't

First published 2010 by

John Wiley & Sons Ausrralia, Ltd
42 McDougall Street, Milton Qld 4064

/Part 1

Introduction to engineering

Typeset in 10.5/13.5 pt Adobe Garamond LT

David Dowling, Anna Carew, Roger Hadgraft 2010

1.

The moral righrs of the authors have been asserted.

What is engineering?

2. The engineering method

49

National Library of Ausrralia

Cataloguing-in-Publication entry
Author:
Title:

Edition:
ISBN:
Notes:
Subjecrs:

Dowling, David Graeme.

Engineering your future: an Australasian

,.,'

Part 2

guide/ David Dowling, Anna Carew, Roger

Hadgrafr.
1st ed.
9780470818169 (pbk.)
Includes index.
Bibliography.
Engineering. Sustainable engineering.
Engin~ering ethics. Engineering-

Skills development

95

3. Learning to be an engineer
4.

97

Understanding communication

5. Enabling skills for engineers

134

179

Management.

Other Authors/Contributors:
Dewey Number:

Carew, Anna. Hadgraft, R. G.

620

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Cover and internal design images: Getty Images/ChinaFoIOPress; SlOne

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Shotover Jet, Queenstown, New Zealand; Yarra Trams. PhOIO by
John Krutop; Dreamworld; Woodside Energy Ltd.
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Part 4

Applying the engtiteering method

6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

Managing engineering projects

11.

Communicating information

Information skills

233

Problem-solving tools

282

Sustainable engineering
Ethics in engineering

326

372

Planning your career

525

1098765432

12. Your engineering future

527

461

414

231

About the authors

Preface

xiv

Spotlight: Engineering breakthroughs in early

Australian history 31

xvii

Acknowledgements

Spotlight: Engineering breakthroughs in early New

Zealand history 32

xxi

Part 1 Introduction to engineering

A contemporary perspective

35

Engineering innovations

Learning objectives 3
Introduction 4
What is the role of an engineer? 5
A historical perspective 6
A contemporary perspective

Professionalism, certification and ethical

practice in engineering 41

Engineering disciplines 8
Electrical, electronics and telecommunications
engineering 11
Mechanical engineering

Civil engineering

12
13

15

15

Other engineering disciplines

44

Exercises

45

Spotlight: Women in engineering

Step 2. Generating alternative solutions

18

The core skills and attributes of

an engineer 20
The Engineers Australia framework

Spotlight: Water recycling

Step 4. Checking the outcomes 63

The Institution of Professional Engineers

New Zealand (IPENZ) framework 23

Step 5. Communicating your

recommendation 64

Engineering science

Systems thinking

24

Spotlight: Fluid mechanics learning path

Spotlight: Structural mechanics
learning path 25

25

The impact of engineering on society and

national identity 26
A historical perspective 27

v i

CONTENTS

Spotlight: Warehouse woes

90

Exercises

90

.;.

69

the design file

120

Kolb's Learning Cycle

120

122

123

Spotlight: The Law of the Pendulum and

Belief 123
Summary

128

Key terms

129

Exercises

130

Project activity

130

4. Understanding communication
95

3. Learning to be an engineer

97

Learning objectives 97
Introduction 98
Understanding your motivation to study
engineering 100
101

103
103

Developing an engineering knowledge

framework 106
The program framework 106

68

,.,'

91

Spotlight: Telecommunications towers

Assessing personal characteristics

Personality and attitudes 108

71

Documentation -

Key terms

Sources of inspiration

Spotlight: Weather models 66

Resources

61

Levels of reRection

Strategies for learning

88

117

Spotlight: A reflection: Working on large projects

in isolated areas 118

The life cycle of an engineering asset 83

Design 85

Spotlight: A graduate's perspective

64

Project management
Scheduling 69

59

60

Step 3. Evaluating alternative solutions

20

80

Part 2 Skills development

Spotlight: Wind energy 53

16

115

Managing your learning 122

Discerning what you need to learn

Project activity

52

Developing your skills 113

Having an inquiring mind 113

The engineering method and

project management 82

Summary

49

112

Becoming a reRective practitioner

79

Spotlight: Australasian new car assessment

program 86

46

Learning objectives 49
Introduction 50
The engineering method
Step 1. Research 52

