

flow, and increase general mobility. The experiences provided by the networked vehicles can go well beyond driving, with several significant benefits, including enhanced safety, faster transportation, improved productivity (turning commute into productive time for the passenger), and lowered emissions.

Networked autonomous vehicles will provide all the ben-efits of individual autonomous vehicles and will also offer individual mobility to people who cannot or should not drive. For example, a person unable to drive because of age-related infirmities can remain mobile over long distances in a driver-less vehicle. Automakers can work with healthcare companies to develop in-vehicle health-monitoring sensors to transmit data about the passenger’s health in case of emergency.

New business models may be possible, as in a new mobility-provider industry for shared cars. The result would be the convergence of digital lifestyles and cars. Vehicle navigation systems will incorporate up-to-date maps and real-time traffic information. New business opportunities will emerge from adapting the relevant digital technologies to the car.

The proposed ecosystem can accelerate the training that the engineering workforce needs to realize and sustain the intelligent transportation and urban mobility concept. It can provide timely, engaging training needed for follow-up devel-opment of integrated multimodal transportation systems.

The innovations that can be realized in the proposed ecosys-tems extend well beyond anything we can currently imagine. New patterns of organized culture, new interdisciplinary fields, new paradigms of engineering practice, and new models for virtual universities and organizations may emerge within these ecosystems, and support those in the real world. n

Increasingly modern vehicles are growing in complexity with integrated sensors, electronics, software, and mechanical components. Options

have been demonstrated that will allow drivers to hear Twitter updates read aloud. Such features are entertaining at best and distractions at worst. But technology can also increase the safety and efficiency of driving.

Major automotive companies are working on enabling cars to communi-cate information about road conditions, weather, and traffic problems with one another. Starting next August a number of automakers, including Ford, will be testing vehicle-to-vehicle communica-tion to enhance safety and reduce acci-dents. The study will include 3,000 cars able to broadcast their position, speed, and direction, to other vehicles over a Wi-Fi network. The Wi-Fi signals, which

go out in all directions, would warn the driver of pedestrians, other vehicles, immediate stops, or dangers in the way of the vehicle.

A future possibility is a driverless car—an autonomous robotic vehicle capable of fulfilling the human transpor-tation capabilities of a traditional car. The car integrates a number of sensors, technologies, and hardware to navigate and drive itself, and passengers, around with no human input.

An early concept of a driverless car was presented by the industrial designer Norman Bel Geddes in the Futurama exhibit sponsored by Gen-eral Motors at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in developing and testing driverless cars by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, Google, and several automo-

tive companies, including, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, BMW, and Audi. Google has developed a test fleet of autonomous cars that have driven over 140,000 miles. It has now been awarded a patent on some of the technology used in the driverless car. The patent application outlines sen-sors used to identify when the vehicle stops on a so-called landing strip, then a second set of sensors take over and receive data that tells the car where it is positioned and where it should go.

In addition to the enhanced safety, and the convenience of relieving the occupant from driving and navigation, autonomous cars have a number of other advantages, including alleviating the problems associated with parking. The car can park itself away from the passengers and return, as needed, to pick up the passengers.

Connected (Possibly Driverless) Vehicles



Henry Petroski is the Aleksandar S. Vesic Professor of Civil Engineering and a professor of history at Duke University.

Things Happen

In his 17th book, due for release this month, Henry Petroski returns to a subject he has

explored before: the inevitability of failure and the role it plays in the advance of technology. His latest work is To Forgive

Design: Understanding Failure, published under the

Belknap Press imprint of Harvard University Press. In his preface, the author calls it a sequel to his fi rst book,

To Engineer Is Human: The Role of Failure in

Successful Design, published in 1985 and still in print. The following excerpt from To Forgive Design is

taken from Chapter Two, “Things Happen.”

ToForgiveDesign3.indd 38 2/5/12 7:23 PM


It should not surprise us that failures do oc-cur. After all, the structures, machines, and systems of the modern world can be terribly complicated in their design and operation. And the people who conceive, design, build, and interact with these complex things are unquestionably fallible. They sometimes em-

ploy faulty logic, inadvertently transpose digits in a numerical calculation, mistakenly overtighten a bolt or undertighten a screw, casually misread a dial, or hurriedly push when they should pull. They also can fail to concentrate, to anticipate, and to communicate at critical moments. At other times, accidents can occur because people cease to be honest, to be ethical, and to be professional. For whatever reason, accidents happen, and ac-cidents invariably lead to or from the failure of something or someone. What should surprise us, really, is not that failures occur but that they do not do so more often. When they do happen on our watch, we tend to defend ourselves against accusations; we try to shift the blame. Our faults are all too often imputed to the things we design, make, sell, and operate, not to the people who de-sign, make, sell, and operate them.

Technology has always been risky business, but quantifying that risk is a relatively new phenom-enon in the worlds of engineering and manage-ment, which should be more integrated than they often are. The space shuttle program clearly needed large numbers of engineers and manag-ers to accomplish its mission, and for planning purposes it also needed a sense of how successful it could be. Each shuttle consisted of millions of parts, which only suggested the degree of com-plexity of the entire system of hardware, software, and operations. In the early 1980s, managers at the National Aeronautics and Space Ad-ministration (NASA) estimated that the fl ights would be 99.999 percent reliable, which represents a failure rate of only 1 in 100,000. According to the physicist Richard Feynman, who was a member of the commission that investigated the January 1986 Challenger accident, in which the shuttle broke apart shortly into its fl ight, killing all seven astronauts on board, this “would imply that one could put a Shuttle up each day for 300 years expecting to lose only one.” He wondered, “What is the cause of man-agement’s fantastic faith in the machin-ery?” Engineers, who were more familiar with the shuttle itself and with machines in general, predicted only a 99 percent

success rate, or a failure every 100 launches. A range safety o� cer, who personally observed test fi rings during the developmental phase of the rocket motors, expected a failure rate of 1 in 25. The Challenger accident proved that estimate to be the actual failure rate, giving a success rate of 96 percent after exactly 25 launchings.

The failure of Challenger understandably led to a rethinking of the shuttle’s design details and operation, and changes were made on the basis of lessons learned. After a twenty-month hiatus, missions resumed and the shuttle fl eet fl ew suc-cessfully until the 113th mission, which ended in Columbia ’s disintegration upon reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere in 2003. The historical record then proved the success rate, which had been at 99.11 percent just before Columbia , to be 98.23 percent. This fi gure increased to 98.48 percent as of May 2010, when Atlantis returned from its fi nal scheduled fl ight. This left the space shuttle program with only two remaining planned fl ights, and with their completion the success rate the program achieved was 98.51 percent, short of even the engineers’ prediction. According to a minority report from a group that had monitored progress in shuttle safety after the Co-lumbia accident, managers at NASA lacked “the crucial abil-ity to accurately evaluate how much or how little risk is asso-ciated with their decisions.” No matter what the technology is, our best estimates of its success tend to be overly optimistic.

NA

SA

Richard Feynman, as a member of the Rogers Commission investigating the failure of the space shuttle Challenger, asked: “What is the cause of management’s fantastic faith in the machinery?”

BY HENRY PETROSKI



Indeed, “We were lucky” was the way NASA summarized the results of a shuttle program retrospective risk assessment released in early 2011. The chance of a catastrophic failure oc-curring in the fi rst nine shuttle missions was in fact as high as 1 in 9, representing a success rate of less than 89 percent. In the next sixteen mis-sions, which included the Challenger mission of 1986, the odds of a failure were 1 in 10. The odds changed throughout the program because modifi cations to the system were constantly be-ing made. For example, when the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned the use of Freon, NASA had to stop using it to blow insu-lating foam on the external fuel tank. The com-pound used to replace Freon did not allow foam to adhere as well to the tank, resulting in more foam being shed during lifto� and fl ight. This increased the risk of an accident, such as the one that would eventually destroy the shuttle Co-lumbia. For the nine shuttle missions that were fl own in the wake of the Freon ban, the odds of a disaster increased from 1 in 38 to 1 in 21.

Of course, engineering and technology are not spectator sports, judged by the fi nal score. Pre-paring and launching a space shuttle involved many teams, which were expected to work in concert rather than in competition with one another. The teams had a single objective: the successful completion of each mission, from which the aggregate record would follow. The opponent, so to speak, was not another team or set of teams—although it was the Soviet Union in the case of the race to the Moon—but nature and nature’s laws, of which the eighteenth-century poet Alexander Pope wrote in an epitaph intend-ed for Isaac Newton:

Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light.

As much as he was lionized, Newton himself re-alized that he was but part of a team, comprising perhaps some contemporaries but most impor-tantly predecessor colleagues in mind and spirit who had wondered about the same mysteries of the universe as he. As Newton wrote in a letter to his scientifi c contemporary Robert Hooke, “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoul-ders of Giants.” We all stand on the shoulders of giants who preceded us in our continuing quests for whatever is forever to be achieved beyond the horizon. In engineering the holy grail is the perfect design, something that always functions exactly as intended and that never needs any im-provement. Of course, if we could achieve it, the perfect design would never fail.

For Newton, all may have been light, but it was also heavy. The struggle of the space shuttle against the force of gravity was evident in the agonizingly slow early seconds of lifto� during each launch from Cape Canaveral. Of course, once the struggle had been won, gravity became an ally, keeping the shuttle in low Earth orbit even as it wanted to follow its velocity o� on a tangent. When the space age had dawned in the second half of the twentieth century, the basic physical laws necessary to design and fl y spacecraft were believed to have been more or less fully illumi-nated. Otherwise, manned fl ights into orbit and beyond would have been a much riskier endeavor, if not just a fanciful dream. The trick was to ex-ploit the laws properly. But just knowing the laws of nature is not su� cient to fi eld a team to com-pete successfully against them. It takes the cre-ative genius of engineering to design a spacecraft like the shuttle that will not only be launched successfully but also orbit Earth, reenter the atmosphere, and glide to a safe landing. Success demanded the integration of a great amount of specialized knowledge and achievement by teams of engineers engaged in the intricacies of rockets, combustion, structures, aerodynamics, life sup-port, heat transfer, computer control, and a host of other specialties. Each member of each team had to contribute to the whole e� ort. There had to be give and take among the teams to be sure that no aspect of their singular goal worked at cross purposes to another.

In any project, large or small, each engineer’s work is expected to be consistent and transparent so that another engineer can check it—by follow-ing its assumptions, logic, and computations—for inadvertent errors. This constitutes the epitome of team play, and it is the give and take of concepts and calculations among engineers working on a project that make it successful. Of course, slips of logic do occasionally occur, mistakes are made P

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Nature and Nature’s laws lay hid in night: God said, Let Newton be! and all was light. Newton himself realized he was part of a team including predecessors who pondered the same mysteries that he explored.



and missed, resulting in a fl awed design, which may or may not lead to an immediate failure. If the project involves a building, for example, an underdesigned beam or column might re-veal itself during construction. It might bend noticeably and so not look quite right to a fi eld engineer’s trained eye, which might send the designer back to the drawing board, where the error might be caught. Un-fortunately, not all errors are caught, either in the design o� ce or on the construction site, and those that are not can indeed lead to failures.

Parking decks are familiar struc-tures that do fail now and then, and the failures can often be traced to something out of the ordinary in their design or construction. Such collapses might never have occurred if the structures and everything sur-rounding them had been exact copies of those that had stood the test of time, but even repeated success is no guarantee against future failure. In fact, prolonged success, whether it be in a space shuttle program or in the design and construction of parking ga-rages, tends to lead to either complacency or change, both of which can ultimately lead to failure. As one engineer has put it, “every suc-cess sows the seeds of failure. Success makes you overconfi dent.” When we are overconfi dent and complacent, satisfi ed that we have been doing everything correctly because we have had no failures, we also tend to become inattentive and careless. We begin to take chances, and good luck like the kind that was had in launching shuttles with faulty O-rings runs out. Or, if we are expe-riencing a string of successful projects involving parking garages, say, we begin to think that we can make them a bit more competitive by using lighter beams or by introducing a more e� cient construction technique. Then, the structural fl aws that had lain hidden from sight can become revealed in the collapse that lets in light.

