Engineering flashcards

What this deck covers

• Unit 3: Civil structures (45 cards, 11 dot points)

  • Beams, shear force and bending moments for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (6)
  • Dead, live and environmental loads on structures for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (3)
  • Factor of safety and working stress for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (4)
  • Forces, equilibrium and free-body diagrams for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (4)
  • Material properties and selection for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (3)
  • Material testing methods for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (3)
  • Moments and support reactions for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (4)
  • Reading the stress-strain diagram for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (3)
  • Stress, strain and Young's modulus for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (6)
  • Truss analysis and the method of joints for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (4)
  • Types of civil structures and structural form for QCE Engineering Unit 3 (5)
• Unit 4: Machines and mechanisms (31 cards, 10 dot points)

  • Belt and chain drives for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (3)
  • Cams and followers for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (2)
  • Gears, gear ratios and mechanisms for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (4)
  • Levers and simple machines for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (2)
  • Linkages and four-bar mechanisms for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (2)
  • Machine control systems for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (2)
  • Mechanical advantage, velocity ratio and efficiency for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (4)
  • The engineering problem-solving process for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (2)
  • The four types of motion for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (6)
  • Torque and rotational power for QCE Engineering Unit 4 (4)

Sample cards from this deck

1. Definition

   Beams, shear force and bending moments for QCE Engineering Unit 3

   Define Bending moment

   $M$: the net turning effect about the section, tending to curve the beam.

2. Definition

   The four types of motion for QCE Engineering Unit 4

   Define Linear motion

   Linear motion is travel in a straight line in a single direction, such as a lift rising or a conveyor belt carrying boxes. The whole body moves the same distance in the same direction.

3. Definition

   Material properties and selection for QCE Engineering Unit 3

   Define Stiffness

   Resistance to elastic deformation, measured by Young's modulus $E = \sigma/\varepsilon$. A stiff material deflects little under load. Stiffness and strength are separate: a material can be stiff yet weak, or compliant yet strong.

4. Key fact

   Belt and chain drives for QCE Engineering Unit 4

   Tell me about Direction and configuration

   In an open-belt drive the two shafts rotate in the same direction. Crossing the belt in a figure-eight reverses the driven shaft's direction.

5. Definition

   Stress, strain and Young's modulus for QCE Engineering Unit 3

   Define Linear elastic region

   A straight line through the origin. Stress is proportional to strain and the gradient equals $E$.

6. Key fact

   Cams and followers for QCE Engineering Unit 4

   Tell me about How a cam and follower works

   A cam is a non-circular or off-centre rotating part. A follower rests against its profile, held in contact by a spring or by gravity.

7. Definition

   Types of civil structures and structural form for QCE Engineering Unit 3

   Define Function

   What must the structure do? A road bridge, a water tank and a grandstand have very different load and space requirements.

8. Key fact

   The engineering problem-solving process for QCE Engineering Unit 4

   Tell me about An iterative process, not a recipe

   The engineering problem-solving process is a structured but iterative approach. Engineers rarely move cleanly from start to finish; they loop back when testing reveals a weakness.

9. Key fact

   Factor of safety and working stress for QCE Engineering Unit 3

   Tell me about Defining the factor of safety

   The failure stress depends on the material and how it fails. For a ductile metal, failure is usually taken as the yield stress, because permanent deformation makes the structure unfit for use.

10. Key fact

    Gears, gear ratios and mechanisms for QCE Engineering Unit 4

    Tell me about Gear ratio from tooth counts

    When two gears mesh, the number of teeth fixes how their rotations relate. A larger driven gear gives $GR > 1$, called a gear reduction.