Today let’s take a look at another popular major besides CS and EE-ME, mechanical engineering.
Table of Contents:
- What is mechanical engineering
- University Curriculum
- High school curriculum recommendation
- Employment direction
Mechanical Engineering is a discipline that applies engineering, physics, engineering mathematics, materials science, and other natural sciences and theoretical foundations to design, analyze, manufacture, and maintain mechanical systems.
Mechanical engineering is a very old discipline involving a very wide range of subjects. Today, Primary One will introduce you to the five branch disciplines and nine research fields of the American ME major.
Branch
Mechanics
Mechanics is the study of force and its effect on matter. Generally, engineering mechanics is used to analyze and predict the acceleration and deformation (including elasticity and plasticity) of an object under a known force (also called load) or pressure.
The branches of mechanics include: statics, dynamics, material mechanics, fluid mechanics, and continuum mechanics.
Mechatronics and robots
This is a branch discipline that has studied mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software engineering. Use motors, servos, electrical systems, and specific software to automate machinery.
Structural analysis
Calculate the proportion of each component of an economic indicator to the whole, analyze the changes in its content, and grasp the characteristics of things and the statistical analysis methods of change trends from structural analysis.
Thermodynamics
Thermodynamics is mainly to study the thermal properties of substances from the perspective of energy conversion. It prompts the macroscopic laws followed when energy is converted from one form to another, and summarizes the thermal theory derived from the macroscopic phenomena of substances.
Mechanical Design
Mechanical design is an important part of mechanical engineering, the first step in mechanical production, and the most important factor in determining mechanical performance. The goal of mechanical design is to design the best machinery under various limited conditions (such as materials, processing capabilities, theoretical knowledge, and calculation methods, etc.), that is, to make an optimal design.
Research areas
Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS)
Use cases for MEMS components include: sensors for automotive airbags, gyroscopes for precise positioning, and microfluidic devices used in the biomedical field.
Friction stir welding (FSW)
Invented in 1991, it is a new solid-state (non-fusion) welding technology, which is the legendary advanced welding technology! Specially welding space shuttles, launch vehicles, etc.
Composite material
A new material designed and manufactured according to needs and optimized by combining material components with different properties. To put it bluntly, the properties of the original materials do not match the needs of the project, so a new and more suitable material is created in various combinations.
Mechatronics
This is another interdisciplinary field, covering mechanical engineering, electronic engineering and software engineering. From the perspective of engineering to study automation, and then study how to control advanced hybrid systems.
Nanotechnology
Investigate the properties and applications of materials with structure sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers.
Finite Element Analysis (FEA)
This word feels very unconscious, so let’s look at the explanation of the encyclopedia entry directly:
Simulate real physical systems (geometry and load conditions) using mathematical approximations. Using simple and interacting elements (ie units), a finite number of unknowns can be used to approximate an infinite unknown real system.
Biology
It is to use mechanical principles and research methods to quantitatively analyze the mechanical problems in living organisms. It can also be used to study artificial limbs, artificial organs, etc.
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)
The computer is used as a tool to apply discrete mathematical methods to conduct numerical experiments, computer simulations, and analytical studies on various types of fluid mechanics problems to solve various practical problems.
Acoustic Engineering
Acoustic engineering is the study of sound and vibration. Acoustic engineers effectively reduce noise pollution of mechanical devices by sound insulation or eliminating unnecessary sources of noise.
Acoustic research can be used to design more effective hearing aids, microphones, headphones, or studio equipment. At the same time, acoustic engineering also involves the vibration of different mechanical systems.