In the spring of 2010, the oil well blowout that led to the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drill rig, its sinking, and the subsequent pro-longed oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico took every-one by surprise in part because few remembered that anything quite like it had ever happened in the area. But in fact, three decades earlier, in 1979, the Ixtoc I exploratory well that was being drilled by a semisubmersible rig operating in little more than 150 feet of water experienced a loss of confi ning pressure, and the subsequent blowout continued to leak oil over the course of

almost a year. Ultimately more than three mil-lion barrels of crude oil gushed into the Mexican waters of the Gulf and beyond. In the immediate wake of that accident, the oil industry operated with a heightened awareness of the possibility of well failure, and so took extra precautions and more care with operations. Over time, however,

and with a growing record of successful drilling for and extraction of oil from Gulf waters, oil rig and well operations grew lax, and this produced the kind of climate that set the stage for the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent environmental catastrophe. It was no accident that these two unfortunate events occurred about thirty years apart, for that is about the span of an engineering generation and of the technological memory for any industry. Dur-ing such a career span, we can expect periods of success punctuated by incidents of failure, and depending when in the cycle a young engineer enters the industry, he or she can be more sen-sitized by one or the other. This sensitization tends to dominate design and operational behav-ior for a period, but in time a paradigm of success tends to suppress one of failure, and an atmo-sphere of overconfi dence, complacency, laxity, and hubris prevails until a new failure provides a new wakeup call. �

Three decades before a well blowout destroyed Deepwater Horizon, a similar accident left the Ixtoc I well leaking oil for months off the coast of Mexico.

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Excerpted from To Forgive Design: Understanding Failure, by Henry Petroski, published by The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. Copyright © 2012 Henry Petroski. Used by permission. All rights reserved.



It will take a systems approach to o� shore drilling safety to reduce the risk of catastrophic explosions and oil spills, according to a new report, Macondo

Well-Deepwater Horizon Blowout: Lessons for Improving O� shore 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 o� shore drilling equipment.

On the human resources side, the report calls for

A SystemApproach to Safety

A report recommends ways to avoid a repeat of the Macondo well blowout.BY ALAN S. BROWN

Alan S. Brown is an associate editor of Mechanical Engineering magazine.


Deepwater.indd 42 2/6/12 11:51 AM


creation of corporate safety cultures and improved operator training. It also recommends consolidating all responsibility for safety with the operating companies and all government oversight of safety within a single agency.

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 accident killed 11 workers and released 5 million barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. The committee estimated that the event cost billions of dollars. Its ecological impact is still being measured.

The Macondo well was difficult to drill. Its total depth was nearly four miles down. Moreover, its highest reservoir pore pressure was very close to the fracture gradients of the forma-tion. In other words, it was primed for a blowout. This became clear during drilling in March and April, when the Deepwater Horizon experienced several “kicks” due to hydrocarbon flows and lost circu-lation due to formation fracturing.

In April, Deepwater Horizon began to cap the well, sealing it off for future use while BP built the infrastructure needed to transport oil to the shore. The industry typically caps wells by us-ing a combination of cemented liners or casings and additional cement or mechanical plugs. These provide multiple barriers to hydrocarbon flow. The team chose to use a production casing that extended from the seafloor to the bottom of the well and cement it in place with low-density, foamed cement slurry.

The team ran into a number of problems, such as closing the check valves at the bottom of the casing. The crew determined mistakenly that it had cemented the casing in place successfully. It then ran a series of negative pressure tests to check the integrity of the cement job. Every test showed inconclusive and confusing results.

Yet the crew misinterpreted these warning signs, and began capping the well. As it began to displace drilling mud with lighter seawater, hydrocarbons began to flow out of the well. It took more than 50 minutes for the crew to realize it had lost control of the well.

At that point, the crew activated the blowout preventer. This was a tower of valves and rams that sat on top of the well. It was designed to close off any flow of hydrocarbons. Crew members activated the blind shear ram, a last-resort ram designed to crush and sever the drill pipe and seal the well. It failed.

The reliability of shear rams had been questioned well be-fore 2010. Two reports by West Engineering, one in 2002 and the other in 2004, paint a troubling picture. They noted drill pipes have grown larger and their walls thicker as explor-ers drilled in deeper water. They found that blowout shear rams had difficultly cutting through the new pipes, and also through heavier sections of smaller pipes, such as drill collars and tool joints.

Moreover, shear rams are designed and tested on the sur-

face to cut pipe in tension. When West tested six rams under hydrostatic pressure in compression, only three sheared a test pipe. West did not test whether the ram could actually seal the pipe.

In 2009, Det Norske Veritas, a leading Norwegian maritime risk firm, published a more optimistic study. Even so, it esti-mated that a blowout preventer using two shear rams would have only a 70 percent chance of successfully sealing a well. The Deepwater Horizon’s blowout preventer had only one shear ram.

A forensic analysis of the Deepwater Horizon explosion by Det Norske Veritas suggested that the pipe, under compres-sion, had moved from the center to the side of the blind shear ram. When called upon, it jammed the ram and prevented it from fully closing. Within minutes of trying to activate the

ram, natural gas had surged through the Deep-water Horizon’s derrick. It formed a huge cloud of combustible gas around the vessel that, in the words of the report, “made ignition all but inevitable.”

The crew had other options. It could have used other types of cements or completion styles. Yet economic pressures pushed the crew to complete its work quickly to minimize costs and enable it to move on to another project. While the crew misinterpreted the results of its integrity tests, it had few instruments to help it understand what was happening in the well. When the crew did try to disengage, the blow-out preventer failed.

The committee made several recommenda-tions to deal with these issues. Improved design guidelines to protect against all credible risks. It asked for better testing procedures for ce-mented seals, subject to near-real-time reviews by a competent authority. In addition to more reliable blowout prevention systems, the com-

mittee asked for formal maintenance and testing procedures and better operator training.

The panel also called for more instrumentation and com-puter-based expert decision aids for emergency warnings, as well as autonomous systems to shut down wells in emergen-cies. It requested better ways to cap and contain blowouts once they have occurred.

On the regulatory side, the committee called for a single government agency to take responsibility for system safety, and formal regulatory review and approval during well con-struction and abandonment.

The committee recommended that operating companies be held responsible and accountable for well safety and integrity. It supported the creation of a shared safety culture among off-shore operators and contractors, as well as improved industry safety reporting (including anonymous tips).

Finally, 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. n

The blowout preventer was retrieved weeks after

it failed to save Deepwater Horizon.

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FFinite element analysis dates to around inite element analysis dates to around Finite element analysis dates to around Fthe 1950s, when its developers sought a the 1950s, when its developers sought a Fthe 1950s, when its developers sought a Fway to carry out complex elasticity, airframe, way to carry out complex elasticity, airframe, and structural analyses. Recently, a group of and structural analyses. Recently, a group of scientists without an engineering background scientists without an engineering background have turned to the method to help analyze structure and stress within extinct animals, and to get a look at how animals evolved.

FEA’s use in studying the evolution of animals, including dinosaurs, dates to around fi ve years ago. Or at least that’s when the push to enumerate past FEA e� orts in the fi elds of paleontology and zoology began, with the goal of furthering its use in animal studies.

Through use of a mesh—which looks rather like a net—placed over a digital model of the object to be studied, the analysis techniqueobject to be studied, the analysis technique

and andandFossils

Jean Thilmany is an associate editor of Mechanical Engineering magazine.

by Jean Thilmany

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When fi nite element analysis is applied to models of jaws and skulls, dinosaur skeletons like that of Allosaurus (above) can o� er up clues to how extinct animals moved and ate. One Ph.D. student will use the FEA technique to study ichthyosaur fossils (below).

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Paleontologists use an engineering

technology to explore animal evolution and

see how extinct animals behaved.

calculates the deformation in a structure when forces act on it. The points of mathematical analysis are the nodes—the points where corners of the mesh triangles meet.

Since its inception, the analysis method has been contained within a large number of software packages and has gone from helping specially trained engineering analysts study structural and elasticity problems to everyday use across a number of mechanical related fi elds.

Through the years, engineers in the biomechanical fi eld have adopted the method. Engineers at Geass in Udine, Italy, for example, use the Femap FEA system from Siemens PLM Software of Plano, Texas, to design dental implants.

So perhaps it wasn’t too outlandish when a handful of pa-leontologists and zoologists came up with a way to use the method to analyze, retroactively, complex systems that were once alive. And no bones about it, dinosaurs were certainly complex in their structure and in their behavior.

With a strong push in 2007 from an Earth science professor at the University of Bristol in England, 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.

Dinosaur StressFEA is now routinely used to interpret skeletal forms for function in both medical and biological applications, accord-ing to Michael Fagan, a professor of medical and biological engineering at the University of Hull in England. Fagan has coauthored a number of articles on the use of modeling and simulation in his fi eld. Recently an article he coauthored in the January 2012 edition of the journal Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology looked at a way to account for muscles that have been wrapped with bandages when using a certain type of FEA to model a person’s frame.

But the biomechanical fi eld expanded even further. In 2007 the Earth science professor from the University of Bristol, Emily Rayfi eld, published a paper that charted FEA’s use within the study of vertebrate evolution and its adoption by

Paleontologists use FEA The fossilized Erlicosaurus skull (above, left) was scanned by chromatic tomography (above right) at University of Bristol and is now ready for FEA for further study. Through such analyses on the dinosaur’s jaw (left), paleobiologists will shed light on what the Erlicosaurus ate and how it evolved.

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zoologists and paleontologists. That study appeared in the May 2007 issue of the Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Science and it pulled together much of the research done us-ing FEA in the fields of paleontology and zoology.

The analysis method’s use in those fields was in its infancy in 2007, Rayfield wrote in that paper.

“FEA is now widely used to assess the biomechanics of the human musculoskeletal system, including soft-tissue me-chanics, heat transfer, and computational fluid dynamic prob-lems such as blood flow,” Rayfield wrote. “Until very recently, however, its potential to engage in questions of vertebrate biomechanics and evolution remained largely unexplored.

“Crucially, a signature of loading history and hence func-tion is recorded within bony tissue. Therefore, any technique, such as FEA, that enables us to reconstruct stress and strain within the skeleton allows us to explore questions of how that skeleton functioned and why evolution shaped it in a particu-lar manner,” she wrote.

The process through which the load on a body influences skeletal geometry is known as mechanical adaption and many experiments have shown that an animal’s bones evolve and change in response to the loads imposed on them, Ray-field wrote.

FEA is a good tool to reconstruct the mechanical behavior of the muscle and skeletal system in zoological and paleon-tological studies because it’s noninvasive 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 con-ditions, she wrote.

Since that publication in 2007, Rayfield and her colleagues have gone on to regularly use FEA in their work, particularly in analyzing bone structures reconstructed from fossils.

“From these models we can get an idea of the type of behav-ior an extinct animal could perform, and why its skeleton was shaped in a particular way,” Rayfield writes on the website she

maintains at seis.bris.ac.uk/~glejr/.Other students at the University of Bristol are also calling

upon the method in their own work with fossilized remains, including Benjamin Moon, a Ph.D. student in the school of Earth sciences.

“As I’m sure many of you will have noticed, animals have a tendency to move about. This can be by walking, running, jumping, swimming, and flying,” he writes on the blog he maintains at ichthyosaurs.wordpress.com. “To do all of these, the animal must use its muscles and skeleton to ap-ply forces through the feet, tail, and arms. When the ani-mal works harder, more force is applied: doing a full press-up is more difficult than bending at the knees.”

Using muscles and bones to apply forces, doesn’t just make for movement, the bones themselves bend slightly too, Moon added. The greater the forces, the more the

bone is deformed. If the force is too great, the bone breaks.To study deformation, stress, and strain, Rayfield and her

colleagues in the Palaeobiology and Biodiversity Research Group (palaeo.gly.bris.ac.uk) first take computer tomography scans of a fossilized skull, which they assemble into a three-dimensional digital dataset.

They overlay that 3-D model with an FEA mesh composed of a number of fixed points. The model is put through FEA software that applies forces to it. The software specifies the location and direction of the forces and finds any joins, su-tures, and pivots on the skull.

The researchers can then calculate the stress and strain the skull once experienced, when it was part of an animal, Rayfield said.

The technique jibed exactly with Moon’s modern-day sen-sibilities. Moon had been fascinated with dinosaurs since youth, but by the time he began working toward becoming a professional paleontologist, he was glad to see the field had moved on from simply naming animals.

