Engineering Studies: should I choose it?

Engineering fundamentals

Engineered products

Braking systems

Biomedical engineering

Civil structures

Bridges, buildings, dams, cranes and playgrounds: their history, materials over time, and social and environmental impact, including recycling when structures are replaced. Engineering mechanics: pin-jointed truss analysis by the method of joints, method of sections and graphical methods; shear force and bending moment diagrams for simply supported beams with point loads, neutral axis and bending stress σ = My/I; the effect of uniformly distributed loads (no calculation); stress and strain, the stress/strain diagram, Young’s modulus, yield and proof stress, toughness and factor of safety. Materials: X-ray and concrete testing, crack theory, glass, cement and bricks, composites (timber, reinforced, pre-tensioned and post-tensioned concrete, asphalt, laminates, geotextiles) and corrosion protection.

Personal and public transport

Bicycles, cars, buses, trucks, trains and trams: history, design features and environmental impact of transport energy and materials. Mechanics: mechanical advantage, velocity ratio and efficiency; static friction, angle of friction and angle of repose; work, kinetic and potential energy and power. Materials: hardness and impact testing; annealing, normalising, hardening and tempering of steels and the resulting microstructures; forging, rolling, casting, extrusion, powder forming and welding; non-ferrous alloys and solid solution hardening; toughened and laminated glass; thermosoftening polymers, textiles, extrusion, injection and blow moulding. Electricity: generation and distribution, simple circuits, electric motors and speed control, control technology and electrical safety.

Aeronautical engineering

The aeronautical engineering profession — its scope, projects, safety, training, careers, ethics and the engineer as manager — and the history of flight in Australia and its environmental effects. Flight mechanics: lift, weight, thrust and drag, lift to drag ratio, angle of attack and stall; Bernoulli’s principle and the venturi effect; bending stress in airframes; piston, turboprop, turbofan, ramjet, scramjet and rocket propulsion; Pascal’s principle, hydrostatic and dynamic pressure, the altimeter and pitot tube. Materials: non-destructive testing (dye penetrant, X-ray and gamma ray, magnetic particle, ultrasonic), aluminium alloys and age hardening, thermosetting polymers and lay-up and compression moulding, composites including Kevlar, carbon fibre and Fibre Metal Laminate, and corrosion in airframes.

Telecommunications engineering

The telecommunications profession — scope, WHS, careers, ethics, privacy and security — and the history of the industry, including black-and-white and colour cathode ray television. Materials: voltage, current, insulation and signal-strength testing; copper beryllium, brass and electrolytic tough pitched copper; semiconductors such as transistors, zener diodes, LEDs and laser diodes; insulating polymers and fibre optics. Electronics: analogue and digital systems, modulation and demodulation, AM, FM and digital radio, digital television and display media, fixed and mobile telephony, transmission media and the electromagnetic spectrum, geostationary and low Earth orbit satellites and GPS, and AND, NAND, OR and NOR logic gates.

Engineering communication and reports

Drawing to Australian Standard AS 1100: third-angle orthogonal views, line types and dimensioning, assembly drawings and sectional views; freehand, pictorial and isometric sketching; developments of transition pieces; graphical solutions to mechanics and aerodynamic problems; CAD as a communication and problem-solving tool. In each HSC course a student writes two Engineering Reports (one from an application module, one from a focus module), one of them collaboratively.