INTERNET RESOURCE

GUIDE FOR [Type the document

MECHANICAL subtitle]

ENGINEERING MAJORS
Scott Jupin

9/21/10
Table of Contents
1. Guide Information 2-3
a. Who this guide is for 2
b. What this guide assumes users know 2
c. What is in this guide 2
d. Guide Setup 3
e. Tips for using this guide 3
2. General Internet Sites 4-5
a. Engineering Fundamentals 4
i. eFunda 4
b. Energy Resources 5
i. Alternative Energy 5
3. Mechanical Engineering Publications 6-8
a. Journal Databases 6
i. The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) 6
ii. Hindawi Publishing Corporation 7
iii. Engineering Village 7
b. Professional Journal 8
i. Design Studies 8
4. Government Databases 9-10
a. Catalog of U.S. Government Publications 9
b. Statistical Abstract of the United States 9-10

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1. Guide Information
1.a) Who This Guide is For

This guide is designed for use by Mechanical Engineering Majors attending The Pennsylvania
State University. Specifically this guide caters to any Mechanical Engineering student participating in a
design project. This guide includes a wide array of resources for every level of student involved with
mechanical engineering. One can use sites such as eFunda to obtain basic fundamentals of engineering
or could use Hindawi to find an advanced journal on Heat Transfer. This guide aims to assist students in
the varying aspects of the design project.

1.b) What this guide assumes YOU know

This guide was created with the main assumption that the user is in need of aid with their design
project. This guide aims to help all levels of mechanical engineering undergraduates by offering a wide
array of information, from engineering fundamentals to complex journals. This guide assumes its users
have at least a basic college level of understanding of math and science i.e. Math 140, EDSGN 100. It is
assumed that a user of this guide will be a student of The Pennsylvania State University, which is
required to access online databases to which The Pennsylvania State University owns as well as the ones
it subscribes to. Also it is assumed that users of this guide have a basic proficiency in using the internet.

1.c) What is in this guide

This guide contains a wide array of resources relating to information on undergraduate level
mechanical engineering. The General Internet Sites section aims to give users a base knowledge in the
fundamentals of engineering as well as a base knowledge of a huge industry in the mechanical
engineering field: Alternative Energy. The Journal Databases are for gaining an advanced knowledge in a
specific aspect of engineering. While the government databases are intended to be used as a helpful
tool in the design process.

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1.d) Guide Setup

This guide is organized to put the more basic information in the front followed by more complex
information in each following section. The general sites are in the front to try and get the user a start on
thinking about what could be done with the project as well as the calculations behind it. This leads into
the journal section where one can gain specific knowledge in the area of study. Lastly, the government
databases appear at the end for additional help, if one cannot gain anything from the journals. When
creating the guide information I thought it was important to put “Who this guide is for” at the beginning
so one knows immediately if this guide can be of any use to them. This is followed by “What this guide
assumes”, showing the user the knowledge that is expected to be able to properly use this guide. This
then leads into “What is in the Guide” if this guide is for you.

1.e) Tips for using this guide

 Use the Table of Contents. This guide cannot help you if you do not know what is in it or where
it is.
 ASME members have greater access into the journals, periodicals, etc…
 When going to Engineering village first go to the Universities Libraries site and click on research
guides, then click on research guides, select mechanical engineering, and then compendex.
o It is necessary to do this because The Pennsylvania State University is affiliated with
them and enables you to see the journal articles for free
 To find The International Journal for Design Research in Engineering, Architecture, Products, and
systems, do as stated above in the Engineering Village tip, and once on the University Libraries
site search mechanical design process. Then select comparison of the results of empirical
studies into the mechanical design process. This is a part of the journal and will provide a link
design studies for the entire journal.

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2. General Internet Sites
2.a) Engineering Fundamentals

This section provides users with resources to gain basic, fundamental knowledge of engineering.
Whether one is reviewing or learning the material for the first time, the information in this section is
very important to the design process .

2.a.i) eFunda (Engineering Fundamentals)

URL: http://www.efunda.com/home.cfm

eFunda (Engineering fundamentals) contains all engineering fundamentals including equations,

concise articles, unit conversion, a design center and more. A team of high ranking engineers founded
eFunda, which is now their main area of concern. This concern centrals around the creation and
maintenance of an online destination for engineers to obtain succinct and reliable information. This site
is run by engineers for engineers.