14

Mining engineering

Key terms

2. The engineering method

14

Environmental engineering

43

Project activity

Aerospace and aviation engineering

Chemical engineering

Summary

110

Spotlight: Hydrographic surveys

Spotlight: Engineers Australia and the Institution of

Professional Engineers New Zealand - continuing
professional development 81

Spotlight: Consumer electronics

and e-waste 40

Competencies

74

78

Lifelong learning

40

Learning styles

73

Spotlight: Olympic Dam, South Australia keeping a yel/ow cake mine below amber 74

Reflective practice

39

Limitations of engineering

Risk management

Reporting

Spotlight: The micro hydro 38

1. What is engineering?

Time-accuracy trade-off

108

134

Learning objectives 134

Introduction 135
What is communication? 137
Key communication skills for engineers

137

Spotlight: Important workplace

competencies 138

Communication theories and models

The communication process 140
A contemporary model

139

141

Spotlight: Managing communications on

mega-projects 142

Communication models 144

Developing a communication model for
engineers 144

71

CONTENTS

vii

Communication contexts 149

Characteristics of communicators

Writing notes
150

Spotlight: Releasing Fletcher Aluminium's invisible

handbrake 150

Environments

154

Spotlight: The TrackStar Alliance document

management system 155

Communication methods used by

engineers 157
Communication languages 158
Noise

Communication roles
The creator 164
The gatekeeper
The consumer

164

Being professional

168

1 72

176

The procedures

Learning objectives 179

Introduction 180
Three key communication skills
Reading 182

vii i

183

CONTENTS

Library search tools

Internet search tools

Key terms

226

Exercises

226

210

Organising a meeting

Information skills

sources 262
\ Evaluating information sources
Evaluating information

Spotlight: Meeting with holographs

Negotiation 215
The preparation process

211
214

Learning objectives 233

Introduction 234
Data, information and knowledge
Data 236

236 .,;.

215

Approaches to negotiation

Colleagues

Managing and using information

Integrating information 267

Publishing information

237

250

266
267

Spotlight: The development of a set of

road design specifications 268

237

248

262

263

Refining information needs

240

A literature review

269

269

An information management system

270

Spotlight: ENERGEX - managing real-time

information 271

Citing and referencing 272

Listing and citing print references

243

Listing and citing online references

244

Locating and retrieving information

Typical sources of engineering
information 246
Documents

261

Spotlight: A story about the Columbia Space

Shuttle disaster 264

233

Organising information needs

211

260

Evalu~~ing information and information

228

Categories of information

210

256

Recording data about information sources

Spotlight: Protecting a slurry system

against flooding 242

207

253

256

Spotlight: Surf, scan or dive?

Part 3 Applying the engineering

method 231

Knowledge

252

255

Developing a search strategy

224

Identifying information needs

Investigative questioning 241

The role of technology in meetings

181

222

Differentiating between data, information

and knowledge 238

How you can contribute

179

Conflict resolution

Information

207

Exercises

Enabling skills for engineers

203

207

The participants
177

2d1

Meetings 206
The purpose 206
The timing

Geographic information systems

6.

The benefits of working with

others 205

176

Listening

196

Spotlight: Tips for student teams

The style

173

Spotlight: Green operating theatres

219

193
195

251

221

Project activity

202

Key terms

5.

