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Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering at the

University of Pretoria

www.me.up.ac.za

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Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering

The application of maths and science to design, develop, manufacture and maintain mechanical equipment to meet the

needs of society

Types of Mechanical Engineers

Theoretician Researcher

Design Engineer Development Engineer

Industrial/Process Engineer Manufacturing Engineer

Maintenance Engineer Project Engineer

Other (financial) Management

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Where do Mechanical Engineers Work?

• Private Industry

Amplats, BMW, Panasonic, Aerosud, Boeing SA, Toyota, SAFAIR, Bosch, Kumba, Mittal, Columbus Stainless, Aerosud, IST, Carrier, Siemens, GEA Aircooled Systems, Bell Equipment, BHP Billiton, Anglo-Platinum, Ansys Fluent, Oracle, Vodacom, Steinmuller, AMT Composites, etc.• Government Services and Corporations

Denel, Eskom, SAA, SAAF, Telkom, Sasol, CSIR, NECSA, PBMR, etc.• Consulting Engineers

LTA, DRA, MMS Technologies, Hatch Africa, Babcock, IST, etc.• Almost all sectors of economy: Chemical, Mining, Manufacturing, Process, Car/Aircraft Manufacturing, Defence, Aeronautical Industry, Corporate, Banking, Stock Exchange, …• Tertiary Education / Research (University of Pretoria, CSIR, etc.)• Own Business (Entrepreneur)

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Who Becomes a Mechanical Engineer?

• Comfortable with mathematics and science

• Creative ability, Critical thinker

• Enjoy a challenge

• Hard working

• Perseverance

• Organisational abilities and good inter-personal relationships

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Women as Engineers?

• Why not?• You work with you brain not physical strength• At present 20 to 40% are women• Better communicators• Better project leaders/managers• Doing just as well and even better than men• Some of our best students are women• We want 50% (and more) of our students to be women

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Disciplines in MechanicalEngineering

• Structural mechanics• Thermodynamics• Fluid mechanics• Dynamics and control• Design Specialisation at the UP:

• Aeronautical Engineering• Maintenance Engineering• Automotive Engineering• Nuclear Engineering (from July 2009)

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Structural MechanicsStructural mechanics deals with the analysis of the influence of forces on structures and includes the deformation and failure of mechanical structures. Simple as well as very sophisticated computer based finite element methods are used.

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Thermodynamics

Dr Mahmood- Compressed air inside airfoil

& surface film cover- Vortex flow: aerodynamic

loss reduction

Dr Mahmood- Compressed air inside airfoil

& surface film cover- Vortex flow: aerodynamic

loss reduction

Thermodynamics is the study of energy, heat and work. It also deals with the conversion of energy from one form (e.g. coal) to another (e.g. heat, steam, electricity).

Air-cooled heat exchanger (2008 / 9)Gas turbine blade cooling(2008 - )

Electronics cooling

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Fluid MechanicsFluid mechanics is applied wherever the behaviour of fluids is of engineering interest. Examples include flow over aircraft wings, vehicle aerodynamics, vehicle engine flow processes, building ventilation, flow boiling inside pipes, etc.

Refrigerant R-134a condensing inside a tube-in-tube heat exchanger (2008 - )

Air flow over a SA Navy corvette (2007)

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Dynamics and ControlDynamics deals with the motion of structures under the influence of forces. Where a particular dynamic response is desired, control algorithms may be employed to get the system response in accordance with what is desired.

Conversion of Land Rover to fully-autonomous vehicle (2008/9)

Dynamic road-load simulation

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DesignDesign is the activity that draws on the knowledge gained in the rest of the engineering disciplines with the aim to create new products, machines, technologies and services.

Chute design for open-cast mining operation

Mine roof support system

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Aeronautical EngineeringThe aeronautical engineer is able to predict the aerodynamic forces on bodies such as wings, rotor blades, car bodies, etc. He/she is involved in aerodynamics, airframe structures, aircraft propulsion and control during the development of aircraft.

