Engineering fundamentals

Engineering applies mathematical, scientific and technological skills to design, produce and maintain products, structures and systems, aiming for outcomes that are cost-effective, reliable, safe and environmentally sustainable. The range of work is wide.

Civil engineers design, plan and oversee the construction of roads, bridges, dams, pipelines and water supply and sewerage systems; mechanical engineers design and oversee the construction, operation and maintenance of mechanical and process plant; electrical engineers design and supervise equipment and systems for generating, distributing, using and controlling electric power; chemical engineers design chemical process systems and commercial-scale chemical plants. Aeronautical, biomedical, environmental and mining engineering are further fields.

Engineers decide construction methods, materials and quality standards, prepare and interpret drawings and specifications, and organise work on site, so the job ranges from design to project management.

The materials available have always limited what engineers could build. Copper was the first metal to be worked into objects, and alloying it with tin gave bronze and the Bronze Age. Roman engineers built aqueducts and the unreinforced concrete dome of the Pantheon with a concrete made from lime and volcanic ash.

At the start of the Industrial Revolution, smelting iron with coke (Abraham Darby, Coalbrookdale, 1709) made mass-produced cast iron economical; the Iron Bridge nearby, completed in 1779 and opened in 1781, was the world's first iron bridge. Cast iron has high compressive strength, which suits an arch, but it is brittle, so it is a poor choice for members that are stretched or bent.

The Bessemer process, patented in the 1850s, was the first inexpensive way to mass-produce steel, which is far less brittle. Aluminium became a commercial metal after Hall and Héroult independently developed a production process in 1886, Bakelite, the first fully synthetic plastic, followed in 1907, and the discovery of the transistor effect earned the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics.

In Australia the steel arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) and the Snowy Mountains Scheme (built 1949 to 1974) reshaped transport and energy supply.

Innovation changes everyday life: the seven power stations of the Snowy Scheme generate electricity for the national market, the Harbour Bridge became a key part of Sydney's transport system, and Bakelite objects such as telephones and radios changed what people used every day. Each change also has costs, such as pollution and the extraction of raw materials, so engineers must weigh benefits against impacts.

Research methods. Engineers gather primary information (tests, measurements, surveys, interviews, site visits) and secondary information (texts, Australian Standards, journals, manufacturers' data sheets, reliable websites and databases). Sources are judged for authority, currency and bias and are recorded for referencing. Collaborative work needs agreed roles, a schedule such as a Gantt chart, shared digital files and regular meetings; a team pools skills, shares workload and catches errors.

An Engineering Report supports management, communication, decision-making and teamwork by bringing together the elements relevant to a project; a Year 11 report may include an introduction to its purpose, appropriate research, analysis or synthesis of related issues, conclusions and/or recommendations, and references.