189

Stakeholders

Dispute resolution

Summary

189

The life cycle of a team

Leadership

219

Spotlight: Community consultation for a

major engineering project 223

The fundamentals of an
effective group 196

167

Spotlight: Negotiating tight spaces

189

Establishing a group or team

174

Project activity

188

Spotlight: Moving the earth via video

Developing a communication plan for an

engineering project 171

Summary

Being responsible

Working with others

Applying the PCR model to create an effective

communication 169
Developing a communication plan for a student
project 169

Using the model

Self-management skills 188

Developing goals and strategies

Spotlight: Tools and teams for

engineering design 191

162

Spotlight: Planning a proposal

Spotlight: Unseen notes on Beaconsfield

goldmine sought 187

Managing your time effectively

161

Spotlight: The plant visit

Outcomes of the negotiation process

184

246

273
275

Further information about referencing

styles 275
Summary

276

Key terms

277

Exercises

278

Project activity

278

217

CONTENTS

i x

7. Problem-solving tools

Review and improve -

282

Learning objectives 282

Introduction 283
Systems thinking 284
Stakeholders 286
Socio-ecological thinking

Project activity

System goals

287

288

Spotlight: Grand engineering challenges

for the twenty-first century 289

Generating alternative solutions

Five Ws and an H 290
Research

290

291

Brainstorming

291

294

Evaluating solutions - economics

Economic feasibility 301
Internal rate of return

300

304
306

321

Exercises

322

8.

Community, communication and

consultation 358

322

Sustainable engineering

Economic theories

326

Summary

Learning objectives 326

Introduction 327
What is ecologically sustainable
development (ESD)? 329
Definitions of ESD 330

314

Spotlight: Software checking 315

316

Exercises

366

9.

401

SpCiJ'tlight: Monsanto fined $1.5million for

bribery 405

Personal liability

369

Ethics in engineering

Summary

372

406

375

The IPENZ Code of Ethics

The IEEE Code of Ethics

339

376

378

Spotlight: An ethical dilemma: wastewater

engineering 379

Common ethical dilemmas in

engineering 380
Respecting intellectual property

342

381

Spotlight: Reporting a chemical spill 382

Measuring environmental impacts

Recognising personal limitations in

professional practice 384
Owning up to mistakes 385

344

347

Spotlight: Citicorp structural failure averted 385

348

Spotlight: Asian tsunami forewarned by

engineer 388

351

Ethical theories and tests

Moral theories 389

355

389

Spotlight: The Beaconsfield mine tragedy:

jobs and safety? 393

Spotlight: Hardly a fair go ... the James

Hardie story 355

Behavioural tests

395

407

408

Key terms

409

Exercises

410

Project activity
,J.

Spotlight: Dreamworld and

WhiteWater World 343

Socially sustainable engineering

Spotlight: Blowing the whistle on aviation

safety standards 399

Culture and ethics

Learning objectives 372

Introduction 373
Codes of ethics 374
The Engineers Australia Code of Ethics

333

335

Spptlight: Native title and mining

366

Corporate responsibilities
and loyalties 398

Spotlight: CEO held responsible for death

Spotlight: Life cycle assessment of

Greek beer 353

315

Engineering decision making

Safety 317

Why sustainable engineeripg?

Key terms

396

Spotlight: A cost-benefit ratio: weighing up

human lives 400

363

364

Project activity

What is sustainable engineering?

Life cycle assessment (LCA)

361

Spotlight: Does money grow on trees? 362

Spotlight: Landfill gas in Western Australia

311

Balancing conflicting interests

Intertwined responsibilities 397

357

Economically sustainable engineering

Costing 361

Environmentally sustainable engineering

A global perspective 344

307

Mathematical modelling in design

The process 312
Hierarchy of models

Key terms

Triple bottom line analysis (TBLA)

Spotlight: Water jet propulsion HamiltonJet 310

Checking

320

Constraints of sustainable engineering

practice 340

304

A more detailed economic model

Technical feasibility

Summary

Spotlight: Pickle liquor recycling in steel

processing 337

298

Sensitivity analysis

Maslow's hierarchy of needs

Strategies for practising sustainable

engineering 336

Spotlight: The Gateshead Millennium

Bridge 296

TRIZ

318

Spotlight: The damming of Lake Pedder 331

Lateral thinking, parallel thinking and

the six thinking hats 293
Synectics

quality assurance

Spotlight: Auckland's Sky Tower 319

411

10. Managing engineering projects

414

Learning objectives 414

Introduction 415
Understanding project management 416
Key factors in project management 417
A historical perspective of project
management 417
Spotlight: Egyptian pyramids

