Engineering

How massive has the support legs/columns have to be on a mile deep ocean to support the facilities platform and rough seas ? This is four times the world trade center building height On its collapse, the sea floor would be a unbelievable maze of twisted steel beams; or how does the anchoring works, is it floating with many anchors around ? Did the fire in the gulf sank the platform and collapsed the support towers? http://www.bp.com/genericarticle.do?categoryId=9013609&contentId=7021443

basically every day my mom has to drive half an hour through an area that has a lot of feedlots (concentrated cows). and needless to say, it smells. Is there some way to install a filter of some sort into her ventilation system to try to remove at least a good portion of the odours wafting into the cabin? thanks. It's a 2010 Hyunda Elantra.

Hi all, hope someone can help, Im doing highspeed photography involving freezing the action of pellets hitting objects. At the moment im using a conventional dj strobe light as the flash source, but the flash duration is too long, so im still getting image blur, because of the afterglow of the xenon flash tube. could anyone put together a microflash involving 20kv spark gap to be used as the flash source.... see links below for example and schematics of what im trying to achieve.........http://people.rit.edu/andpph/text-microflash-549-manual.pdf schematics of a micro flash........http://www.flickr.com/photos/8763834@N02/4037708766/in/set-72157621620898031/ …

Hi everyone I am working on my graduation project which is hovercraft, and i am using integerated system. The fan i got is 80 cm dia. and has 5 blades and the available power is 13 hp @ 3600 rpm. I am sure that it is going to produce a good thrust, but here i am worried about the lift, i want a pressure of about 0.0091 bar ( gauge ), and i dont know any data about this fan, so i was asking: how can i calculate the pressure ratio of this fan in terms of power, speed, blade cross section and diameter to know if the lift will be succsesful or not. I am also sure that it will produce the required flow rate, but here i am concern about the pressure. please need…

Dear All, I am a slightly anxious person and can never withstand a certain diversion in interview processes.My dilemma is as following: 2 months ago I applied for a PhD (for a research project in an university with industrial collaboration and confidentiality) in Belgium ad after the tough process of PhD proposal, selection and interview with my professor I was selected by him last Sunday. But he mentioned a 'BUT' in the selection mentioning he needs the approval of my candidature from the company's CEO. This clause was not mentioned in the interview selection process initially. However I understand this legality as it is a confidential project of the company…

Hi everyone I am building a hovercraft, and it is very important to make it balance when moving forward, it is very easy to determine the center of gravity at rest, but when start moving the CG gets shifted to another point ( i think it will be shifted backward ), so i need to determine this new point at a certain craft speed to balance the weights on the craft. please need help...

Hydrogen produced from water disassociation by mean of a electrical current has been known from at least 150 year. The hydrogen is one of the most powerful fuels and the same time the most economical to produce and almost infinitely available, just think in all the water in the world. The combustion of a motor running with hydrogen produces water vapor and some oxygen compound as combustion products, plus additional oxygen from the water disassociation. I think that among all the alternative energies, the most economical and efficient would be the hydrogen produced from water on demand, at least for transportation, that what is your opinion? Unfortunately seems that thi…

This site contains many links to audio and video lectures in mechanical engineering from colleges/universities around the world. http://www.infocobuild.com/education/audio-video-courses/mechanical-engineering/mechanical-engineering.html The lectures cover various topics in mechanical engineering such as fluid mechanics, dynamics of machines, heat and mass transfer, and kinematics of machines.

Want to build a Stirling Cycle engine as a test mule for alternative power production. To get started, I'm looking for design specifics such as optimum temperature differential, best volume ratios for hot side compared to cold side. these seem like they should be simple but I can't find anything saying so. Hot side to cold side volume: should it be a simple 1 to 1 ratio or in practice does a slightly different ratio work better? Is a larger temperature differential always better of is there a efficiency sweet spot? Lots more question but answers to these would provide a great starting spot.

If you watch CNN about NASA payload is always the problem.The government is always looking at new material to make it strong and lightweight.. Well fuel is big problem it TAKES more fuel than the payload !!! I'm sure in the future we will have strong and lightweight material and advances in chemistry and nanotechnology will help. But the big problem is fuel .It takes more fuel than the payload . Ion rockets or plasma rockets have low thrust .So as of right now, they could never lift anything from earth do to the low thrust . Not sure about nuclear or fusion but I think they have low thrust too.Well Ion rockets , plasma rockets , nuclear or fusion have long…

I really wish this thing had been built because it seems so "alternate dimension Command & Conquer Red alert" cool. It just seems incredibly impractical at the same time - Considering plans were drawn up to build one, would it have actually been possible to make it move if it ever had seen the light of day? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landkreuzer_P._1000_Ratte