The field is now more concerned with how extinct animals lived and interacted, Moon said.

“The chance to study this in ichthyosaurs was too much of an opportunity to pass,” Moon said.

How They AteHe plans to use FEA to study the skulls of ichthyosaurs, re-covered from the Oxford Clay Formation in south England. Ichthyosaurs were giant marine reptiles that looked like dolphins. They first appeared about 245 million years ago and disappeared about 90 million years ago, about 25 million years before all dinosaurs became extinct, Moon said.

During their stay, they evolved from still-unidentified land reptiles and moved back into the water, he added.

“The band of strata called the Oxford Clay Formation is made of very fine-grained sediments and it’s thought that it once formed a soup-like mix of water and sediment above the sea floor, where there was little to no oxygen,” Moon said.

“When ichthyosaurs died they sank to the sea floor into the soup,” Moon added. “The lack of oxygen and soup-like substrate preserved the ichthyosaur nearly completely and in three dimensions. Most other ichthyosaurs are flattened

FEA modeling showed that pterosaurs,

(above) could not have fed by skimming the water, as previously thought. Researchers compared pterosaurs with

mathematical models of modern-day skimming birds (left).

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by the weight of the rocks above, but the history of the Oxford Clay means this didn’t always happen.”

By using the University of Bristol’s CT and FEA methods on skulls preserved in that once soupy mix, Moon hopes to dis-cover the feeding mechanics of the ichthyosaur.

“Ichthyosaurs, especially from the late Jurassic, were shaped a lot like tuna and probably able to swim and sprint at quite a speed,” he said. “The e� ects of the skeleton and its biome-chanics on streamlining and coping with the forces involved will be fascinating.”

In vertebrates, the most interesting applications of biome-chanics center on the skull, as that’s where eating takes place, Moon said. Also, the large number of bones in the skull makes for complicated, and sometimes unexpected, interactions.

“The skulls tell us a lot about how an animal lived; in particu-lar, what and how it ate and how it could see,” he said. “Ich-thyosaur feeding and some other behavior is usually thought to resemble that of modern dolphins, including their school-ing behavior,” Moon said.

But he wants to see if that “usual thought” proves true.“Using biomechanics, there have been many changes in

perceptions of vertebrate feeding strategies,” he writes on his blog.

For instance, as a group of researchers wrote in a 2007 paper, pterosaurs—a group of fl ying reptiles that existed between 210 million and 65.5 million years ago—could not have skim fed, as had been thought, Moon said.

The paper, “Did Pterosaurs Feed by Skimming? Physi-cal Modelling and Anatomical Evaluation of an Unusual Feeding Method,” appeared in the July 24, 2007, edition of the journal PLoS Biology (www.plosbiology.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pbio.0050204#cor1). The lead author for the paper was Stuart Humphries, then a fellow in the de-partment of animal and plant sciences at the University of She� eld in England, now a lecturer in marine biology at the Uni-versity of Hull.

“Skim feeding requires dipping the lower jaw into water then closing the jaws when food is caught,” Moon wrote on his blog. “A pterosaur that tried to skim feed would probably break its bill!”

He’s intrigued by the chance to study his chosen animal’s skull.

“Ichthyosaur skulls are very odd for their time,” Moon said. “None of the bones are fused, as seen in mammals, birds, and some dinosaurs, and they possess a unique ar-rangement of bones at the back of the skull.”

He expects that arrangement of bones to prove crucial to ichthyosaur feeding, as it’s located at the place where the jaw forms a joint with the cranium, he added.

Also, ichthyosaurs also have the unusual feature of a tooth groove rather than the sockets seen in many other vertebrate groups, including humans, Moon said. The groove holds teeth poorly: many fossils show that other dinosaurs lost their teeth completely, he added.

“FEA will hopefully allow us to see the e� ect of eating hard foods, such as the belemnites with their bullet-shaped guards,” Moon said. “FEA will show stresses and strains to skull.”

Belemnites are an extinct type of mollusk.“Hopefully, this work will corroborate the fossils: belem-

nite guards have been found in the stomach region of ich-thyosaurs so it is assumed that they ate them,” he added.

“Similar work with FEA is already being carried out at the University of Bristol on herbivorous dinosaur groups including sauropods—with their absurdly long necks—and therizinosaurs, which had claws over a foot long,” he said.

Unexpected results, he said, would add some spice to his project.

“If it is found that ichthyosaurs have an exceptionally strong biting force, it may be possible that they preyed upon the coiled ammonites,” he said. Ammonites are an extinct type of marine invertebrate animal closely resem-bling the modern Nautilus.

Furthermore, as ichthyosaurs were almost certainly aquatic animals, it may be possible to study the e� ects of moving through the viscous medium of water, Moon said.

CT scans and fi nite element analysis are giving scientists ever deeper insights into early forms of life and how they might have lived in their environments.

“FEA allows a far more intricate, accurate, and precise pic-ture of the bone to be used in studies,” Moon said. “The ability to model the body in its true form means that we can success-fully learn about the lifestyle of organisms, their ecology, and the ecosystems in which they were part.” ■

Benjamin Moon, a Ph.D. student at the University of Bristol plans to use FEA to study ichthyosaur bones taken from the Oxford Clay Formation in England to reconstruct how the animal moved through water.

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AGRAWAL, SUNIL K.Robots for InfantsSome special-needs babies lead lives with limited mobility. Engineers have begun to build devices that allow these children to move about independently. March, p. 50.

ANDERSON, DAVID M.Mass Customization’s Missing LinkThe demand is there, but to fill it, companies have to know how to build mass-customized products on demand. April, p. 32.

ARMEN, HARRY, SHANNON FLUMERFELT, GARY P. HALADA, AND FRANZ-JOSEF KAHLENComplexity and ConsequenceDiscounting the dangers from low-probability events is not only a human trait, but a technological threat. Organizations such as ASME are poised to help the public understand risk concepts and provide resources for engineers to improve risk management and build resilience in engineered systems. December, p. 46.

BAR-COHEN, AVRAM, AND KARL J.L. GEISLERCooling the Electronic BrainStacking processing chips can make for more compact computers. But it will take advances in microfluidics to make such dense number crunching practical. April, p. 38.

BARRAGÁN, JENNIFERThe Healthy Murmur of TechnologyMedical devices save lives, but only if they are appropriate and functional: It’s the challenge of ensuring quality care in limited-resource settings. December, p. 50.

BASSO, BRANDON, JOSHUA LOVE, AND J. KARL HEDRICKAirborne, Autonomous & CollaborativeUnmanned aerial vehicles have changed the face of warfare, but UAVs can do even more when they fly in flocks. April, p. 26.

BEEBE, RAYAlternative MeasuresWhen instruments can’t reach the pump, there’s another way to go with the flow. August, p. 42.

BEJAN, ADRIANAnimals Spinning Their WheelsNature anticipated mankind in the development of one of civilization’s fundamental machines. June, p. 44.Stressing the Science of EngineeringDesign, theory, and practice are inherent in our species. October, p. 40.

BOOKOFF, LESLIE I., AND DINESH N. MELWANIProperty ValuesStarting up? Make your IP attractive to investors. March, p. 32.

BORCHARDT, JOHN K.Birds of a FeatherCompanies in the same field tend to cluster in the same city or region. Understanding that could help businesses—and engineers—make vital decisions. October, p. 46.

BROWN, ALAN S.Engineering for ChangeA new Web site seeks to connect engineers and humanitarian organizations to create appropriate, sustainable development projects. March, p. 26.Securing Critical Energy Materials April, p. 57.From Whales to FansA second look at a piece of sculpture led to a promising technology. May, p. 24.Technology Transfer Awards Show Off Robot Advances August, p. 72.Under the Hood at GMWhat the automaker’s resurgence means for American manufacturing. October, p. 28.Printing Stochastic Masa October, p. 80.SustainabilityASME’s third annual survey finds that engineers are still trying to understand how sustainability fits into their workflow. November, p. 36.

BROWN, SUSAN IPRIRebranding EngineeringIf the profession is sliding into commodity status, we have to play a primary role in changing the public focus. December, p. 42.

CHENG, HARRY H., GRAHAM RYLAND, DAVID KO, KEVIN GUCWA, AND STEPHEN NESTINGERSmart and ModularResearch pursues the design of an autonomous robot that can reassemble itself for different tasks. September, p. 48.

DICHT, BURTONShuttle DiplomacyThe legacy of the world’s first reusable spacecraft may be an object lesson in the interaction of politics, economics, and technology. July, p. 46.

ETTER, DELORES M.Has the U.S. Lost Its Technical Edge?By reaching kids at the critical age, the culture of innovation and creativity may be revived. May, p. 36.

FALCIONI, JOHNProject: CrowdsourcingDecember, p. 25.

FORTENBERRY, NORMAN L.Teaching the Practical SkillsTo operate effectively, next-generation engineers will require a panoply of interpersonal and management skills, in addition to technical proficiency. December, p. 36.

FRYER, PETER, AND SERAFIM BAKALISEngineering TasteThe high-tech challenges in making chocolate. January, p. 30.

GIBSON, TOMA Turn on the Wheel September, p. 72.

2011 ARTICLE INDEX

2011 Article Index.indd 48 2/6/12 3:18 PM


GOLDEN, GARRYRenewables—Disruptors or Disrupted?The contribution of wind, solar, and bioenergy systems may be determined by the cost of materials and of natural gas. December, p. 30.

GOLDSMITH, MARCScale MattersIt’s time to reevaluate the way we think about the size of power plants. April, p. 44.

GRATTONI, ALESSANDRO, SCOTT PARAZYNSKI, AND FAZLE HUSSAINBuilding NanoglandsIn the search for personalized medicine, nanochannel implants mimic the body’s natural regulators of health. February, p. 22.

HAYMAN, EDWARD, AND CLYDE NEELYSolving the Puzzle of Bolted JointsWhen bolts, flanges, and gaskets don’t seem to cooperate, there’s a guide that can reveal the solution. June, p. 48.

HIGHTOWER, MIKEEnergy Meets WaterTwo basic needs have a common cause: New technologies to assure a sustainable future. July, p. 34.

HUTCHINSON, HARRYPour Slowly; It’s the Good Stuff January, p. 72.The Fingerprint of Corrosion March, p. 64.

LAIRD, JOYCEScrubbing the NOx out of Biogas April, p. 72.When Wind Hits the Wall July, p. 64.

LANGSTON, LEE S.Mounting TroublesThe first jumbo jet was an engineering marvel. But it took some clever design work to keep the planes in the air. March, p. 46.Powering AheadJet engines dominate the gas turbine industry, but other sectors are also primed for growth. May, p. 30.

LEARY, ROLFEAppropriate to the PeopleA simple technology created for, but not by, the people can’t leap too far ahead. June, p. 38.

MANNING, LYNNWhat’s That Noise?Using FEA to tone down automotive squeaks and rattles. October, p. 44.

MARCUS, GAIL H.Nuclear Power after FukushimaIn the wake of a severe plant accident, advanced reactor concepts, including small modular reactors, are getting renewed attention. December, p. 26.

MENDEL, ALAN F. Why Care About PLM?Care about product quality? About reducing your workload? Then you should care about product lifecycle management. March, p. 42.

MICHAUD, LOUIS, AND NILTON RENNOThe Sky’s the LimitThermodynamics puts limits on the efficiency of thermal power plants. Cleverly reconfiguring cooling towers can lead to a way of recapturing some of that waste heat. April, p. 42.

MROWCA, BRUCERemoving Heat From a Reactor in Shutdown May, p. 34.

NOOR, AHMED K.The World Is More Than ComplicatedComplex systems of the future will have to be adaptable, and new approaches will be needed to engineer them. November, p. 30.

OLIVAS, JOHN D.The Perspective From SpaceThe view reveals how far we’ve come, how far there is still to go. July, p. 53.

PERKINS, NOEL C., KEVIN KING, RYAN McGINNIS, AND JESSANDRA HOUGHA Sporting ChanceCoaches and athletes can use data from wireless sensors to improve sports training. July, p. 40.

PETROSKI, HENRYEngineering Spelled OutReflections on the state of the art, in alphabetical order. November, p. 46.

PORTER, BRIANServing Two MastersIt takes judgment and thought to balance the ethical engineer and capable project manager. August, p. 30.