Any mechanical engineering senior working on a design project and dreading the calculations
portion because he can’t remember something from an engineering class he took 2 or 3 years ago could
find this site useful. The site is designed for engineering students and professionals, who have at least a
freshman level of knowledge to be able to access equations or other things they might have known or
forgotten.

Short articles on various engineering topics can be found on eFunda. One is “Heat Transfer”,
which explains the basics of heat transfer in a few short paragraphs. One can also obtain high level
mathematics help with articles on Laplace transforms and Taylor series expansions.

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2.b) Energy Resources

Alternative Energy is becoming a larger and larger industry in the mechanical engineering field.
A mechanical engineer should have at least basic knowledge of this industry before going out into the
real world. Thus more engineering design projects should be involved around alternative energy in
some way. This site provides a great starting point for learning about alternative energies.

2.b.i) Alternative Energy

URL: http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/

Alternative Energy provides alternative energy news and information resources on renewable
energy technologies. Alternative energy is run and maintained by Energy Planet, which is a renewable
energy directory. Energy planet has a large number of resources about renewable energy technologies
and is concerned with furthering knowledge about becoming a greener earth.

The Alternative Energy section contains news and information pertaining to many subsections of
alternative energy.

These subsections include:

 Energy  Solar
 Biofuels  Transportation
 Environment  Wind
 Hydrogen

These subsections contain a wide array of information such as the article “Wind Energy Instruments
getting bigger and better.” This article is about how wind energy is becoming a larger part of our power
production in the U.S.A. Wind energy capacity is expected to rise to 447 GW in the next 5 years. The
site also provides video showing new green technology such as a video about solar stereo speakers.

The Alternative energy site is for all people and professions interested in cutting edge green
technologies, particularly in Alternative Energy. Mechanical Engineering is a big part of creating these
alternative energies, so it would be extremely useful to any mechanical engineering senior looking for
ideas about green energies. Anyone with a basic level of knowledge could use this site and learn
something from it.

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3. Mechanical Engineering Publications
This section can give users a better understanding of material selected for the design project as well
as how to go through with the entire process.

3.a) Journal Databases

3.a.i) The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME)

URL: http://www.asme.org/

The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) is an organization compromised of

workers and students involved in mechanical engineering and related fields. ASME “promotes the art,
science, and practice of mechanical and multi-disciplinary engineering and allied sciences around the
globe.” ASME, which is the professional society of Mechanical Engineers runs and maintains the site.
This is important because it pertains to issues associated with mechanical engineering professionals and
students.

One can find a wide array of information through the use of journals and periodicals, conference
publications, newsletters, and ME magazine. Codes and standards are also available on this site, which
is important so that engineers have easy access to information to which they must hold themselves and
their projects to. The journal section could be the most useful section to senior mechanical engineers
working on their design projects. Not only can one find academic journals but one can also post papers
on the site. A wide variety of journals can be found on the site, ranging from journals about engineering
materials and technology to journals concerning heat transfer.

It is an important skill to learn to use the ASME site, because as a mechanical engineer, you
would most likely be turning to this site or organization sometime in your professional career. There is a
vast catalog on this site which could be useful to any mechanical engineering student working on a
design project. This site can provide information related to most aspects of the design process.

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3.a.ii) Hindawi Publishing Corporation

URL: http://www.hindawi.com/

Hindawi Publishing Corporation (HPC) is an academic publisher with more than 200 open access
journals covering various disciplines. Hindawi Publishing Corporation runs and maintains the site.
Hindawi maintains a high quality of journals by having 6,000 internationally recognized editors serving
on the editorial board of Hindawi’s journals. Hindawi contains journals in most professional fields,
including mechanical engineering. Hindawi has a vast selection of journals relating to the field of
mechanical engineering such as:

 Heat Transfer in Nanofluids

 Diesel Engine Valve clearance detection using acoustic emission
 Reduced-Order Modeling of Parametrically Excited Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS)

The wide array of journal articles makes this site perfect for any mechanical engineering student to
find the information that he needs. Any mechanical engineering student with a basic college level
understanding should be able to find some useful information that he can understand. The journals in
this site are more geared to the research and development aspects of mechanical engineering.

3.a.iii) Engineering Village

URL: http://www.engineeringvillage2.org

Engineering village is a web-based information service, which allows access to online databases
concerning scientific and engineering research. Engineering village is composed of several databases,
however the two main databases are Compendex and Inspec. Compendex and Inspec are two of the
largest scientific and engineering research databases on the internet. They cover all disciplines of
engineering as well as varying levels of knowledge. With Engineering village one can access journals
such as “Design Studies”, which I mention in section 3.b.1.