418

Critical path method (CPM) and program

evaluation and review technique (PERT) 419
Spotlight: Desalination

420

The Project Management Body of Knowledge

(PMBOK) and beyond 421
Planning the stages of an
engineering project 422
A case study: designing and constructing a
'green-star' building 422
Using a tool to plan the project
stages 425

""

CONTENTS

CONTENTS

xi

Planning the stages of the green-star

building project 429

Communication contexts
The business context 463

Spotlight: Ensham mine flood recovery

project 436

Creating a risk management plan

Dependency risks 439
Design risks

Spotlight: Document control for mega

projects 464

439

The professional context

The research context

440

Construction risks

444

Long-term risks for the green-star building

Spotlight: Coffer dams

444

445

Developing a knowledge management

plan 446
Document storage, archiving and
data mining 447
Sharing knowledge

447

Communities of practice

Student knowledge management

449

Engineering quality management

Quality plans and engineering

453

Quality and student team projects

454

455

Spotlight: Quality management at Intel 456

Summary

456

Key terms

458

Exercises

458

Project activity

xii

CONTENTS

461

The value of initiative and independence

520

Learning objectives
Introduction 528
The skills shortage

468

Spotlight: Vega web guides the way

The ten-step planning process

Management approaches

Career planning

527

529

532
533

The future of engineering

Summary

550

Key terms

551

Exercises

552

Project activity

Spotlight: Nike, globalisation and corporate

citizenship 535

472

545

548

Spotlight: Continuing Professional

Dev.elopment for a traffic engineer 549

A global engineering economy

471

545

Continuing professional
development (CPD) 546

525

527

Spotlight: Skilled migration

Written communication 473

Business correspondence J74

Glossary

536

Spotlight: Defence Materials Technologies

538

Spotlight: Weta Workshop and Weta Digital 543

Index

554

557

564

,...

480

Spotlight: Legal games at

Wembley Stadium 482

Project reports

484

Wikis

489

Web pages

489

Oral communication 490

Informal oral communication

Photography

491

503

Drawings, plans and sketches

459

Learning objectives
Introduction 462

520

12. Your engineering future

Communication methods, styles,

formats and media 470

Visual communication
Graphs 504

11. Communicating information

Exercises

545

Spotlight: MoodIe - An Australian open source

software success story 487

451

Quality and the engineering student

519

Part 4 Planning your career

466

Planning a communication
Approach 468

perspective

Quality management and its relationship to

project management 450
Key quality management principles 450

Key terms

465

Project initiation documents 477

Spotlight: When things go wrong: A legal

448

Career management
Work to rule 545

518

Project activity

Spotlight: Cardiac resynchronisation therapy - a

research and development success 467

441

Internal project risks

Summary

463

510

512

461

Engineering models

514

Spotlight: The Beij"ing Water Cube:

communicating to win 515

CONTENTS

xii i

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DAVID DOWLING
DipLSurv, ARMIT, BAppSci, MSurvMap, FIEAust
Professor of Engineering Education, Coordinator Master of Engineering Practice
Faculty of Engineering and Surveying, University of Southern Queensland