PRAWEL, DAVIDLost in TranslationIt’s the paradox of computer-aided design: More software systems, more project collaborators, more wasted time. September, p. 44.

REILLY, JOHN, AND ALLISON CRIMMINSMyth v. FactBefore we can embrace appropriate energy policies, we have to face the hard truths about the technologies available to us. January, p. 24.

RICE, JAMES B., Jr.Only as Strong as the Weakest LinkAs the effects of the Sendai earthquake and tsunami ripple through the global economy, companies should shore up their supply chains to guard against disaster. June, p. 26.

RICHARDSON, JOHN, AND PAMELA WATERMANStemming the FloodEngineers design new defenses against the threat of rising waters. July, p. 30.

RORRER, RONALDHiring the Newly MintedA design instructor discusses what to look for in hiring an engineer right out of school, and whom to ask for a word of reference. March, p. 35.



SAITOU, KAZUHIROBuilt to Be ReclaimedWhen a plan for efficient disassembly is embedded in a design, a product leaves less trash and, perhaps, more profit. September, p. 52.

SCHILE, RICHARDEngineering a Better GuitarClose study of a ubiquitous musical instrument reveals potential means of improvement. February, p. 38.

SCHWER, LEONARD E.Building Confidence in Innovation May, p. 42.

SKAKOON, JAmES, AND mICHAEL WIKLUNDThe Human TouchA fundamental factor in mechanical design. September, p. 38.

SLEDJE, RONHeads up, Ears PerkedThere are things they didn’t teach us in school that we need to know if we’re going to survive—or excel—at our jobs. March, p. 38.

TAAGEPERA, JAAN, AND NATHAN TYSONA Freeze in TimeAn ASME post-construction standard leads a refinery maintenance team through an unfamiliar but efficient repair. August, p. 44.

TESKA, KIRKPatent TrollsEven those who make and sell nothing are devising new ways to make money from U.S. patent laws. August, p. 35.Patent Atomic Bomb DefusedAn appeals court reinterprets a disclosure rule that caused an explosion of paperwork. October, p. 51.

THILmANY, JEANProject + Lifecycle TogetherTying project management with product lifecycle software creates a bigger picture. February, p. 36.From Military to Market June, p. 64.Everyday Fingers Prosthetic limbs have been around a long time; but until Dan Didrick came along, working artificial fingers didn’t exist. August, p. 39.The New Bionic Man? November, p. 112.Pollock the Physicist? December, p. 80.

THOmAS, ABYThe International Language of CodesA career arc from India to the Middle East was driven by the global power of standards. January, p. 38.

THORNTON, JACKAll That NoiseIt can come from instruments and test designs and even geometry, and it can add considerable cost to computer analysis. January, p. 34.No Testing AllowedNuclear stockpile stewardship is a simulation challenge. May, p. 38.Rebuilding Big Steam February, p. 64.Total ImmersionSophisticated systems create digital environments where designs can be built, used, and serviced before a single part is made. November, p. 42.

TILBURY, DAWN, AND A. GALIP ULSOYA New Breed of Robots That Drive ThemselvesThanks to advances in control systems, vehicles can carry out tasks without human guidance. February, p. 28.

VARADAN, VIJAY K.An EKG in Your UnderwearNanostructured sensors, smart phones, and cloud computing promise a new platform for everyday medical monitoring. October, p. 34.

VARRASI, JOHNA Gift for EngineeringA pioneer of FEA donates $1 million to support the Federal Fellows. February, p. 42.

WAmSLEY, GARYA Pump War Story: Back to Basics August, p. 48.

WINTER, AmOSDesigning for the Rest of the Global MarketEngineering’s new frontier: Nine designers talk about the challenges to make advanced products for the developing world. September, p. 30.

WINTERS, JEFFREYPower Window: Crunch Time April, p. 48.Automatic Dialer May, p. 72.Steam PunksHow many of your possessions could you make yourself? A couple of amateur engineers are working to design and build a set of tools that would enable the self-reliant to make everything they need. June, p. 32.

WOODS, ROBERT O.A Cable to Shrink the EarthSixteen hours to send a telegram? That was a technological revolution in 1858. January, p. 40.

SUPPLEmENTS:

Design Engineering DivisionSeptember, p. 55.

International Gas Turbine InstituteFebruary, p. 45.April, p. 49.August, p. 49.December, p. 55.

International Petroleum Technology InstituteMay, p. 51.October, p. 53.

Nuclear Engineering DivisionJanuary, p. 45.May, p. 43.

A Celebration of EngineeringASME 2011 Honors: A commemoration of individual and professional contributions toward the advancement of technology. November, p. 51.The 2010-2011 ASME Fellows November, p. 77.



mebookshelf

IntroductIon to dIslocatIons, FIFth EdItIon. D. Hull and D.J. Bacon. Butterworth-Heinemann, 225 Wyman St., Waltham, MA 02451. 2011. 288 pages. $66.95. ISBN: 978-0-0809-6672-4.

This book provides an introduction to dislocations and the role they play in the properties of crystalline solids. The edition has been fully updated with the latest develop-ments and academic references. The publisher claims that, by incor-porating later developments in sub-sequent editions while retaining a concise, accessible style, Introduc-tion to Dislocations has become established as a key resource for students, graduates, and research-ers. It is widely recognized as providing the essential knowledge base required for further study, research, and technological ap-plication in the field. This updated version attempts to bring the book’s coverage, references, and context in line with the latest developments in an effort to ensure it remains a core reference for all those studying and working in the field today.

computatIonal mEthods In multIphasE Flow VI. A.A. Mammoli and C.A. Brebbia, eds. WIT Press, Ashurst Lodge, Southampton SO40 7AA, U.K. 2011. 344 pages. $298. ISBN: 978-1-84564-518-2.

The papers presented at the Sixth International Conference on Com-putational and Experimental Meth-ods in Multiphase and Complex Flow are contained in this book. The biennial series of conferences focuses on combining experimen-tal and computational techniques to gain a better understanding of individual classes of multiphase flow. Multiphase flows are becoming increasingly important in many areas—manufacturing, minerals extraction, environmental remedia-tion, and medicine to name just a few—and technological advances are constantly occurring. Although experimental, theoretical, and computational efforts in the field have spanned decades, research-

ers still do not fully understand the complex behaviors inherent in multiphase flows. Featured topics include multiphase flow simulation, turbulent flow, bubble and drop dynamics, heat transfer, incline flows, energy application, and flow in porous media.

BladE dEsIgn and analysIs For stEam turBInEs. Murari P. Singh and George M. Lucas. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2 Penn Plaza, New York, NY 10121. 2011. 384 pages. $100. ISBN: 978-0-0716-3574-5.

Blade Design and Analysis for Steam Turbines provides a concise reference for practicing engineers involved in the design, specifica-tion, and evaluation of industrial steam turbines, particularly criti-cal process compressor drivers. This book covers advances in modal analysis, fatigue and creep analysis, and aerodynamic theories, along with an overview of commonly used materials and manufacturing processes.

hydrogEn and FuEl cElls: EmErgIng tEchnologIEs and applIcatIons. sEcond EdItIon. Bent Sorensen. Academic Press, 225 Wyman St, Waltham, MA 02451. 2012. 512 pages. $79.95. ISBN: 978-0-12-387709-3.

Supported by illustrations and extensive references, this text explores the economic and envi-ronmental implications of utilizing hydrogen in energy applications and provides up-to-date coverage of conversion, transmission, and storage technologies. It describes the techniques associated with hydrogen and fuel cell systems at a level suited for both academic and professional use. Furthermore, this new edition features expanded cov-erage of hybrid systems combining battery and fuel cell technologies to achieve performance and economic viability not obtainable by either power source alone. This book regards the technologies as efficient energy sources, and discusses how they can provide clean power for heat, electricity, and transportation.

opEratIon oF a cryogEnIc rockEt EngInE: an outlInE wIth down-to-Earth and up-to-spacE rEmarks. Wolfgang Kitsche. Springer, 233 Spring St., New York, NY 10013. 2011. 158 pages. $129. ISBN: 978-3-64-210564-7.

This book presents the operational aspects of the rocket engine on a test facility. The author intends it to be useful to engineers and scientists, and informative to aerospace students and interested general readers. He has written the book to show the reader that all efforts are merging to operate a propulsion system of ultimate per-formance. The comments in the book reflect the experience of two decades at one of the two largest test facilities for cryogenic rocket engines in Europe.

prIncIplEs and casE studIEs oF sImultanEous dEsIgn. William L. Luyben. John Wiley & Sons, 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030. 2011. 344 pages. $149.95. ISBN: 978-0-47-092708-3.

The goal of this book is to present some general design principles in a concise form that should aid the engineer in completing the task of developing an effective flowsheet and control structure. A rich vari-ety of case studies are presented that illustrate in an in-depth and quantitative way the application of these general principles. Detailed case studies are presented of ten complex processes that contain a variety of features commonly occurring in many important in-dustrial plants. In-depth, economic steady-state designs are developed that satisfy an economic objec-tive function such as minimizing total annual cost of both capital and energy. Complete, detailed flowsheets and Aspen Plus files are provided. Conventional propor-tional-integral (PI) plantwide con-trol structures are developed and tested for their ability to maintain product quality during typically large disturbances. Complete As-pen Dynamics files of the dynamic simulations are provided.

Pipeline Transportation of Carbon Dioxide Containing Impurities.Mo Mohitpur, Patricia Seevan, Kamal K. Botros, Brian Rothwell, and Claire Ennis. ASME Press, Three Park Avenue, New York, New York 10016-5990. 2011. 480 pages. $159; ASME Members, $127. ISBN: 978-0-79-185983-4.

Among the challenges to be faced for carbon capture and sequestration is the minimiza-tion of the constraints imposed by the CO2 stream composition on the development of transport systems. According to the authors, the pipeline should be able to accept as wide a specification as possible, within the limits imposed by health, safety, and environ-mental considerations throughout the whole CCS chain. In order to meet this challenge, confidence is required in the models and procedures currently used in pipeline design, maintenance, and operation to ensure that these ap-proaches can be safely transferred to a CO2 pipeline infrastructure. Many of these considerations are explored in the chapters of this book. These technologies involve capturing or producing the CO2, transporting it, and finally inject-ing it into the ground and manag-ing its movement in the subsur-face. The authors of this book are from different backgrounds and organizations related to pipeline engineering.

Books0312.indd 51 2/6/12 3:15 PM

20th International Conference on Nuclear Engineering

co-located with the ASME 2012 Power Conference

July 30 - August 3, 2012Anaheim, California

For more information visit www.asmeconferences.org/ICONE20POWER2012


co-located with theASME 2012 Power Conference


co-located with the ASME 2012 Power Conference

ASME Standards & Certifi cationThree Park Ave., New York, NY 10016-5990

(212) 591-8500 Fax: (212) 591-8501 e-mail: [email protected]

If you are looking for information regarding an ASME code or standard committee, confor-mity assessment program, training program, sta� contact, or schedule of meetings, please visit our Web site: www.asme.org/codes.

COMMITTEE LISTING: For a listing of ASME Codes and Standards Development Com-mittees and their charters, visit the Stan-dards and Certifi cation Web site at http://cstools.asme.org/charters.cfm.

CONFORMITY ASSESSMENT: For a listing and description of ASME Conformity Assess-ment (accreditation, registration, and certifi cation) programs, visit the Standards and Certifi cation Web site at http://www.asme.org/kb/standards/certifi cation---accreditation.

TRAINING & DEVELOPMENT: For a listing and description of ASME Training & Develop-ment educational opportunities, visit the ASME Education Web site at http://www.asme.org/kb/courses/asme-training---development.

STAFF CONTACTS: To obtain the ASME sta� contact information for a Codes and Stan-dards Development Committee or a Confor-mity Assessment program, visit the Codes

and Standards Web site at http://cstools.asme.org/sta� .

SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS: Meetings of Codes and Standards Development Committees are held periodically to consider the devel-opment of new standards and the mainte-nance of existing standards. To search for scheduled meetings of Codes and Standards Development Committees, by date or by keyword, visit the Standards and Certifi ca-tion Web site at http://calendar.asme.org/home. cfm?CategoryID=1.