Hi All, I am new to the forum who is looking for a PhD in engineering. I recently had 2 interviews last week. They were chats about the job and a question or two about my previous work. I was pretty confident at both interviews as I had worked in that field for my research and thesis. They were pretty friendly and complemented me on my presentation at one interview and my work in the other (as it was a telephonic interview). One of the interviews even said I put a lot of thought in the position. Finally, both interviewers said, it is difficult to find the right candidates and if you do not get this position would you consider another position which should ope…

There was that day when i got curious, and asked myself whether we could have a car like model to float and move in water as near as a car does on road. Well i had to construct a small model to ascertain this proposition. In place of tyres I used light weight closed cans fixed with two blades each, then i connected rear cans with motor to turn them at a small speed.The maniac floated and also moved nicely. The question now comes, can this model be perfected to have a water car used for sports, leisure or tour?i think this can be made possible,I want you guys to give your critiques and suggestions on this. Those who would want to know more on this, just send me a private m…

Hello everyone, I'm just wondering if anyone has any experience working with Fluid Mechanics. I mean, I'm not taking these classes yet, I just want to know general information about it. I know it deals with fluids (eg. liquids, gases, and plasmas) and the forces they interact with. Anyone have any more information or any comments on Fluid Mechanics?

Building and maintaining a permanently manned base on the moon, or the same for a permanently manned base on the ocean floor? What would be the benefits of having either?

How much power could I extract from body heat using a TEC? I don't need much(just powering some LEDs).

Dear All, I have designed and made my own variable power supply but i need to test it if it's working or not but i don't have a meter to do it. Do any of you have any suggestions for me on how to test my power supply with household items. Please hurry it's urgent !

Could you model a house as to generate its own electricity via algae biodiesel and solar power? I thought if you could make an efficient system that could produce up to 500 gallons a month you could power not only a vehicle but a majority of home electricity use for a small group of people, possibly even just a dyad. I would think you could work this in with a couple of pet animals, possibly chickens or what not for example. You could process it along with algal specie selection so that the algae could also be feed, and the animal manure could be feed along with CO2 scrubbed from a generator, or possibly just piped in indirectly. I know you cant make modifi…

This is my first attempt at a thread here at SFN.I've been lurking around for a while,satisfying my curiosity reading and using the search function.It was recommended to me to first present my question in the engineering section,but possibly not limited to it. I'm a long time pool player,roughly 35-40 years.I'm a student of the game.Being a student I cannot go through a day without asking questions of how things work and why.Billiard games have been around for hundreds of years.The effects on a table are heavily governed by the laws of physics and geometry and have been written about extensively.My physical skills are diminishing,but my thirst for more definable under…

http://www.uoguelph.ca/~antoon/circ/vps.htm I am planning to build a power supply as shown in the above page. Only there are 2 problems... 1. The power supply is rated at 1.5A, I want it to work at 5A or atleast 3A so what modifications should I make? 2. I don't have a voltmeter so I want to know if I can use some ICs to hook it up to a 7-segment LED for a digital readout? (Doesn't matter however complex)

Hello, I am currently majoring in computer engineering, Mathematical Sciences and Physics from University of Memphis. Though its an average University, I am pretty comfortable here and my current GPA is 3.70. Well I plan to do my masters in Computer engineering and then PhD after that. University of Memphis offers a 3 year integrated program for MS + PhD. I feel comfortable here , so should I continue My Masters from my current university only? or should I aim for a better institution? If I am good at something, wont I be successful based on my skills than based on a university? And My another question is , If I plan to do MBA along with my MS and Phd, Will it be of a…

Have many scientists thought about making a space gate? Something that looks like this: So, how about this... We mock the way a black hole works, control its suction and speed, and setup an artificial black hole that sucks up a ship, but lets it go, thus propelling it enough to reach a distance. (image source: http://www.exchange3d.com/cubecart/aircraft-spacecraft/space-gate-3d-model/prod_9526.html) Another idea I had was if we could combine two of those, have them link up, and then have them create a vacuum to make the object pass through the tunnel almost as fast as light.

To keep it simple stupid, how about a simple mechanical failsafe device? The throttle cannot operate without the gas peddle being pushed down. If the throttle goes haywire and accelerates on it's own, the mechanical dampening device would detect that there is no pressure down on the gas peddle and thus disengage the throttle.

I got this idea after the Indonesian tsunami disaster. Since these people cannot find high ground, they should build their house with a simple wooden barge on the roof. The barge would be enclosed like a submarine and have a hatch. When the tsunami alert sounds, everybody climbs up a ladder onto their roofs and get inside the barge and seal the hatch. When the wave comes and it tears down their house they will be safe inside their barge to float around like Noah's Ark.

Are there any alternatives to Autodesk inventor, a mechanical CAD program that is capable of simulating the stresses applied to the object (maybe fluid dynamics and combustion simulation, but I'm not holding my breath)? Because Autodesk inventor seems like a good program, but I want to see if there are any other programs that will compare, possibly Macintosh compatible. thanks.