avid Dowling is passionate about helping engineering students learn and achieve
their career goals and consequently much of his work and research is focused
on enhancing teaching and learning .environments. Specific areas include facilitating
student transition to university, identifying and addressing factors that influence
success at university, assessing workplace learning and defining graduate attributes and
embedding them into program curricula.
David worked as a surveyor for 12 years prior to accepting a lecturing position
at the University of Southern Queensland (USQ) in 1978. Over the next ten years
he developed numerous new subjects, taught many first-year courses, and developed
distance education materials for ten courses. David was appointed Head of Surveying
at USQ in 1989 and worked intensively with industry organisations to design, develop
and gain accreditation for three new distance education programs.
In 1995 he accepted the role of Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of
Engineering and Surveying, a position he held until 2009. His major achievements
in this role included the successful accreditation of the first Australian Bachelor of
Engineering to be offered by distance education. More recently, David developed the
content, structure, and study materials for the innovative Master of Engineering Practice program. This distance education program is accredited by Engineers Australia and
enables experienced Engineering Technologists to become Professional Engineers by
using their workplace learning to demonstrate their competence.
David has been a member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education
(AAEE) since 1998, served as an elected member of the Executive Committee from
2000 until 2007, and was President of AAEE during 2005 and 2006. David chaired
Engineers Australia's Engineering Technologist Accreditation Systems Working Party
during 2005 and 2006, and has been a member of Engineers Australia's National
Articulation Committee since 2006.
In 2006 David received the AAEE Excellence in Engineering Education Award
for Inclusive Teaching and in 2007 was awarded a USQ Citation for Outstanding
Contributions to Student Learning. In 2008 David received an Australian Learning
and Teaching Council (ALTC) Citation which read, For sustained leadership in using
graduate attributes to design and deliver programs, courses and resources that enhance students' learning and their achievement ofcareer goals.

xiv

ABOUT

THE

AUTHORS

~.

'T'

\~l

!J~:3-tr~'i
~~} -:-:,.'{
...

- ..

",~

1.'~

ANNA CAREW
BSc(Hons), PhD
Senior Lecturer, University of Tasmania
Australian Maritime College

nna Carew researches and supports the teaching and learning of undergraduate
.1""l.engineering. Her work encompasses many aspects of the undergr~duate curriculum
including mapping the teaching and assessment of graduate attributes in engineering,
supporting engineering curriculum review and renewal, engineering academics' and
students' conceptions of sustainability, key concepts in learning first-year mechanics
and transdisciplinary learning and research in engineering and engineering education.
She began working with engineers in 1996 as a water microbiologist researching
novel microbial indicators of water and wastewater quality. Following this, she worked
in industrial training at a private consultancy, engaging with engineers and operators in
chemical plants, metals refineries, and metals processing and manufacturing operations.
Between 1998 and 2000, Anna worked as a research
... consultant in sustainable water
and waste management with the Institute for Sustainable Futures, before undertaking
a PhD at the University of Sydney investigating the teaching and learning of sustain-

.;:.

ability in engineering.
Anna has supported major curriculum renewal and reaccreditation at four Australia
engineering faculties and attracted World Bank funding to assist engineering academics
in Chile to modernise curriculum (2007-08). She has also been the recipient of several
grants from the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, including leading a major
multi-institutional, cross-disciplinary project on the teaching and assessment of metaattributes in engineering (2006-08).

ABOUT

THE

AUTHORS

XV

LJOOOOOOOL
ROGER HAD GRAFT

BE(Hons), MEngSc, DipCompSc, PhD

Associate Professor, The University of Melbourne
Director, Engineering Learning Unit, Melbourne School of Engineering

