Branches of Engineering

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 555.

Read the text and draw a diagram of main branches of engineering using the information from the text.

Work with a partner to discuss the following.

1. How can the word ‘engineering' be rendered into Russian?

2. How does it relate to the word ‘engine'?

3. How many branches of engineering can you name?

Engineering, much like science, is a broad discipline which is often broken down into several sub-disciplines. These disciplines concern themselves with different areas of engineering work. Although initially an engineer will be trained in a specific discipline, throughout an engineer's career the engineer may become multi-disciplined, having worked in several of the outlined areas. Historically the main Branches of Engineering are categorized as follows:

Aerospace Engineering deals with the design of aircraft, spacecraft and related topics.

Chemical Engineering is concerned with the exploitation of chemical principles in order to carry out large scale chemical processing, as well as designing new materials and fuels.

Civil Engineering is concerned with the design and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure (roads, railways, water supply and treatment etc.), bridges and buildings.

Electrical Engineering is about the generation and distribution of electricity and its many applications. Electronic engineering is concerned with developing components and equipment for communications, computing, and so on. Electrical engineering includes electricity generating, electrical installation, lighting, etc as well as the installation and maintenance of the equipment involved in these processes.

Mechanical Engineering deals with the design of physical or mechanical systems, such as engines, powertrains, kinematic chains and vibration isolation equipment. Mechanical engineering includes marine, automobile, aeronautical, heating and ventilating, and others.

With the rapid advancement of technology many new fields are gaining prominence and new branches are developing such as Computer Engineering, Software Engineering, Nanotechnology, Tribology, Molecular Engineering, Mechatronics etc. These new specialties sometimes combine with the traditional fields and form new branches such as Mechanical Engineering and Mechatronics and Electrical and Computer Engineering. Mining and medical engineering belong partly to mechanical and partly to electrical.