Arctic Pipeline Engineering [PDF]

Mackenzie Valley Pipeline

<<Arctic pipelining requires consideration of heat transfer, geotechnical factors and structural engineering factors. Freezing and thawing of water within soils along a route for a buried pipeline result in phenomena known as frost heave and thaw settlement. The loads resulting from frost heave and thaw settlement are considered during pipeline design, construction and operations.>>

What Makes an Engineer Good?

Mechanical Engineering Magazine

<<It happened about a half a century ago. We were a team of about five or six engineers who were working in the same office for about 10 years. This gave us ample time to learn the capabilities and shortcomings of each of us. While some of us were regarded as better performers than others, it never crossed our minds to ask why. One day, the company hired a young engineer who just graduated from a technical institute. During the introductions, the young man did not waste any time. After an exchange of names, he confronted everybody with the same question: "Tell me, what is the meaning of the expression 'good engineer'?" This question caught us completely off guard. "Why is he bothering us with such a silly question?" we asked ourselves. However this young fellow was so persistent in his quest that gradually this question became the main topic of our conversations during lunchtime.

Tower Crane Collapse

Materials Evaluation and Engineering, Inc.

<<A 300-ft tower crane collapsed onto the intersection of two major streets in downtown San Francisco during the morning rush hour. The accident fatally injured four crew members on the crane and a bus driven on the street below. Twenty-two pedestrians were also injured by falling crane pieces or flying debris.>>

Heat Exchange for Your Computer

Tom's Hardware Guide

<<DIY fun for the bored computer enthusiast - regular readers of this website should excel at this sort of project.>>

Alaska Pipeline Facts

Alyeska Pipeline Service Company

<<Excellent page.>>

The Diaphone Fog Signal

Seeing the Light

<<Interesting use of piping and air pressure: Diaphones were a once familiar sound heard throughout the Great Lakes from the early 1920s until the late 1960s / early 1970s when most lighthouses were automated.>>

Curiosity Killed the Crab - Marine Biology Department (Right-click and "save as")

Unknown

<<Underwater pipe cutting and aquatic wildlife: This is a video taken in 6000 feet of water. An undersea robot is sawing a 3 mm wide slit in a pipeline. The pressure inside the pipeline is 0 psig, while the pressure outside is 2700 psi, or 1.3 tons per square inch.>>

Water Balloon in Zero Gravity (Right-click and "save as")

NASA Microgravity

<<What happens when you puncture a balloon filled with water in zero gravity?>>

Internet Finite Element resources

Roger Young and Ian MacPhedran

<<This document describes and provides access to FE software via the Internet. The main index follows this introduction. We list all public domain and shareware programs which have come to our notice, and a selection of pointers to commercial packages. We also include references to useful URL's, ftp sites, newsgroups, listservers, bulletin boards etc, and to some books which contain source code.>>

The Calculus of Design

Ducati.com

<<Once upon a time, engineers could consider themselves true alchemists. Experience was in fact the basis for the consolidated theories that they planned their projects on. It was the only means of checking the validity of new hypotheses. As time went by, especially after the revolution begun by Galileo, the contribution of mathematicians and physicists was of great importance to engineering. They supplied equations for better and better descriptions of physical phenomena while at the same time excellent measuring instruments were being developed. >>

Tube Bending Primer

Tubular Solutions, Inc.

<<The original method of manual bending began with human power. Although bending a tube by hand is very economical, it is not conducive to higher production rates, quality or repeatability. To counter the adverse effects of bending strictly by hand, basic die sets with a mechanical method of producing leverage were developed. This increases the quality of the bend and the production rates attainable, as well as, decreasing the human power required. Although machines have been built with the leverage to handle 2" pipe, hand benders are generally suited for 1" or smaller tubing.>>

Petroleum Refining Process

Agilent Technologies

<<Numbers in the process map correspond to the compounds listed in the table below.>>

Engineering Gets No Respect

Chemical Processing Magazine

<<In recent years, business has minimized engineering, believing in-house engineering can be replaced by software, a booklet or outside consultants. The motto of the times is "no respect for engineering." Actually, the last decade will be known as the decade we lost engineering. You can see it in all the downsizing and rightsizing. This "no-respect-for-engineering" phenomenon has been going on for some time. It is time that it stopped. Business needs to stop picking on engineering.>>

Safety & Submarine Design

U.S. Submarines, Inc.

<<There are a number of important criteria useful in evaluating passenger submarine design, but the first question asked by a prospective customer is "Are they safe?">>

Hand Sketching

Ron Graham

<<This summary results from an inquiry to newsgroup sci.engr by Ben Crane for "alternatives in training mechanical design engineers in the art of hand sketching." As he saw it, the choices were as follows: 1) have an engineering instructor teach basic drawing classes on-site, 2) hire an artist with perspective drawing specialty to conduct the training.>>

Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters - Job Statistics

U.S. Department of Labor

<<Most people are familiar with plumbers who come to their home to unclog a drain or install an appliance. In addition to these activities, however, plumbers, pipefitters, and steamfitters install, maintain, and repair many different types of pipe systems. For example, some systems move water to a municipal water treatment plant and then to residential, commercial, and public buildings. Other systems dispose of waste, provide gas to stoves and furnaces, or supply air-conditioning. Pipe systems in power plants carry the steam that powers huge turbines. Pipes also are used in manufacturing plants to move material through the production process.>>

Energy Management-Campus Facilities (Cute Detailed Animation)

Curators of the University of Missouri-Columbia

Refining Demystified (includes photos and diagrams - excellent)

Ashland Inc.

<<Spread out over a number of acres, a refinery is a remarkable maze of metal, machinery and manpower. Towers, tanks, process vessels, pipelines, pumps, heat exchangers and compressors are just some of the components of a modern refinery. Operators, engineers, researchers, technicians, craftsmen and maintenance personnel are among those needed to keep a refinery running round-the-clock. A refinery consists of a number of different units, each with a specific purpose, integrated into a processing sequence.>>

The Ship Draughtsman

Colin Tipping

<<Since the development of iron shipbuilding in the late nineteenth century, ship draughtsmen have made a considerable contribution to the growth of the industry both nationally and regionally. Because of their expertise in design and construction, they were also able to move into other disciplines, to take up senior management positions, and provide staff for the world’s marine classification and regulatory bodies. With the considerable technical advances and commercial and political changes in the industry since 1945, the job of ship draughtsman underwent radical changes. This paper, based on the author’s personal experience in the Tyne and Wear shipyards of the north-east of England, will examine the technical factors to show how this particular group of shipyard workers changed from skilled craftsmen to a less demanding role.>>