he 1996 Review of Engineering Education l in Australia found that 'engineering

education must become more outward looking, more attuned to the real concerns
of the communities. Courses should promote environmental, economic and global
awareness, problem solving ability, engagement with information technology, self-directedlearning and life long learning, communication, management and teamwork skills, but on
a sound base ofmathematics and engineering technology. ' The report contained a series of
recommendations that changed the way engineering was taught and-learned over the
following decade.
One of the key changes was the adoption by Engineers Australia of an outcomesfocused accreditation system for undergraduate degrees, based on a set of graduate
attributes that Engineers Australia defined through industry consultation. Over the last
decade, engineering schools have adapted their curriculum to ensure that engineering
students have opportunities to acquire these graduate attributes, in addition to those
defined by their own university. Many of the graduate attributes are introduced in firstyear subjects and students then practise and enhance those skills in subjects and projects
in the later years of their programs.
.,;,
The consultations undertaken for the Engineers for the Future project2 found that
industry supports this explicit focus on graduate attributes. It also reported on engineeringspecific graduate outcomes and attributes. They formed the view from their consultations
that 'engineers do their work by having knowledge and skills in varying combinations of
the following thematic areas: the engineering life-cycle ofconcept, design, implementation,
operation, maintenance and retirement (with increasing emphasis on uncertainty and risk
assessment as well as systems thinking, and integrating ideas and technologies); managing
complex engineeringprojects; mathematical modelling; andscientific knowledge ofestablished
and emerging areas.'2
This book is designed to provide first-year engineering students in Australia and New
Zealand with a solid grounding in many ofthese generic and engineering-specific graduate
attributes, as well as many of the tools and techniques that facilitate the application of
those skills in real engineering work and study. The book may be used as the text for one
course, or as a resource for two or more courses.
Numerous historic and contemporary Australian, New Zealand and international
examples are used to illustrate the principles that are discussed in the text, and to highlight
many of the important innovations that have built the reputation of Australian and
New Zealand engineers. The examples are drawn from a range of current engineering
disciplines, from emerging disciplines, and from a range of organisations and projects,
large and small. These examples will enable students to explore engineering and how it

oge~ Ha~graft is a ~ivil engineer wit~ more than 15 yea~s involvemen.t in impr~ving
~ngllleenng education. He has published many papers III the area, With a particular
focus on problem- and project-based learning, and the use of online technology to
support learning in this way. He was instrumental in introducing a project-based
curriculum into civil engineering at Monash University, commencing in 1998. From
2002 until 2006, his work at RMIT was in curriculum renewal to embed graduate
capabilities, specifically through a stream of project-based courses and subjects in civil,
chemical and environmental engineering, with special emphasis on new, project-based
subjects in first year.

PREFACE

"r'

Roger has consulted on PBL to universities both nationally and internationally. He

has been a member of the Australasian Association for Engineering Education (AAEE)
Executive since 2001 and was the 2008 President. From February 2007, Roger has
been Director of the Engineering Learning Unit at the University of Melbourne where
he assists in the introduction of the new Melbourne Model in engineering, supporting
new project-based learning courses, new learning spaces and improving teaching quality
across the Melbourne School of Engineering. He has also been involved in issues of
sustainability for the last five years, introducing new undergraduate subjects and a Master's program based on adult learning principles.

-----------------------J------------------------xvi

ABOUT

THE

AUTHORS

PREFACE

xvii

is practised in Australasia, as well as the approaches used by Australasian engineers, who

have a reputation for being flexible and adaptive l The Australasian focus and context of
the text will also assist students to formulate their future career preferences.
The chapters are arranged in four sections to facilitate student learning. The first
section provides an introduction to engineering and the engineering method. This is
followed by a section that provides students with the opportunity to acquire some of the
key skills they will need to be successful in their first year at university. The third section
provides an overview of each of the steps engineers use when they apply the engineering
method. The final section provides a range of information about the engineering
profession and its fields that will help students to refine their career choices.
The authors wish to thank the following engineering academics who read and provided
feedback on early drafts of the chapters. Their comments helped to shape the structure of
the book as well as the focus and content of individual chapters.
11:1 Arul Arulrajah (Senior Lecturer Civil Engineering, Swinburne University)
~ Ron Ayers (Associate Professor, University of Southern Queensland)
1:I Mark Bolton (Associate Lecturer, Griffith University)
c Lyn Brodie (Senior Lecturer - Electronics and Communication Engineering,
University of Southern Queensland)
l:I Simon Cavenett (Director of Professional Practice Engineering, Deakin
University)
1:I