PUBLIC REVIEW DRAFTSAn important element of ASME’s accredited standards development procedures is the requirement that all proposed standards actions (new codes and standards, revisions to existing codes and standards, and reaf-fi rmations of existing codes and standards) be made available for public review and comment. The proposed standards actions currently available for public review are announced on ASME’s Web site, located at http://cstools.asme.org/csconnect/PublicReviewpage.cfm.

The Web site announcements will provide information on the scope of the proposed standards action, the price of a standard when being proposed for rea� rmation or withdrawal, the deadline for submittal of comments, and the ASME sta� contact to

whom any comments should be provided. Some proposed standards actions may be available directly from the Web site; hard copies of any proposed standards action (excluding BPV) may be obtained from:

Mayra SantiagoSecretary A

E-mail: [email protected] Standards & Certifi cation

Three Park Ave., M/S 23E2New York, NY 10016

ASME maintains approximately 500 codes and standards. A general categorization of the subject matter addressed by ASME codes and standards is as follows:Authorized InspectionsAutomotiveBioprocessing EquipmentBoilersCertifi cation and AccreditationChainsControlsConveyorsCranes and HoistsCutting, Hand, and Machine ToolsDimensionsDrawings, Terminology, and Graphic SymbolsElevators and EscalatorsEnergy AssessmentFastenersFitness-For-ServiceGauges/GagingGeometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T)High-Pressure Vessels SystemsKeys and KeyseatsLimits & FitsMaterialsMeasurement of Fluid Flow in Closed ConduitsMetal Products SizesMetric SystemMetrology and Calibration of InstrumentsNondestructive Evaluation/Examination-NuclearOperator Qualifi cation and Certifi cationPerformance Test CodesPiping & PipelinesPlumbing Materials and EquipmentPost Construction of Pressure Equipment and PipingPowered PlatformsPressure VesselsPumpsRail TransportationReinforced Thermoset Plastic Corrosion Resistant EquipmentRisk AnalysisScrew ThreadsSteel StacksSurface QualityTurbinesValves, Fittings, Flanges, GasketsVerifi cation & ValidationWelding & Brazing

The ASME Standards & Certifi cation section is published as submitted to Mechanical Engineer-ing magazine by ASME’s Standards & Certifi cation Department.


ASME STANDARDS & CERTIFICATION

0312codes.indd 52 2/5/12 7:40 PM

Motor power connectorAMphenol IndustrIAl, sIdney, n.y. The traction motor power connec-tor now includes a color-coded power mounting flange with built-in locking keys to prevent the contact cable from slipping during use. The new single-pin connectors are designed for power distribution equipment and traction motor power supply applications. Utiliz-ing patented RADSOK technology, the connector allows for high amperage, and low T-rise and insertion/removal forces. Thermoplastic molded panel mount-ing flanges on the connectors have four mounting holes that allow users to bolt the connector directly to an aluminum or stainless steel panel without the need for mounting boards. The square connectors meet the NEC ac/dc require-ments and are designed to be used with IEEE Type P drilling cables ranging from 313 MCM to 777 MCM with con-tacts rated at 1,500 A. The connectors also feature color-coded mounting bases and cable side boots to help prevent cross mating while aiding in electrical phase identification. www.Me.hotIMs.coM/40244-40 or cIrcle 40

rack-mount sensing systemKAMAn precIsIon products, MIddletown, conn. The KDM-8206 displacement measuring system is in a 19-inch modularized rack format. The

user can add channels to the system by installing modular PC backplane boards into empty rack or bench-top enclosure slots. Designed for making high-preci-sion multi-channel displacement, run-out, and position measurements, the KDM-8206 is suitable for high-sensor-count test and development applications in industrial and laboratory facilities. The 3U-by-7T Eurocard measuring module is the fundamental component of this non-contact measuring system, and features auto-synchronization of multiple channels. The KDM-8206 module contains the inductive bridge and signal conditioning circuits that produce the measurement output, a lin-ear voltage proportional to the physical displacement of the target relative to the sensor. The system achieves resolution to 10 microinches or better. www.Me.hotIMs.coM/40244-41 or cIrcle 41

piezoelectric accelerometerMeggItt sensIng systeMs, sAn JuAn cApIstrAno, cAlIf. With a sensitivity of 2.8 pC/g, the Endevco model 2226C piezoelectric accelerometer features a top mounted 10-32 recep-tacle for installation within space constrained environments. The unit has a mass of 2.8 g. It is designed to operate over a temperature range of -55 ˚C to 177 ˚C (-67 ˚F to 350 ˚F). As a self-generating device, the model 2226C requires no external power source for operation. Although signal return is connected to the case, a user may isolate signal ground from the mounting surface by installing the unit with non-conductive adhesive. A low-noise, flexible coaxial cable, the Endevco model 3060D-120, is included. Endevco accelerometers are accompanied by a five-year product

warranty. In addition, the model 2226C is available at specially discounted rates as part of the –R replacement sensors program, with quantities available for immediate customer shipment as part of Meggitt’s Endevco Guaranteed InStock program.www.Me.hotIMs.coM/40244-42 or cIrcle 42

Angle body piston valve pArKer hAnnIfIn, new BrItAIn, conn. The enhanced 810 Series angle body piston valve can be used in a variety of indus-trial applications including chemi-cal, pharmaceuti-cal, steam, food processing, water technology, and HVAC. The valve handles millions of cycles in applica-tions with high temperatures and aggressive media. The product line includes valves with up to 3-inch port connections, has tem-perature rating options as high as 430 °F (221 °C), and features various sizes of metal actuators that meet operating pressure ratings of up to 580 psi (40 bar). The valves are constructed with 316L stainless steel or bronze bodies and come standard with NPT porting; other connection options are available.www.Me.hotIMs.coM/40244-43 or cIrcle 43

Motion controllerssIeMens Industry, elK grove vIl-lAge, Ill. Simotion D4X5 multi-axis controllers have new features such as onboard Profinet interfaces and high-speed I/O. A single controller can sup-port up to 128 axes of motion. Systems are scalable and have an integrated drive control based upon Siemens Sinamics S120 drives. In the Simotion D445-2 DP/PN and D455-2 DP/PN, the previously optional Profinet I/O inter-face has now been integrated as stan-

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dard. The integration frees up the option slot for other expansion cards. The onboard interface is equipped with an integrated three-port switch and facilitates different network topologies such as line, star, or tree structures, without the need for additional external switches. The interface supports real-time and isochronous real-time data exchange. www.me.hotims.com/40244-44 or circle 44

color-coded panel screwsPenn engineering, Danboro, Pa. PEM C.A.P.S. color access panel screws integrate a captive screw with an anti-crossthreading feature and a PC/ABS colored knob to provide a fastener solution where subsequent access to an assembly may be required. The spring-loaded assemblies install permanently in aluminum or steel sheets as thin as 0.036 inch (0.92 mm) and can be supplied in self-clinching, flaring, or floating mounting styles. Their captive-screw design reduces parts to be handled and eliminates risk of screws falling out and damaging internal components.

Knobs can be specified in standard black, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet, or metallic. The colors offer the capability to designate service access levels for equipment, color-reference operating and maintenance instructions, or conform to end-use aesthetic requirements. Custom colors can be developed. The captive panel screws install by pressing them into prop-erly prepared mounting holes. The shoulder on the retainer provides a positive stop. Anti-crossthreading corrects off-angle thread mat-ing and ensures proper alignment. The hardware is available in multiple lengths with thread sizes from #4-40 through #10-32 / M3 through M5. www.me.hotims.com/40244-45 or circle 45

soft motor startersautomation Direct, cumming, ga. The Stellar SR33 Series basic soft starters are designed for general purpose applications where traditional across-the-line starting or wye-delta starting would typically be appropriate. The SR33 semi-conductor soft starters, available in 22 A to 482 A siz-es, are suitable to control three-phase ac induction motors with a wide variety of motor loads. Models in the series have a footprint similar to that of a star/delta starter. All units feature two-phase control, separately adjust-able motor start voltage and start and stop times, and depending on model, fault indi-cation of four or seven fault types. Suitable for applications such as pumps, blowers, and conveyors, the SR33 series soft starters use thyristors for controlled reduced voltage motor starting and stopping, and then switch to internal contacts for efficient running at rated speed. Prices start at $490. A heat-shrink insulation kit designed to maintain UL compli-ance when connecting field cables is available for $8. www.me.hotims.com/40244-46 or circle 46

laser modulePiPeline analytics, Pittsburgh. New for WinCan V8 pipe inspection and asset management software, the Win-Can Laser module from Pipeline Analytics is designed to capture pipeline geometry using a video inspection crawler outfitted with practically any laser profiling hardware. The

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WinCan Laser module works in three modes, depending on the laser hard-ware used. In parallel laser mode, the camera head’s twin laser dots are oriented perpendicular to the pipe wall and then rotated 360 degrees. In ring mode, the module analyzes video from the crawler, extracting the laser ring pattern. In scanning mode, the module analyzes the laser dot pattern cast by any properly equipped side-scan camera, interpolating a ring to determine diameter and deforma-tion. The module can be used to verify proper pipe installation, plan relin-ing projects, determine remaining pipe life, monitor erosion and corro-sion, and analyze partial collapses. It accepts standard and HD video, and instantly links collected data to the asset being inspected.www.me.hotims.com/4047-40 or circle 47

Data acquisition moduleomega engineering, stamforD, conn. The OM-DAQ-USB-2401 series of USB 2.0 full speed thermocouple/voltage input data acquisition mod-ules are fully compatible with both USB 1.1 and USB 2.0 ports. This mod-ule is user programmable for type J, K, T, E, R, S, B, or N thermocouples or voltage input and features 8 differen-

tial or 16 single-ended analog inputs, and 24 bit resolution with up to 1,000 samples per second throughput. This module is powered directly by USB port or an external DC power sup-ply. It includes Windows software, drivers for custom programming, and hardware for benchtop, DIN rail or wall mounting. www.me.hotims.com/40244-48 or circle 48

ergonomic pallet truckmobile inDustries inc., mis-sissauga, ontario. The ESET33 handles loads up to 3,300 lbs. with a battery-powered drive system for forward and reverse operation. The ESET33 achieves speeds of 2.8 mph fully loaded and 3 mph when unloaded. When the throttle is released the unit brakes automatically. The handle

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allows operation in the centered position. Operation comes to a stop when the handle is located 20 degrees off the vertical or horizontal position. A 24-volt battery pack and charger can operate for a standard 8-hour shift or longer. Charging can be completed overnight via a 110-volt outlet. Fork options include 48-inch fork length with 20.5-inch and 27-inch fork widths. The manual pump is operated via an ergonomic control handle which is cushioned and raises the load to full height with five cycles. Handle controls include forward and reverse buttons with a “dead man” feature to stop unwanted reverse movement in confined spaces. The 180-degree steering pivot feature allows use in confined areas. List price is $3,098.25. www.me.hotims.com/40244-49 or circle 49

rod-style electric actuatorstolomatic, hamel, minn. ERD rod-style electric actua-tors now deliver forces up to 500 pounds (2,224 N). The new ERD20 is designed with a larger diameter ball screw

and a stroke length of up to 24 inches (609.6 mm). ERD actuators are stroke configu-rable and ship within five days from order entry at the factory. The products are suitable for a wide variety of applications, including product change-overs, pick-and-place, sorting and diverting, and pressing. The ERD actuators are available in body sizes that are equivalent to non-repairable pneumatic cylinder bore sizes of 5/8 inch (15.88 mm), 1 inch (25.4 mm), 1.5 inch (38.1 mm), and 2 inch (50.8 mm). Strokes are available in lengths up to 8 inches (203.2 mm) for the ERD06, 10 inches (254 mm) for the ERD10, and 24 inches (609.6 mm) for the ERD15 and 20. Forces range up to 20 pounds (89 N) for the smallest size, and to 500 pounds (2,224 N) for the ERD20.www.me.hotims.com/40244-50 or circle 50

