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Regulations & Codes - Fields Compendium Search - Compendium Preface Aerospace Aerospace engineering is the art and science of designing and building flying machines. It is a multidisciplinary field in which specialists work together as a team, each contributing knowledge and skill to make flight possible. Specialists include:
The machine may fly through the earth’s atmosphere, in which case it is known as a glider, sailplane, aeroplane, airplane, or aircraft. It may fly beyond the atmosphere, powered by a rocket into orbit around the earth as an artificial satellite, or on longer journeys, in which case it is known as a spacecraft. – Cameron Smart, Denys Pinfold Bio Bioengineering is broad in description, but generally involves applying the wide spectrum of engineering disciplines (as well as physical sciences) to raw materials; to produce higher value products, using biological systems, (biological catalysts). The description also encompasses the general application of engineering to biological systems to develop new products or solve problems in existing production processes. As examples, bioengineers are found in medical research, genetic science, fermentation industries and industries treating biological wastes. – Ross Mockett, Cameron Smart Building Services Building Services Engineering works across the whole spectrum of industries that exist to service buildings, from the design and installation of systems to the manufacture of equipment and components. Light, heating, water, lifts and ventilation - everything that makes buildings safe and comfortable for the people who use them - are planned, designed and monitored by building services engineers. Buildings use up to 50% of world energy use and produce up to 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. Building services engineers are responsible for ensuring that the systems designed are sustainable: not only should they be energy efficient but also cost-effective throughout their life-cycle. Building Services directly influence our day-to-day quality of life. They dictate the comfort, functionality, health and safety of the buildings we use every day. Building services are what make a building come to life. Building services include:
The practice field of Building Services encompasses many aspects of other practice fields, including Electrical, Mechanical, Fire, Information, and Management. – Keith Johnstone Chemical Chemical engineering applies chemical, biochemical and physical sciences, mathematics and engineering principles to the conversion of raw materials and chemicals in to more useful products (and often novel products) in a safe and cost effective way; as well as refining or improving the efficiency of existing process systems. Extensive use is made of energy and mass balances as well as detailed materials knowledge. Chemical engineers require knowledge in the areas of thermodynamics, reaction engineering, heat transfer, mass transfer, fluid mechanics, materials science and process control. Chemicals engineers work across many sectors including chemicals, pharmaceuticals, energy, water, food & beverages, materials and metals, oil & gas, resources, biotechnology, environmental, business management and consulting. – Ross Mockett, Don Bell Civil Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the analysis, design, construction and maintenance of the physical built environment. It also addresses the interface between the built environment and the natural environment. It is about creating, improving and protecting the environment in which we live. Works include items such as:
Civil engineering has traditionally encompassed a broad range of technical fields including Public Health Engineering, Structural, Transportation, Geotechnical. We tend more recently to look at these as specialties in their own right. Some typical tasks might include:
– Bill Darnell, Brian Worboys Electrical Electrical engineering is that branch of engineering which deals with the practical application of electricity in its various forms including power, control systems, electronics and telecommunications. Many aspects, although not all, of the sub categories of electronics and telecommunications are often classified as electronic and communication engineering respectively and are usually concerned with using electricity to transmit information rather than energy. For the purposes of this definition it will be assumed that these two latter sub categories lie outside the IPENZ category of electrical engineering. Power engineering deals with the planning, design, operation and maintenance of electricity generation, transmission and distribution networks/installations including substations and the range of devices and equipment involved. This equipment includes transformers, generators, motors, power electronic convertors, circuit breakers, voltage regulators, reactive support devices, electric lines and cables, earthing installations and clamps and fittings. It also deals with the studies on network capacity, load flows, stability, reliability, equipment loadings etc and the methodologies for monitoring and controlling these dynamics within acceptable limits under both normal and anticipated fault conditions. Power engineering also deals with many aspects of planning, design, operation and maintenance of electricity distribution and use within major buildings, industrial processing complexes, sporting arenas, airports, harbours, ships and electric transport systems. It includes the associated networks and some of the equipment involved such as switchboards, cabling, overhead lines/catenaries, lighting, and