Development of glider for deployment of special forces(2006)

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Maintenance EngineeringMaintenance Engineering is the study of machines and systems with the purpose to increase the availability and reliability of these machines and or systems. It is also involved with the study of failure and how to best devise a corrective strategy if failure occurs.

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Automotive EngineeringIn Automotive Engineering, basic Mechanical Engineering principles are applied to design and improve cars, trucks and almost everything else that move on wheels.

Diesel research

Computerised hydro-pneumatic suspension system (2007 - )

Special fluids cargo carrier (2004)

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Typical Mechanical/Aeronautical Projects

Pebble bed nuclear reactor Conventional (steam, hydro, gas turbine) power

stations Air- and water conditioning systems Bio-medical equipment Mining equipment Military equipment Design and development of land, sea, and air

vehicles (Airbus A400M, Boeing 777, Bell heavy vehicles, catamarans, unmanned aerial vehicles)

Petrochemical processes and equipment

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Structures

Mobile bridge that is able to carry military equipment of mass up to 70 ton (tank with ammunition) over obstacles. This equipment can also be used for disaster relief: Role of mechanical engineer

•Design

•Manufacturing

•Testing

•Maintenance

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Medical equipment / implants

All medical devices, equipment or implants, involve mechanical engineering

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Medical equipment / implantsDesign and manufacturing of tools and equipment used by medical profession. Here is an example where special equipment was manufactured to repair the broken tusk of an elephant (2005)

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Biomedical equipment

Bio-artificial liver support system (2006 - )

Specialised surgery tools

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Construction equipmentThe role of the mechanical engineer with this type of equipment is as follows

•Design of equipment

•Manufacturing of equipment

•Testing

•Maintenance of equipment

•Management of equipment

These photographs depict the largest mobile feed-mixer in the world. Designed, built, used and maintained in South Africa

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Mining equipmentShown is a monster of the mining industry, namely a “dragline”. This machine is capable of moving 120 m3

(2.5 big domestic swimming pools) or 360 tons (± 400 VW Polo’s) of gravel in a single scoop. The role of the mechanical engineer:

•Design

•Manufacture

•Testing

•Maintain

•Manage

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Analysis of systems or structures

A major part of the work of a mechanical engineer is analysis of systems and or structures. Shown is an example of an analysis done on an underground mining machine, tested for the effect falling rock (2007 - )

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Analysis of complex systems

Analysis of flow around bat’s wings, for application in mini- and micro unmanned aerial vehicles (2008 - )

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Aeronautics

Design and development of a human-powered vehicle moving on a railway track, at 135 km/h, (2009 - )

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AeronauticsShown is the turbine-compressor section of a small-scale (5 kW) gas turbine, developed by the UP, (2008). Role of mechanical/aeronautical engineer

•Design of components – various systems and subsystems

•Design of manufacturing tooling and equipment

•Simulation and Testing

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AeronauticsLow-speed aerodynamics: The role of mechanical/ aeronautical engineers

•Design of small aircraft

•Manufacturing of components and systems

•Simulation and testing

•Management of programme

UP Mini-UAV (2007 - )

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AeronauticsShown is the Seeker II unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) where the mechanical/aeronautical engineer will be responsible for:

•Design

•Manufacturing

•Testing

•Maintenance

UP-Quiet Propeller designed for Denel Dynamics, for Seeker II UAV

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Opportunities for mechanical & aeronautical engineers

“Overwhelming demand for engineers” (Business Times Careers 29 Jan 2008). Third of all positions advertised in the Sunday Times over the past 6 months were for engineers

All industries (mechanical, chemical, mining, manufacturing, motorcar, aeronautics, defence, banking, stock exchange, consulting, construction, etc.)

Lots of advertisements for local talent from various countries: Saudi Arabia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc.

Companies: Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Boeing, NASA, …