Pressure transmittersashcroft inc., stratford, conn. A2, A2X, and A4 pressure transmitters are designed for rugged heavy duty. Available in accuracies up to +/-0.25 percent, the A2 is offered with a wide variety of electri-cal connections, analog output sig-nals, and pressure ports to meet the requirements of almost any indus-trial application. The A2X (explosion/flame proof) and A4 (intrinsically safe) configurations are specially designed for hazardous environments. www.me.hotims.com/40244-51 or circle 51

shackle pinsQrP inc., leland, n.c. Shackle pins are manufactured from stainless steel (except for their aluminum button) to promote high corrosion resistance in harsh environments. Among noteworthy features, the shackles can pivot when unobstructed to move 90 degrees on both sides of vertical to correspond with application dynamics. Full visibility of a contrasting color groove on these pins indicates pin

status as “fully locked” to promote safety in use. The latest design features a red button allowing for easy identification and serving as a caution in activation. The shackle pins are body hardened to 180/210 KSI or ASTM

2759/3. They are available with shank diameter ranges from ¼ inch (handling up to 2,000 lbs. maximum load) to 5/8 inch (accommodating up to 7,000 lbs. maximum load).www.me.hotims.com/40244-52 or circle 52

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Side-mount level switchesGemS SenSorS & ControlS, Plainville, Conn. Com-pact, side-mount level switches are made from Gems Versa-plast engineered plastic for temperature applications up to 300 °F (148.9 °C). The engineered plastic is compatible with a wide range of challenging fluids such as oils and solvents. The material enables the new LS-7 Series sensors to provide an affordable solution for handling high-temperature applica-tions and corrosive fluids. The level switches are CE, UL, and CUL approved. They can be exposed to methylene chloride and anti-freeze, and are suited for low-coolant, low-hydraulic

monitoring in off-highway vehicle and transportation applications. These new Versaplast LS-7 Series ver-sions expand the broad range of small, side mounted level switches from Gems Sensors available for a wide variety of fluids or applications. The

units have pressure capability to 100 psi (6.8 bar), and a float arc of just 1.25 inches. Options include internal and exter-nally installed versions, and metric or U.S. threads. www.me.hotimS.Com/40244-53 or CirCle 53

Cavitating jetsDynaflow inC., JeSSuP, mD. DynaJets can produce extremely erosive but controlled environments, enabling significant increases in cleaning, coating removal, cutting, and drilling rates over conventional jet nozzles. DynaJets employ techniques like cavitation, acoustic excitation, and jet interruption and structuring to create large high fre-quency stresses on the target surface or in the liquid. These techniques primarily rely on passive manipulation of the flow and interaction of the liquid with the nozzle geometry. The jets involve no moving parts and no additional power sources. They can be used for both submerged and in-air applications such as surface cleaning, paint stripping, rock cutting, and hydro demolition. www.me.hotimS.Com/40244-54 or CirCle 54

liquid level sensorCoSenSe inC., hauPPauGe, n.y. The SL-630 is a non-inva-sive sensor for plastic containers. It is installed outside the container and has no contact with fluids. Function is inde-pendent of the color, transparency, shape, and size of the bottom of the container. There are several choices of inputs/outputs, including fail safe. No calibration is required. The product has multiple mounting options—disposable, non-disposable, and flange—allowing for its applicability in a wide range of operating environments. The standard product is used on plastic containers from 2 inches (51 mm) to 8 inches (203 mm) diameter with a wall thickness up to 0.25 inch (6.35 mm). www.me.hotimS.Com/40244-55 or CirCle 55

leD floodlightsCooPer CrouSe-hinDS, SyraCuSe, n.y. Champ FMV LED floodlights combine energy efficiency and long life with exceptional lumen output. They are suitable for use in hazardous, industrial, and demanding environments. The Champ FMV LED is available in four models, providing an equivalent 100 W to 400 W, similar to metal halide floodlights, but consuming about half the energy. LED lamp life is rated at 60,000 hours. The floodlights can be used for outdoor or indoor applications at a wide range of mounting heights. Optics were specifically designed to give the familiar and industry-accepted butterfly beam light pattern. The new Champ FMV LED floodlights utilize existing SFA6 and SWB6 mounting adapters. This provides cost-effective and timely installations as the new floodlights require no new conduit runs.www.me.hotimS.Com/40244-56 or CirCle 56



positionsopenpositionsopenpositionsopen


MECHANICAL ENGINEERING – WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY Wright State University (WSU) invites applications for one tenure-track faculty positions in the Department of Mechani-cal and Materials Engineering. The position is af-filiated with the Micro Air Vehicle Center at WSU, which has state of the art MAV fabrication equip-ment, and there is also opportunity to work in a state-of-the-art bench- and flight-science facility to fabricate and validate the designed vehicles. The position is at the assistant professor level, how-ever, exceptional candidates can be considered

for a higher rank. The successful candidate will be expected to develop a funded research program and teach courses in Mechanical Engineering at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Ap-plicants must have an earned PhD in Mechani-cal Engineering or related discipline before the anticipated start date of August 16, 2012. Appli-cants for assistant professor are expected to show propensity for scholarship, generating a research program, and teaching. Consideration for higher ranks requires significant additional experience and a demonstrated proficiency in scholarship,

sponsored research, and teaching commensurate with the level sought. Applicants for the MAV po-sition must apply through Wright State University website https://jobs.wright.edu/ . Review of appli-cations will begin April 2, 2012. WSU is a public institution of over 19,000 students located in a technologically rich region of southwestern Ohio adjacent to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Department has recently received funding for a Center of Advanced Power and Energy Conver-sion and features centers for Micro Air Vehicles and Computational Design and Optimization. WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer.

UNIVERSITY of ILLINoIS AT URbANA-CHAMpAIGN DEpARTMENT of MATERIALS SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING CoLLEGE of ENGINEERING LECTURER The Department of Materials Science and Engineering (www.matse.illinois.edu) invites applications for a full-time, un-tenured position at the rank of Lecturer. We are looking for a dynamic, motivated individual who will contribute to the educational mission of the department. The Lecturer will develop and teach courses in hard materials and mechanics that will be targeted to undergraduate students. In addi-tion, successful applicants will be expected to be involved in undergraduate and masters research programs, capstone design projects and student advising. The position requires a PhD in Materials Science and Engineering or a relevant engineer-ing/scientific field. Prior experience with teaching at the college or university level is preferred. The position is a full-time, 9 month academic year ap-pointment. Salary is competitive and based on ex-perience. The desired starting date is August 16, 2012. The initial appointment will be for one year with the possibility for renewal on an annual ba-sis thereafter based on funding and performance reviews. The closing date is March 31, 2012. Inter-views may be conducted before the closing date but no decision will be made until after the closing date. To apply, please create a candidate profile at https://jobs.illinois.edu and upload a Curriculum Vitae with the names and contact information for three professional references and a letter of inter-est which includes teaching interests and evidence of innovative teaching in a university setting. For further information about the application process, please contact the department by e-mail at [email protected] or by telephone at (217) 333-1441. Il-linois is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer and welcomes individuals with diverse backgrounds, experiences, and ideas who em-brace and value diversity and inclusivity. (www.inclusiveillinois.illinois.edu)

MECHANICAL DESIGN ENGINEER, NEWARk, NJ. Monitor assembly of mechanized bldg equip-ment, participate in developing structural design of mechanisms using CAD. BS + 5 yrs experience. 96 Clay Street LLC, 96 Clay St., Newark, NJ 07104.

pRoDUCT MANAGER SoUGHT bY DEEpSEA TECHNoLoGIES, INC. for its Houston, TX loc to manage all engg & mfg activities during the complete product cycle including dsgn, mfg, testing, customer support, product maintenance & repair of subsea oil & gas products such as ROV tools, bend stiffener connectors, subsea insulation systems, UTAs etc.; Lead dsgn team to dvlp product dsgn/interface as per clients reqmts, dsgn review & release of controlled documents; supervise product line department & responsible for tracking order quantities/stock material; supervise product installation offshore & at client-site; responsible for customer inter-face, planning project sched, testing & FAT criteria/procedures & critical inspection & hold points; prep project documentation such as proj-ect sched, quality control documents, testing/factory acceptance criteria etc.; regularly attend project kick-off meetings & update meetings w/ customers & vendors; apply broad knowl of dsgng/working of subsea eqpmt, FEA analysis using ANSYS; dsgn of ROV equipments, weld-ing procedure & PQRs, material specifications, subsea coating procedures, NDE reqmts, DNV

The McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering at the University of Tulsa invites applicationsand nominations for two tenure track faculty positions at the Assistant or Associate Professor’slevel and for two Instructor positions.

For the tenure track faculty positions, a strong preference will be given to candidates with researchexpertise in reservoir engineering, particularly in reservoir simulation and/or enhanced oilrecovery, but anyone with research interest in petroleum engineering related areas is encouragedto apply. Applicants must have an earned Ph.D. in engineering, geophysics, physics or appliedmathematics. A successful applicant will have the ability to provide teaching excellence in avariety of petroleum engineering courses, both at the graduate and undergraduate levels.Successful applicants will have the ability to produce high quality research suitable for publicationin peer-reviewed journals with a high impact factor, develop a funded research program, superviseM.S. and Ph.D. students and will also have an interest in participating in internal and externalservice activities. The terms of appointment will correspond to candidate’s credentials and to theTU faculty appointment guidelines.

The Instructor positions are for the 2012-2013 academic year beginning August 20th, 2012. Thesuccessful candidates must have good communication and teaching skills, with minimumqualifications of either a Ph.D. in Petroleum Engineering, or a B.S. or M.S. in PetroleumEngineering with at least 5 years of Petroleum Engineering industrial experience. Teachingexperience is an asset. Responsibilities include teaching at least two undergraduate courses persemester, in addition to supervision of undergraduate labs. Preference will be given to candidateswith teaching or industrial experience in at least two of the three teaching areas (drilling,production and reservoir).

The School currently has 11 full time faculty and 1 instructor, and offers bachelor, master, anddoctoral degrees in Petroleum Engineering. Current enrollment includes approximately 325undergraduate students and 80 graduate students. The University of Tulsa has a strong researchtradition with an average research funding of 6 million dollars per year. Our unique researchstrength is evident from 9 research consortia funded by the industry with an excellent balancebetween applied and theoretical research.

The University of Tulsa is a private comprehensive university with approximately 4,000 studentsenrolled in its four academic colleges. The McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering residesadministratively within the College of Engineering and Natural Sciences, which consists of fourengineering departments, four science departments, and the department of mathematical andcomputer sciences. More information is available at The University of Tulsa website:http://www.utulsa.edu.

The Search Committee will be reviewing applications for all positions beginning January 15,2012. The tenure track positions selection process will continue until suitable candidates arefound. The deadline for applications for the instructor positions is March 30, 2012.

Applicants should submit a complete vita, along with the names and addresses of four references to:

Dr. Mauricio PradoSearch Committee Chairman

McDougall School of Petroleum EngineeringThe University of Tulsa800 South Tucker Drive

Tulsa, OK 74104

The University of Tulsa is an EEO/AA employer.

Faculty and Instructor PositionsMcDougall School of Petroleum Engineering

The University of Tulsa

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positionsopen positionsopenpositionsopen


The Hong Kong Polytechnic University is the largest government-funded tertiary institution in Hong Kong in terms of student number. It offers programmes at Doctorate, Master’s, Bachelor’s degrees and Higher Diploma levels. It has a full-time academic staff strength of around 1,200. The total consolidated expenditure budget of the University is in excess of HK$4 billion per year.

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

1) Assistant Professor in Fluid Mechanics 2) Assistant Professor in Control, Dynamics and Acoustics 3) Assistant Professor in Design and Computational Solid Mechanics

The Department of Mechanical Engineering is one of the five academic units in the Faculty of Engineering. It offers a wide range of programmes, at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, over a large spectrum of topics including product analysis and design, environmental technology and transportation, aerospace and aviation, design and manufacturing, computer aided engineering design, etc. To underpin teaching, the Department is presently engaged in the following research areas: combustion and pollution control, fluid-structure interactions, materials and mechanics, sound and vibration, and product design and development. Please visit the website at http://www.me.polyu.edu.hk for more information about the Department.

The appointees will be required to (a) teach at undergraduate and postgraduate levels; (b) conduct research that leads to publications in top-tier refereed journals and awards of research grants; (c) undertake research, programme/curriculum development and administration; (d) supervise student projects and theses; (e) engage in industrial and scholarly research/consultancy activities; and (f) undertake academic and departmental administrative duties.