11:1

rI
rI
I:lI

11:1

rI

Tom Cochrane (Lecturer - Natural Resources Engineering, University of

Canterbury)
Geoffrey Evans (Professor, University of Newcastle)
Greg Evans (Senior Lecturer, Victoria University)
Anne Gardner (Senior Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney)
Betty Jacobs (Senior Lecturer - Engineering Communication, University of
Technology Sydney)
Ron Johnston (Professor, University of Sydney)
Doug Myers (Head of Discipline - Computer Systems Engineering, Curtin
University)

11:1

Selvan Pather (Deputy Head - Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering,

University of Southern Queensland)

rI

Carl Reidsema (Senior Lecturer University of NSW)

11:1

David Shallcross (Associate Professor Melbourne)

xviii

PREFACE

Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering,

Chemical Engineering, University of

l:I

Brad Stappenbelt (Lecturer - Mechanical Engineering, University of Western

Australia)
David Walker (Associate Professor - Civil Engineering, University of Adelaide)

In addition, we would like to express our appreciation to the engineering academics

who developed the invaluable instructor's resources to accompany the text:
rI Instructor's resource guide - Julie Mills (Associate Professor, University of South
Australia) and Elizabeth Smith (Lecturer, University of South Aus(ralia)
11:1 Powerpoint presentations Simon Iveson (Research Academic, University of
Newcastle)
l:I Testbank and practice quizzes Ralph Ball (Senior Lecturer - Manufacturing
Engineering, Massey University)
C Video Assignments Alexander Rassau (Senior Lecturer, Edith Cowan
University), Prue Howard (Senior Lecturer, Central Queensland University)
and Phil Schneider (Senior Lecturer - Chemical Engineering, James Cook
University) .
We also appreciate the testimonials which ap~ear on the back cover of the book,
that were provided by the following engineering academics:
l:I Emeritus Professor Robin King (author of 'Engineers for the Future', the report of
the 2007-08 review of Australian engineering education, undertaken on behalf of
the Australian Council of Engineering Deans)
l:I Dr Elizabeth Godfrey (President, Australasian Association for Engineering
Education)
1:1 Professor Doug Hargreaves (Head of School of Engineering Systems, Queensland
University of Technology and Deputy National President of Engineers Australia).
Such support for the book, and what it is trying to achieve for undergraduate
engineering education in Australia and New Zealand, means a lot to us.
In many ways this book and its accompanying extensive resource package should be
seen as a resource generated for all engineering schools in Australia and New Zealand.
The authors would therefore welcome constructive feedback from academic staff and
students so that future editions of the book continue to meet the needs of first-year
engineering students. This includes information about innovative engineering projects
that may be suitable for inclusion in future editions of the book.
Many people have contributed information that was incorporated directly into the
body of the text, or in one of the many practical 'Spotlight' boxed feature examples
throughout. The authors acknowledge the important contribution of the following

PREFACE

xix

rJOOOOOOO~
engineering professionals and academics to the development of this Australasian text:
Armando Apan, Ron Ayers, Lyn Brodie, Joellen Brook, Darren Burrowes, Gunilla
Burrowes, Peter Butcher, Tristram Carfrae, Roland Clift, Sandra Cochrane, Ron Coomer,
Shey Dimon, Elissa Dowling, Kristian Downing, Andrew Hoey, Kristy Jay-Baker, Brett
Kensett-Smith, Usa Kuiper, Jill Lawrence, Ian Little, Nicole Lubach, Sally Male, Cynthia
Mitchell, Matthew Preston, Steve Mogridge, David Russell, Alistair Taylor, and Helen
Williams.
The authors also want to acknowledge the important contribution of our editors.
John Coomer, the publishing editor, has journeyed with us from the start of this project
and kept us on track and on schedule. His faith in the project, and in our abilities, was
always encouraging and helped us through the hard times. His support was wide ranging
and immediate, even late on Saturday nights. Thanks John; without you the book
would not have been published. We also thank Jacqui Belesky who had the unenviable
task of editing the draft chapters into a common format and style. Her positive and
professional approach and encouraging words were always appreciated. Thanks also
to Kirsty Pedrazzini (copy editor), who saw the final drafts through production, and
Chris Harrison (copyright and image researcher). Finally, thanks to Kate Sherington
(publishing assistant) for coordinating the authoring of all of the instructor's resources.
We would also like to acknowledge the members of our families who lived the highs
and lows of this project with us. We know the many sacrifices you made to help us
meet the tight deadlines that accompany a project of this nature. Special thanks to Lyn
Dowling, Jeffrey Wright and Janice Hadgraft for their love and support.

