Planning and Design of Engineering Systems Book

Preface     ix
Engineers in Society     1
Introduction     1
Society and its engineering infrastructure     2
Engineering in history     4
The nature and scope of engineering work     9
Engineering, science and mathematics     10
Engineering as creative problem solving     11
Engineering in the 21st Century     12
Summary     17
Problems     18
References     19
Engineering Systems Concepts     21
Dealing with complexity     21
Systems and processes     21
Modelling and analysis of systems and processes     22
Systems concepts     26
Engineering modelling     38
Engineering analysis     41
Summary     45
Problems     46
References     46
Example of state-space analysis     47
Engineering Planning and Design     51
Terminology     51
Planning and design as problem-solving processes     53
Methodology for solving open-ended problems     55
Engineering planning     58
The design process     60
Problem formulation phase     62
Feasibility study and concept design     71
Preliminary planning and design     74
Detailed planning and design     74
Implementation     75
The Solution-first strategy     75
Other aspects of planning and design     77
Example: Planning for a city water supply system     80
Problems     86
References     87
Creativity and Creative Thinking     89
Introduction     89
Creativity defined     90
The brain and its workings     91
The brain and heuristics     94
Creativity and the Eureka Moment     97
Techniques for stimulating ideas     99
Summary     108
Problems     109
References     109
Project Planning Techniques     113
Introduction     113
Historical background     114
The critical path method     114
Gantt charts     124
Resource scheduling     125
Summary     130
Problems     130
References     132
Management Processes and Skills      135
Introduction     135
Management history and process     136
Working in groups and teams     139
Leadership     140
Behavioural styles of individuals     143
Group and team development     148
Team meeting skills     151
Personal time management skills     155
Summary     157
Problems     158
References     159
The MBTI descriptions     162
The MBTI dimensions     164
Communication     167
Introduction     167
Preparing for communication     170
Active listening     172
Non-verbal communication     174
Oral presentations     177
Written communication     179
Communication in groups     185
Plagiarism     185
Summary     186
Problems     187
References     187
Economic Evaluation     189
Introduction     189
The time value of money     190
Discounting formulae     191
Evaluation criteria     201
A comparison of the evaluation criteria      204
Advantages and limitations of each criterion     209
Economic benefits     213
Economic costs     214
Cost estimation     216
Selection of project life and discount rate     217
Problems     220
References     222
Sustainability, Environmental and Social Considerations     225
Introduction     225
Sustainability     226
Planning and design for sustainability     228
Environmental considerations     231
Environmental assessment programs and techniques     233
Social impact     242
Social assessment tools and methods     246
Summary     248
Problems     249
References     251
The Battelle classification and Leopold matrix     253
Ethics and Law     257
Awareness of ethics     257
Ethics and whistle blowing     261
The legal system     263
Law of contract     265
Law of tort     267
The process of disputes     268
Legal responsibility in managing staff     270
Summary     272
Problems      273
References     274
Risk and Reliability     277
Introduction     277
Levels of risk     277
Reliability based design     279
Selection of safety coefficients     285
Reliability, resilience and vulnerability     286
Reliability of engineering components     287
System reliability     288
Summary     290
Problems     292
References     293
Engineering Decision-making     295
Introduction     295
Decision-making with certainty of outcome     297
Decision-making with risk of outcome     300
Risk aversion, risk acceptance and utility     304
Decision-making with uncertainty of outcome     308
Decision-making with competition     311
The human factor in decision-making     316
Summary     319
Problems     319
References     322
Optimisation     325
Introduction     325
Approaches to optimisation     327
Linear programming     330
Graphical solution of LP problems     331
Canonical and standard form of an LP problem      334
Basic feasible solutions     337
The simplex method     338
Some difficulties in solving LP problems     338
Examples of LP problems     342
Duality     346
Non-linear optimisation     349
Unconstrained problems using calculus     352
Separable programming     355
Dynamic programming     360
Heuristic optimisation methods     368
Summary     379
Problems     379
References     386
Necessary and sufficient conditions for the solution of unconstrained multivariate optimisation problems     388
Hydraulic analysis of pipe networks     390
Epilogue     393
Index     399