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3.b) Professional Journal

3.b.i) Design Studies - The International Journal for Design Research in

Engineering, Architecture, Products and Systems

“Design Studies” is an annually produced journal, which approaches the understanding of design
from comparisons across all domains of application. It is available in full text through the website
science direct and is published by Elsevier Ltd. Many people from many different backgrounds
contribute to this journal. A variety of backgrounds means a variety of design tendencies. This leads to
a greater understanding of how different people react in different situations, and a better design
process. “Design Studies” has a variety of articles such as:

 Exploring the Process of whole system design

 About Design: Analyzing Design Meetings
 An experimental study on the effects of a computational design tool on concept generation

These articles help explain the design process and suggest ways of improving it. Any mechanical
engineering student who needs help on beginning a design project could start here for thoughts on how
to properly design a product. "Design studies" has varying degrees of complexity in its articles and can
be used by an undergraduate level of engineer with varying degrees of understanding of the design
process.

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 4. Government Databases
This section introduces two government databases containing all types of information. These sites
offer great insight into varying technologies and statistics. Everything on these sites is somehow related
to the United States government.

4.a) Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP)

URL: http://catalog.gpo.gov

The Catalog of U.S. Government Publications (CGP) is a useful tool, which enables users to
search for government publications that include current and historical publications from all branches of
the government. If the publication is available online the CGP, will also post a link for it. The United
States Government runs and maintains the CGP, by posting all publications produced by it and
organizations it is affiliated with.

Relating to the audience the CGP can be used to find many articles associated with mechanical
engineering. By simply searching “mechanical engineering” in the basic search bar, I received 1071
records within a matter of seconds, all relating to the mechanical engineering field. One of the articles
posted entitled, “Engine conceptual design studies for a hybrid wing body aircraft”, included a link to a
site with a 5 page pdf containing the study of hybrid wing body aircraft. For the student concerned
about a more specific design project in gas turbines for example, may search gas turbines in the basic
search engine will receive articles specific to gas turbine such as “High Efficiency Gas Turbines”. The
possibilities with the CGP are just about endless when doing any type of design project or looking for
information in general.

Any mechanical engineering student with the knowledge required to enter the program should
be able to find useful information using the CGP. Information concerning all aspects of design (research,
development, and sales) can be found on the CGP. Information for publications available on the
internet can be obtained by clicking on the link next to the article. However, since the CGP contains
publications dating back to 1800, which are not available on the internet, can be obtained by searching
for the nearest federal depository library nearest you, and getting the physical publication.

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4.b) Statistical Abstract of the United States

URL: http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/

The statistical abstract of the United States is a national data book with a comprehensive
summary of statistics on issues associated with the social, political, and economic organizations in the
United States. Main issues in the statistical abstract are birth and death rates, labor force employment
and earnings, and agriculture, just to name a few. The majority of information in the abstract is in the
form of excel charts; however one can find articles on the abstract as well. The statistical abstract of the
United States is ran and maintained by the United States government. The fact that the government
runs this site is crucial because they have all the information necessary to produce the statistics. The
sources of data the U.S. government uses for the site are the Census Bureau, Bureau of Labor Statistics,
Bureau of Economic Analysis, and many other Federal agencies and private organizations. The statistical
abstract can look daunting to a first time user; however within a few minutes of using the site one can
obtain a variety of useful information.

Anyone with a desire to gain knowledge about certain aspects associated with social, political,
and economic organizations in the United States can use this site. In particular mechanical engineering
seniors, with varying levels of knowledge may use the site to further their knowledge on many real
world aspects of their industry such as: prices of certain materials or power usages or just about
anything associated with the United States government. Seniors could also use this site to see about
future job opportunities as well as pay rates.

Particular to this guide, relevant information can be found relating to any senior design project.
Any senior involved in the research, development or sales aspect of the design project can find useful
information relating to the project. An important aspect of design is material cost. By searching for this
in the statistical abstract one can find the prices of different materials as well as complete project cost
estimations. One can also find information pertaining to how much and what price a company sold a
particular product for, which can generate an advantage against other companies.

One can also find articles in the statistical abstract. By searching for gas turbines I was led to an
article about generating capability/capacity of electrical power. Gas Turbines consist of a group which
powers 18% of the nations electric. The article also briefly explains electric utilities, generating units,
and non utility power suppliers to name a few. This can show that one can find a wide array of
information, for just about any use, on the statistical abstract of the United States.

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