Applicants should have (a) a PhD degree in relevant disciplines, plus several years of experience in research and teaching; (b) good publication records; (c) a good network to facilitate the development of high-level applied research collaborations/consultancy projects between PolyU and reputable institutions/organizations and industry; and (d) excellent communication skills and the ability to use English as the medium of instruction.

Remuneration and Conditions of ServiceA highly competitive remuneration package will be offered. Initial appointments will be on a fixed-term gratuity-bearing contract. Re-engagement thereafter is subject to mutual agreement. Applicants should state their current and expected salary in the application.

ApplicationPlease submit application form via email to [email protected]; by fax at (852) 2364 2166; or by mail to Human Resources Office, 13/F, Li Ka Shing Tower, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. If you would like to provide a separate curriculum vitae, please still complete the application form which will help speed up the recruitment process. Application forms can be obtained via the above channels or downloaded from http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hro/job.htm. Recruitment will continue until the positions are filled. Details of the University’s Personal Information Collection Statement for recruitment can be found at http://www.polyu.edu.hk/hro/jobpics.htm.

MIE magazine2.125 x 4.875 ”

Tenure-Track Faculty PositionsNew Jersey Institute of Technology

The Department of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering invites outstanding applicants for three (3) tenured/tenure-track faculty positions starting in August, 2012. All ranks willbe considered with appropriate levels of academic excel-lence and demonstrated research accomplishment. Successful candidates should have an earned Ph.D. degreein mechanical, industrial, or materials engineering or closely-related field and possess a strong enthusiasm and ability toteach broadly within the department. We are seeking out-standing candidates with strong research interests withproven research experience and scholarly accomplishment,in following areas: • Advanced Processes and Materials - applications in energetic materials, such as lithium and fuel-cell materials,biomedical devices, or nano-electronics/digital devices andhardware considered desirable. Posting # 0600805.• Environmentally Sustainable Production Systems - including innovative energy technologies, integrated thermodynamic-based energy storage systems, exergytechniques, and zero-waste production processes. Posting # 0600796.• Sustainable Engineering Management Systems - applications in energy management systems including eco-efficiency metrics, sustainability and value-chain man-agement, strategic decision support systems, and/or inno-vative smart grid management considered desirable.Posting # 0600804. Rank and salary will be commensurate with qualificationsand experience. Applications must be posted atwww.njit.jobs . Questions may be directed to Dr. Reggie J.Caudill; [email protected]. EOE/AA

NEW JERSEY INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGYUNIVERSITY HEIGHTS, NEWARK, NJ 07102-1982

Mech Eng profs 1_26_12:Layout 1 1/30/12 2:46 PM Page 1

certification process etc. Masters deg in Me-chanical Engg & 3 yrs’ exp in the dsgn & engg of subsea products such as ROV tools, bend stiffener connectors, subsea insulation systems & UTAs reqd. Familiarity w/ associated ANSI, ASME, AWS, API, ISO & DNV specs reqd. Mul-tiple positions open. Mail resumes to HR Mgr, Deepsea Technologies, Inc., 10811 Train Court, Houston, TX 77041.

The engineering DeparTmenT aT new mexico Tech is seeking applicants for a newly created, fulltime position of Engineering Educa-tion Specialist. Job duties will include re-design of freshman engineering courses, piloting new engineering courses and development of a new engineering lab. For a more detailed job descrip-tion & the application process please access our web page at http://www.nmt.edu/images/stories/hr/pdfs/specengedtraindev111-125.pdf

QualiTy engineer needed in Cleveland, Ohio, to monitor quality of manufacturing lines for auto-motive and other industries. Resumes: HR Dept., Triangle Machine Products, 6055 Hillcrest Dr., Cleveland, OH 44125. No calls. EOE.

mechanical engineer, linDen. Engineer installation of bldg systems, solutions for restora-tion projects. Coordinate repair of machinery and mechanical works. Review technical submittals. MS reqd. By mail: Landslovers Corp, 606 Knopf St., Linden, NJ 07036.

FaculTy posiTion mechanical engineering DeparTmenT VanDerbilT uniVersiTy The Department of Mechanical

Engineering at Vanderbilt University invites applications for a faculty position to begin in Fall 2012. Preference will be given to applicants at the Assistant Professor level, however applicants at higher ranks with exceptional records will also be considered. Applicants must hold a Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering or a closely related discipline. In particular, we seek applicants in the thermal/fluid sciences with research interests in bioMEMs/nano-biotechnology or advanced energy technologies. The successful candidate will be expected to build a strong, recognized,

externally-funded research program. The candidate should also have a marked interest in and talent for teaching in both the undergraduate (B.E.) and graduate (M.S. and Ph.D.) programs. Applications consisting of a cover letter, a complete curriculum vitae, statements of teaching and research interests, and the addresses of four references (include email address) should be submitted on-line at https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/1310. Vanderbilt University is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

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sit

ion

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pe

n FACULTY OPENING IN FLUID MECHANICS AND PROPULSION

The School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University invites applications for a tenure-track faculty position in the area of Fluid Mechanics and Propulsion. Both traditional and emerging research areas involving analytical, computational as well as experimental expertise are of interest. The search is focused on the broad topics of energy, power generation and bio-fluids. Candidates should hold a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field and have a distinguished academic record, exceptional potential for world-class research, and a commitment to both undergraduate and graduate education. Candidates at the Assistant/Associate Professor level are targeted, but exceptional candidates at higher rank will receive serious consideration.

All applications should be submitted through a single College of Engineering-wide web portal. For consideration, please complete the online form at https://engineering.purdue.edu/Engr/AboutUs/Employment/Applications, and submit in electronic form curriculum vitae, statement of research and teaching interests, and the names and contact information for at least three references. If you have difficulty submitting application to this website, please contact Ms. Marion Ragland at: [email protected]. Review of applications will begin January 1, 2012 and will continue until the positions are filled.

Established in 1882, the School of Mechanical Engineering is the oldest of Purdue’s engineering schools and has granted over 26,000 degrees. Through its past two centuries, the School has become synonymous with innovation and outstanding accomplishment in engineering research, education, and global engagement. Its students and faculty form a vibrant community of scholars who are recognized worldwide for their technical expertise and the impact of their work. In addition to supporting faculty expansion, the School’s fund raising has enabled: growth in endowed professorships, with 18 now committed; the newly opened LEED-certified $34.5M Roger B. Gatewood Wing of Mechanical Engineering, with substantial space dedicated to design research and education; $30M expansion of the Ray W. Herrick Laboratories; numerous endowed scholarships and fellowships; and various innovative programs including global engineering and nanotechnology. Its annual research expenditures and endowment/trust funds have grown rapidly to about $22M per year and over $80M, respectively.

Purdue University is located in West Lafayette, a welcoming and diverse community with a wide variety of cultures, excellent schools, plus ready accessibility to large metropolitan areas (the University is within two hours of downtown Chicago and within one hour of downtown Indianapolis).

A background check will be required for employment in this position.

Purdue University is an equal opportunity/equal access/affirmative action employer fully committed to achieving a diverse workforce.


Mechanical Engineering MagazineIssue: MarchDeadline: TodaySize: 1/4 pg (3.38 x 4.88)Display Ad: $2,440.00

FACULTY POSITION IN DESIGN SCIENCEThe Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering seeks an outstandingindividual for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in the emergingfield of design science. Appointment at higher rank is possible in exceptional cases.Candidates discovering the principles, methods and tools for the design of complexengineered products, systems, and processes are of particular interest. Candidateswith a strong interdisciplinary perspective are encouraged to apply. This perspectivecould integrate research from such areas as virtual reality and 3D modeling;computational geometry; information technology; economics; behavioral, social, andcognitive sciences; and/or bio-sciences. While a strong design science background isnecessary, applications areas are expected to be broad and could include the breadthof engineering and systems design activities, including for example; sustainability;large-scale systems design; design for advanced manufacturing; innovative productdesign; reconfigurable, multifunctional, adaptable systems; and bio-inspired design. Applicants with original and creative visions of research will be given highpriority. The successful candidate will be expected to develop an independent,externally-funded, internationally-recognized research program, teach graduate-and undergraduate-level courses, develop new specialized courses, supervisegraduate research and contribute to departmental affairs.The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Buffalo is the largest andmost comprehensive of the SUNY engineering schools. The Department ofMechanical and Aerospace Engineering currently has 29 full-time faculty and isexpected to grow significantly over the next five years.Applicants must have an earned doctorate in Mechanical or AerospaceEngineering or in a relevant science or engineering discipline with a dissertationon the representative department research areas. Applicants should submit acurriculum vitae, an integrated teaching and research plan (not to exceed threepages), and names of at least three references via the UBJobs system, athttp://www.ubjobs.buffalo.edu, referencing posting number 1200074.Reviews will begin as soon as applications are received and the position willremain open until filled.

Women and other underrepresented minorities are especially encouraged to apply.The University at Buffalo is an Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Employer.

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POSITION AVAILABLE:Senior Scientist and Technical Expert for Computational Structural Acoustics

ST-0830, $119,554 to $165,300 per annumServes as the senior technical/scientific expert at NSWC PCD in computational structural acoustics as it relates to 3-D complex acoustic scattering from realistic objects in challenging environments. Responsible for leading, developing, coordinating, directing, and conducting R&D programs within the DoD community in the area of computational structural acoustics involving methods such as finite-element techniques or other computational techniques suitable for problems involving complex geometries, with emphasis on concept development, technology advancement, and Fleet evaluation of technology. Provides vision to formulate and devise investment plans, strategies, and programs for new DoD research and development. Pursues innovative research of novel computational techniques that provide significant advances to the field. Provides technical oversight to highly-motivated research teams in the development of 3-D high-fidelity, high speed computer simulations that accurately predict acoustic signatures of realistic objects in challenging environments. This position offers a unique potential to advance the state-of-the-art in the field of computational structural acoustics, with opportunities to develop massively parallel computing techniques that accelerate memory-intensive computations associated with the prediction of complicated target scattering signatures. These new techniques will be essential in the development of the next generation of sensors systems. To address future challenges, the selectee will have the opportunity to work with government agencies, academia, and industry to extend these techniques to new application areas. Applicants should be recognized as national/international authorities in computational acoustics/mechanics and have demonstrated scientific vision and leadership skills needed to develop and successfully execute long-term programs.

U.S. citizenship is required. The selectee must obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance for this position.

Vacancy information with application instruction is available at www.usajobs.gov, enter announcement number: NW20830-00-596472M9259522-S. Announcement dates: March 1- March 30, 2012.If you need further information please contact Dawn Hilty at [email protected].

.NAVY IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER

NAVAL SURFACE WARFARE CENTER, PANAMA CITY DIVISION (NSWC PCD)

Tenure/Tenure Track Faculty Position in Sensorimotor Neural Engineeringto support new National Science Foundation

Engineering Research Center at San Diego State UniversityThe College of Engineering at San Diego State University invites applications for a full-time tenure/tenure track faculty position starting in August 2012. The search is open to all academic ranks. For senior-level tenured appointments, a strong record of scholarly research and significant prior external funding is required. Appointment rank and salary are commensurate with qualifications. The new faculty member in the College of Engineering will be expected to have a research background and plan that integrates cross-disciplinary activities and efforts within the new Engineering Research Center (ERC). Qualifications include a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Biomedical Engineering or closely related area with a research focus associated with bioinstrumentation, robotics, rehabilitation, interface devices and techniques, or termed sensorimotor neural engineering. Candidates must be capable of teaching within the existing Mechanical or Electrical Engineering curriculum. Prior research experience in a medical setting would be desirable. Practical/experimental expertises are highly desired – this would be evident by specific prior experience. For example, an ability to design and build new sensory systems to enable artificial limb articulation using brain-based wireless signals. Furthermore, the successful candidate is expected to lead and/or participate in major research proposals involving several faculty members. Screening of applications will begin immediately and will continue until the position is filled. Interested candidates should send hard copies of complete curriculum vitae, statements of research, teaching goals which include a vision of integrated activities within the center (Email applications will not be accepted) and the names and addresses of three references to:

Dr. Kee S. Moon, Search Committee ChairDepartment of Mechanical EngineeringCollege of EngineeringSan Diego State UniversitySan Diego, CA 92182-1323(619) [email protected]

SDSU is an equal opportunity employer and does not discriminate against persons on the basis of race, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and expression,

marital status, age, disability, pregnancy, medical condition, or covered veteran status.

posopps0312.indd 60 2/6/12 11:41 AM

Get free information by phone, fax, e -mail, or mail.For free literature or to purchase products, call the numbers below; circle the reader service numbers on the postage-paid Product Information Card following page 48 and mail it; or go to www.memagazine.org and click MechLink.

reaDerCompany paGe SerViCe no. Web Site phone

ASME ICONE Power 2012 62 www.asmeconferences.org/Icone20Power2012

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complete CV should be addressed to Dr. SamuelGazit, Search Committee, Department of Me-chanical Engineering, Braude College, POB 78,Kermiel, Israel, [email protected].

THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA, DE-PARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEER-ING, is accepting applications for faculty posi-tions at the Instructor, Assistant, Associate, andFull Professor levels. Applicants must possess aPh.D. in Mechanical Engineering or closely relat-ed field. Preference will be given to candidateswith expertise in areas that fill current needs inthe department (fuel cells, photovoltaic power,heat transfer, nuclear engineering, and biomedi-cal engineering), but outstanding applicants inother areas will be given full consideration. Nom-inations or applications should be submitted bye-mail to [email protected]. Applicationpackages, in the form of a single PDF document,should include 1) vitae, 2) statement of researchplans, 3) statement of teaching interests, and 4)contact information for three references. The se-lection process will begin on October 1, 2008,and will continue until the positions are filled.The University of South Carolina is an Equal Op-portunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. Minori-ties and women are encouraged to apply.

FACULTY POSITIONS, MECHANICAL ENGI-NEERING DEPARTMENT, VANDERBILT UNI-VERSITY. The Department of Mechanical En-gineering at Vanderbilt University invites appli-cations for one or more faculty positions to beginFall 2009. Applications will be considered for po-sitions at all ranks commensurate with qualifi-cations. Applicants must possess a Ph.D. in Me-chanical Engineering or closely related disci-pline, and have expertise and research intereststhat are synergistic with existing research areasin the department, including combustion, mi-crofluidics, nanotechnology, mechatronics,portable power, and robotics. Successful candi-dates will be expected to build a strong, external-ly funded research program and make a signifi-cant contribution to the department’s researchactivities. The candidate should also have amarked interest in and talent for teaching in boththe undergraduate (B.E.) and graduate (M.S. andPh.D.) programs. Vanderbilt University is rankedamong the top 20 universities in the nation. TheDepartment of Mechanical Engineering offersB.E., M.E., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees and has astudent body of about 265 undergraduates and40 Ph.D. students. Applications consisting of acover letter, a complete curriculum vitae, state-ments of teaching and research interests, andthe addresses of four references (include e-mailaddress) should be sent to Professor R.W. Pitz,Chair, Search Committee, Department of Me-chanical Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Box1592, Station B, Nashville, TN 37235-1592 (orpreferably send electronically to: [email protected]). Vanderbilt University is anAffirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.Women and minorities are encouraged to apply.

POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCH ASSOCIATEPOSITION AT THE ADAPTIVE INTELLIGENTMATERIALS AND SYSTEMS (AIMS) CENTER.The Adaptive Intelligent Materials and SystemsCenter (http://aims.asu.edu) of Arizona StateUniversity, Tempe, Arizona, has an opening for apostdoctoral candidate with a strong backgroundin one or more of the following areas: Adaptivestructures and intelligent systems, structuralhealth monitoring/damage prognosis, multifunc-tional materials, autonomous systems, and infor-mation management and sensor design. Quali-fied candidates must have earned a Ph.D. inMechanical or Aerospace Engineering or a relat-ed field. The position involves interacting withfaculty from various departments. Experience inproposal writing and the ability to work in multi-disciplinary areas are desirable. Review of appli-cations will commence immediately and continueuntil the position is filled. E-mail complete curricu-lum vitae and three references (including e-mailaddresses) to: [email protected].

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asmenews Compiled from ASME Public Information dispatches.

Task Force Examines Nuclear Power

ASME Advocates Protecting Intellectual Property RightsIn the ongoing discussion over public access to federally funded research, ASME President Victoria Rockwell sent a letter in January to the Office of Science and Technology Policy expressing concern that researchers’ rights could be jeopardized.

“ASME endorses the principle of providing public access and enhanc-ing dissemination of federally funded research results in ways that advance public safety and welfare, and improve the quality of life throughout the world,” Rockwell wrote. “In so doing, ASME is resolute on our position that it is critical to protect the authors’ rights to their intellectual property, as well as the critical functions of peer review.”

Rockwell sent the letter in response to the OSTP’s request for information which appeared in the December 23 edition of the Federal Register.

The request for information pro-vided the opportunity to recommend approaches for ensuring long-term stewardship and broad public access to the peer reviewed scholarly publica-tions resulting from federally funded scientific research.

In the letter, Rockwell expressed

ASME’s opposition to government mandates requiring that private-sector scholarly publications be made avail-able online without authorization and compensation. Rockwell also cautioned the OSTP not to establish mandates that undermine intellectual property rights without full, voluntary rights-holder authorization, IP rights protec-

tion, and compensation. The letter stated that ASME recom-

mends that OSTP carefully review all approaches and consider the economic implications of public access models.

Rockwell’s letter is archived at http://www.asme.org/about-asme/advocacy-government-relations/position-statements.

ASME has changed the name of its customer service call center to Customer Care.

Operating out of the ASME service center in Fairfield, N.J., Customer Care, formerly known as Information Central, will continue to provide call-ers worldwide with information about ASME’s products and services. The new name, ASME said, reflects a com-mitment to enhancing the customer’s experience.

Customer Care will provide infor-mation on ASME meetings, confer-ences, and training opportunities, and will field inquiries related to ASME’s

portfolio of products, services and membership benefits, as well as general inquiries about the society. The service will also accept orders for publications, journals, or codes and standards.

Representatives will answer phone calls promptly and respond to e-mail inquiries within 48 hours. The toll-free phone number for Customer Care remains (800) THE-ASME (800-843-2763). Operation hours Monday through Friday are 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. E-mail inquiries to Customer Care can be sent to [email protected].

ASME INTRODUCES CUSTOMER CARE

In response to the March 11, 2011, earthquake and tsunami that affected several nuclear power stations in Japan, ASME President Victoria Rockwell has formed a task force to provide a high-level, neutral forum for sharing the latest

available perspectives and summary of actions being under-taken.

The 15-member task force is led by Nils Diaz, former chair-man of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Regis Matzie, former senior vice president and chief technology officer of Westinghouse Electric Corp.

The task force will assess over 50 years of nuclear power reactor experience and will make recommendations on how to deal with events that exceed the design basis of those plants. In addition to studying incidents that occurred at Fukushima Daiichi, Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, and Windscale, the task force will address other events—such as tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods—that could potentially initiate other beyond-design-basis challenges.

The task force has met with and received briefings from the senior leadership of various nuclear stakeholder groups, including the Nuclear Energy Institute, the U.S. Nuclear Reg-ulatory Commission, the Institute of Nuclear Power Opera-tions, and the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers. ASME also solicited and received input from the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental action organization.

A key objective of the task force is to develop a report exam-ining the evolution of commercial nuclear power and recom-mending steps to enhance the safe deployment and operation of current and new nuclear power plants. The report will be available to industry stakeholders, policy makers, and the general public. To provide as wide an audience as possible, it is anticipated that the conclusions and guidance developed in the report will be disseminated in a spectrum of media, ranging from interactive public workshops and congressional briefings to summary white papers and a technical report.

The report is expected to be issued before the end of summer.

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uring the two years that JT Nesbitt spent building his car by hand, the only new tech-nology he used was in the two fuel tanks that hold compressed natural gas.

“Otherwise, there’s nothing on this car that couldn’t have been built 100 years ago,” said Nesbitt, an industrial designer and owner of Bienville Studios, a design studio in New

Orleans’s French Quarter. “And yet it’s cleaner than the cleanest car rolling offline in Detroit or Tokyo right now.”

The car in question is the Magnolia Special, a chrome-and-black modern-day version of the sleek and stylish Grand-Prix-style roadsters featured in movies like The Great Race.

It has a cigar shape, open-to-the-air scooped-out driving compart-ment, and half-size windshield. But while those early 20th century cars ran on gasoline, the Magnolia Special is powered by compressed natural gas, or CNG, contained within the two special-ized tanks that ride aboard.

“I had a bit of a windfall and decided I wanted to do something clean,” Nesbitt said. “I’d done vehicles before, but I wanted to do something environmen-tally friendly and economically friendly and socially that had impact.”

Natural gas burns clean, is cheap to pump, and can be sourced in the United States. To demonstrate that CNG automobiles can travel long distances, he and copilot Max Materne drove the Magnolia Special from New York to Los Angeles last fall.

Nesbitt and Materne made the trip in 89 hours. That’s one day longer than anticipated, due to a few setbacks. For one, they had a hard time getting sleep, even when exchanging

driving duty, and a 24-hour gas station in North Carolina where they’d planned to refuel wasn’t open as advertised.

“Overall, the trip itself was remarkably trouble-free,” Nes-bitt said. “I thought the copilot would be able to sleep, but we lost 12 hours pulling off the side of the road to rest. I thought we’d put a neck collar on and sleep inside of the helmet, but it didn’t work out that way. Lesson learned.”

The coast-to-coast journey was the longest continuous trip made at a reasonable clip in an alternative energy vehicle, Nesbitt said.

“It has been done on CNG by one other guy, but he was on a vacation and took a month to take the cross-country trip,” he said. “It’s safe to say this is a record-establishing run.”

Part of that is due to the special features of the Magnolia Special, which was designed to run on CNG with a range of more than 600 miles before refill.

“In a CNG conversion of a normal passenger vehicle, you’ll find your range is under 200 miles because of the storage issue,” he said.

The automobile is a testament to Nesbitt’s strong feelings about mechanical design and the future of design and energy. He steered away from the computerized and the digitized and the highest technology when designing the Magnolia Special.

“When you spend money on mechanical, that’s a safer investment because mechanical things can be heirloom qual-ity, which give them permanence,” Nesbitt said. “Electronic

and digital things are never high qual-ity. They’re always disposable.”

Nesbitt first sketched designs in 2008 and soon chose an engine based on the Jaguar 4.2-liter inline-six.

CNG requires bulk-ier tanks than those designed for gaso-line. Nesbitt incor-porated the tanks into the automobile’s

structure to add strength to the aluminum body. A steel cage surrounds the passenger compartment for safety and alumi-num covers the underside for aerodynamic efficiency.

For the Magnolia Special’s lightweight, nostalgic body, he called upon the superleggera chassis construction system, wherein a structural framework of small-diameter tubes is covered by thin alloy body panels.

After it all came together, Nesbitt studied the locations of CNG refueling stations and believed his vehicle was ready for a cross-country trip. He proved correct.

Jean Thilmany

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io0312.indd 64 2/5/12 7:41 PM

ASME Verification andValidation Symposium

REGISTER NOW!

asmeconferences.org/VVS2012

Ground-breaking event

Cross-disciplinary approach

ANNOUNCING the first large-scale symposium dedicated entirelyto Verification, Validation, and Uncertainty Quantification of computer simulations. If you’re passionate about this emergingmethodology, then this is the event you’ve been waiting for!

WHO SHOULD ATTEND:• Aerospace engineering • Materials science & engineering• Automotive engineering • Mechanical engineering• Atmospheric & earth science • Medical device design / analysis• Civil engineering • Nuclear power system design• Defense applications • Solid mechanics• Fluid & thermal mechanics • Space science & astrophysics• High-energy density physics • Structural dynamics

May 2 - 4, 2012 Planet Hollywood Resort Las Vegas, Nevada USA

JOIN published technical experts from: General Motors, ANSYS,Southwest Research Institute, Federal Aviation Administration, U. of Alabama Huntsville, The Boeing Co., Simulia, Los Alamos National Laboratory, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, TexasA&M, Westinghouse, Exponent, Sandia National Laboratory, U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Medtronic, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Boston Scientific , U. of Tokyo, and more.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS:• Dr. Arthur G. Erdman, U. of Minnesota• Dr. Douglas B. Kothe, Oak Ridge National Laboratory• Dr. William L. Oberkampf, Consultant• Dr. Patrick J. Roache, Consultant

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