David Dowling, Anna Carew and Roger Hadgraft

May 2009

Changing the Culture: Engineering Education into the Future, Report Summary, Institution of Engineers,
Australia, 1996, page 4.
2 Engineets fot the Future: addressing the supply and qualiry of Australian engineering graduates for the
21st century, Australian Council of Engineering Deans, 2008, p. 61. This project was funded by the
Australian Learning and Teaching Council.
1

XX

PREFACE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

he authors and publisher would like to thank the following copyright holders,
organisations and individuals for their permission to reproduce copyright material in this book.

IMAGES

3, 282, 527: stockbyte 6: Corbis/ Chris Carroll 12: From 'The Managerial
Grid III' Blake and Mouton, Gulf Publishing, 1985. Reproduced With the permission
of Grid International 12: iStockphoto.com/ thelinke 14: Newspix / News Ltd
.28: Science Museum/ Science & Society 29: iStockphoto.com/Peter Mah 31:
Yegor Korzh, 2009 Used under license from Shutterstock.com 32: AAP/ AP
Photo/ New Zealand Herald/ Brett Phibbs 34: Snowy Hydro Limited 35: (c)
Viewfinder Australia Photo Library 36: Courtesy of Professor Yusuf Chisti, Massey
University, New Zealand 37: Newspix/ David Kapernick 38: Planetary Power
40, 115, 195,328: Digital Vision 49: Corbis 51: Reuters/ Picture Media
.53,418: PhotoDisc, Inc 61, 103: John Wiley & Sons Australia/ Photo by Renee
Bryon. 66: A composite weather satellite imagl!" from MTSAT-1R, 20 March 2006,
7.30am (eastern summer time), showing Tropical Cyclone Larry over the Queensland
coast. 68: Photolibrary/ SPL/ David Parker 74: Picture Media/ Reuters 77:
Townsville City Council 81: Engineers Australia, 2009 81: IPENZ 86:
Reproduced with the permission of Ford Motor Company of Australia Ltd 97:
iStockphoto.com/ Yuri Arcurs 98, 99: Parsons Brinckerhoff 101: Nicole Lubach
105: David Dowling 118: iStockphoto.com/ Andersen Oystein 134, 461:
Digital Vision 135: Fairfax Photo Library/ Ray Kennedy 151: Newspix/ Marc
McCormack 156: TrackStar Alliance Staff 179: iStockphoto.com/ deanm 1974
180: Image Source 187: Photolibrary/ Age fotostock/ Michael N Paras 192:
ATSA Defence Services 203: iStockphoto.com/ urbancow 214: Newspix/
Chris Mangan 220, 221: Aurecon Consulting Engineers 224: NSW Roads
and Traffic Authority 233: blue jean images 234: Engineers Without Borders
.252: AECOM 260: Getty Images/ Stone/ Erik Dreyer 265: NASA 271:
Newspix/ Marc Robertson 289: National Academy of Engineering 297: Photo
by Mikel024 297: iStockphoto.com/ Verity Johnson 298: Wilkinson Eyre
Architects 310: Shotover Jet, Queenstown, New Zealand 316: iStockphoto.
com/ Dainis Derics 319: SkyCity 326: iStockphoto.com/ inkastudio 332:
David Neilson 340: Ngarda Civil & Mining Pty Ltd 343: Dreamworld
347: City of Cockburn 356: Fairfax Photo Library/ Robert Pearce 362: Fairfax
Photo Library/ Rob Rough 372: iStockphoto.com/ Claudio Baba 386: Kirsten

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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