earthing. Control and Instrumentation engineering deals with a very diverse range of equipment and dynamic system requirements. It includes the design of monitoring, measuring and control devices to achieve the desired behaviour from these systems. Some of these are associated with power engineering e.g. the power network and equipment monitoring, protection and control circuits and devices while others are associated with vehicles (e.g. trains, planes, buses and trucks) while still others are associated with industrial, commercial or medical machines or processes. Many of the devices used in these systems may be electronic and the communication protocols used computer based and hence there is an overlap with the electronic, computer and telecommunications fields of engineering. However the design of the required functionality would relate to the primary system/equipment design. The generic skills of engineering such as project management, people management, communication, economic analysis of project, liaising with interested parties, report compiling etc also apply. – Kevin Mackey Environmental Environmental engineering is the application of science and engineering principles to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, to remediate polluted sites, and to improve the environment (air, water, and/or land resources). Environmental engineering activities will include:
Environmental engineering is concerned with devising, implementing and managing solutions to protect and restore the environment, within an overall framework of sustainable development. The role of the environmental engineer embraces all of the air, water and soil environments, and the interactions between them. Environmental engineers work closely with all types of industries and a range of other environmental professionals as well as the community. Their skills might be used to provide clean water supplies, reduce catchment soil erosion and salinity, develop and implement cleaner production technologies to minimise industrial pollution, recycle waste materials into new products, develop or rehabilitate landfill sites, design waste management systems, develop and improve efficiencies in transport systems or assist in assessing products or processes or designing new products which reduce impact on the environment. The discipline involves developing effective solutions employing wide-ranging engineering knowledge and skills, not in isolation but in consultation with other professionals and the community, and in full recognition of all the social, legal and economic ramifications. While traditional engineering skills of design, construction and management remain essential components of this discipline, the focus of this branch of engineering is to ensure that such activities are carried out in a manner that minimises or eliminates adverse impact on the environment, and are socially, economically and ecologically sustainable. – Bill Darnell, Carol Boyle Fire In Hot Topics, the IPENZ task force on fire engineering described fire engineering design as being similar to any other engineering discipline, in that it compares design action with design capacity. Fire engineering design includes but is not limited to considering:
Geotechnical Geotechnical engineering is the branch of engineering that is concerned with the engineering behaviour of earth materials including stability and strength and groundwater. It is the practical application of principles, concepts and techniques to provide sustainable engineered solutions to human needs. It covers many types of engineering features such as:
The work of a geotechnical engineer will include:
– Bill Darnell Industrial Industrial Engineering is the field in which production processes are designed and implemented. The machine design scope ranges from instructions on the very detailed operation of a single machine tool, through groups of machines performing successive operations on a single part, to mechanised and perhaps automated production and assembly lines. Human factors engineering of ergonomics, work study, industrial psychology, and industrial relations are as important as the machine design. Statistical quality control is an important part of implementing a production process. The specialised areas of robotics, mechatronics, and artificial intelligence have emerged and are expected to increase in importance. These specialisations draw on the older disciplines of structural members, moving mechanical joints, hydraulic, pneumatic or electrical “muscle”, electronic control systems, and artificial vision or tactile sensing with electronic feedback control. The systems are increasing in their abilities to detect and repair their own faults, and to “learn” how to perform their tasks without human intervention. – Cameron Smart Information
– Duncan Hall Management Management engineering, previously known as business engineering, is described in engineering dimension number 11 [December 2002] as follows:
It was concluded that these two strands merge, particularly in firms that have a strong innovation focus, i.e. the ideal position for all New Zealand businesses and the objective of much of the public policy effort in industry development. This presents an unparalleled opportunity for the engineering profession to reposition itself as being the managers of choice in the new knowledge-based economy. The Task Force has identified pathways to becoming a business engineer and the expected competencies of a business engineer, and has developed profiles of the typical roles and careers of business engineers. Now that the Chartered Professional Engineer competence standards have been approved the Task Force will resume meeting to help write the guideline documents for the competence assessment of business engineers. The business engineer has been included as a valid practice area for the Chartered Professional Engineers register and the International Professional Engineer Register. – Duncan Hall Mechanical Mechanical engineering is the art and science required to design and construct devices that usually feature rotating parts. Some of the rotating parts are levers which turn through arcs, while others such as wheels and shafts spin through many revolutions during each period of duty. Rotating shafts may be part of a machine which converts energy from one form to another. Energy conversion machines may be
Rotating parts may also be parts of road or rail vehicles, airplanes, and ships. Mechanical engineers calculate stresses and devise shapes to ensure the parts do not break, deflections to ensure they maintain their shape, and vibrations to ensure the machines run smoothly. – Cameron Smart Mining Mining engineers plan and direct the various engineering aspects of extracting minerals from the earth.They prepare initial plans for the type, size, location and construction of open pit or underground mines. Mining engineering activities will include:
Mining engineers have a wide variety of skills including: surveying, geology, rock mechanics, ground control, resource evaluation, economics and management. – John StGeorge Petroleum Petroleum Engineering relates to oil and gas exploration and production. The activities are divided into two broad categories:
Petroleum engineers have a good knowledge of earth sciences and geology as well as engineering. – Tiina Hall-Turner Structural Structural Engineering relates to the design and construction of structures. Structures can be considered as falling into two general categories; buildings (houses, commercial buildings, factories, hospitals etc) and civil structures (bridges, chimneys, retaining walls etc). The prime function of the structural engineer is to combine a fundamental knowledge of engineering principles with an understanding of the properties and behaviour of materials to ensure that structures are safe, functional and durable. In order to be safe a structure needs to be able to resist the environmental loads that will or might occur during its expected life. Some loads such as self weight and contents are universally applicable whereas others are regional: wind, snow and seismic for example. For New Zealand engineers the potential seismic effects are significant and for many structures can dominate the design process. Functionality requires that excessive deflections, vibration etc do not detract from the use of the structure. Structural engineers are invariably part of a team and as such need to communicate with other members. This communication can be by attendance at meetings, written correspondence, specifications, drawings and/or sketches. In most instances the structural engineer will be required to undertake calculations to substantiate his advice. While structural engineering includes the construction of structures the physical works are undertaken by others and usually not under the direct control of the design engineer. Design engineers usually have a role in observing the works to establish that they are generally being undertaken in accordance with their design. The key steps in a structural project are:
The structural analysis process can be a significant aspect of the work and is frequently undertaken by the use of computers. – Geoff Sidwell Transportation Transportation engineering relates to the movement of goods and people; major types of transportation in New Zealand are roads, water, rail and air. Transportation Engineers apply engineering principles and fundamentals to improve the transportation system, including analysing, planning, designing, constructing, operating, maintaining, rehabilitating and managing transportation systems A Transportation engineer might specialise in or more of: road, airport or port pavement design, maintenance and/or asset management, material properties, geometric design, construction/project management, traffic operations and control, transportation planning and systems analysis, freight transportation and logistics, vehicular traffic science and travel behaviour dynamics, traffic management technology, road safety, railways and public transport systems. Typical tasks would include research and development, determining horizontal and vertical alignment design for roads, rail station location and design, construction cost estimating, assessing impacts and demands of aircraft in the design of airport facilities. For example, pavement/roading engineers apply engineering techniques to design and maintain flexible (asphalt) and rigid (concrete) pavements, which involves knowledge of soils, hydraulics, and material properties. All facets of transportation engineering regularly involves planning, scheduling and organising projects to deliver specified outcomes, applying appropriate quality assurance techniques, managing resources (including personnel, financial and physical resources), and managing conflicting demands and expectations; for example, road, port or airport pavement maintenance often involves using engineering judgment to make maintenance repairs with the highest long-term benefit and lowest present value cost. Because transportation facilities nearly always involve communities, transportation engineers must be good communicators, and be aware of the social, cultural and environmental effects of their activities. – Bryan Pidwerbesky
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