Undergraduate Calendar 1998-1999 | ![]() |
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The scope of Mechanical Engineering is so wide and its services so universally needed as a basic part of all kinds of engineering work that the mechanical engineer is in demand in all industries. Mechanical engineers are required in the field of power generation, where they deal with steam, diesel or other internal combustion engines, and with hydraulic or gas turbines; in the field of heating, ventilation and refrigeration; in the design, analysis, and production of machines and equipment, for example, safety equipment, material handling equipment, automobiles, locomotives, marine vessels, furnaces, boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, motors, generators and machine tools. They are employed in industries whose function is concerned with manufacturing, steel production, mining, transportation, communications, oil refining, chemical manufacture, paper, sugar, textiles, aerospace, nuclear energy, natural gas production and transmission and construction. The undergraduate program in Mechanical Engineering is designed to provide the student with a firm grasp of the fundamentals of mathematics, physics and engineering as well as to provide some opportunity for specialization in the later years. The degree of BASc in Mechanical Engineering is accredited and permits registration as a Professional Engineer in the Professional Engineering Organization in almost any Canadian province upon completion of the work experience requirement and upon passing the Association exams in law and ethics.
The Mechanical Engineering undergraduate program contains a core of basic subjects that must be taken by all students. The first year shares many courses with Civil and Electrical Engineering. The second and third years provide courses in Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering with further development in mathematics and physics. Opportunities for specialization exist during the fourth year, where a choice of elective courses arranged into six different areas of specialization is available. Non-technical (complementary studies) courses are distributed throughout the program but do not appear in all years.
Each student is responsible for selecting their own program of electives, in keeping with the ultimate career objective after graduation. Each term, certain faculty members are designated to give advice to students and to approve their selection. It is anticipated, and indeed encouraged, that individual students should take a majority of their technical electives from one of the areas of specialization listed below:
The courses in this area of specialization deal with a broad range of applications of the principles of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, with emphasis on topics of industrial significance, for example, aerodynamics, internal flows with heat and mass transfer, turbomachinery, and flows in the natural environment such as plumes in air and effluents in water. Many courses in fluid mechanics and thermal engineering are closely linked.
The courses offered in this area of specialization range from those which provide the mathematical and physical basis of the subject matter through to those which are largely applied in nature. Subjects treated are: mechanics (including vibrations); theories of elasticity, plasticity and fracture; machine design and design optimization.
This area of specialization consists of a comprehensive series of courses in metallurgy, including heat treatment, casting, welding, cold and hot forming. Nonmetallic materials, including plastics and ceramics, and composites such as fiberglass and sandwich structures are also considered.
The courses in this area of specialization are designed to provide the student with an understanding of the principles and control of production processes, the application of computers to the manufacturing activity and the organization of production. Topics treated are: automation, metal forming, numerical control of machine tools, applications of fluid power and industrial noise control.
The courses in this area of specialization develop and apply the principles of thermodynamics, heat transfer (conduction, convection, radiation), and fluid mechanics to such topics as combustion; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning of buildings; and energy conversion. Many courses in fluid mechanics and thermal engineering are closely linked.
A student may acquire a BASc in Mechanical Engineering with an Option
in Management Sciences by completing seven specific Management Sciences
courses as electives. Students interested in this Designated Option must
carefully plan their choice of complementary studies courses very early
in order to ensure that the complementary studies requirements will be
met.
During the term, certain faculty members are designated to give advice to students. A student who has an unusual career goal in mind should discuss choices with one of the designated faculty members, since it is possible to combine courses from different areas of specialization, to take courses from other departments and in some circumstances take graduate-level courses. Students who are contemplating graduate study are particularly urged to discuss their plans with the appropriate faculty member.
As a guide, typical lists of elective courses for the six areas of specialization within the Department of Mechanical Engineering are given below:
++Course is part of the Mechanical Engineering core program
* Complementary Studies course
The Mechanical Engineering curriculum structure is summarized in the following table:
| Term | Courses | ||||||||
| 1A (F) |
CH E 102 | GEN E 163 | MATH 117 | MATH 115 | PHYS 115 | GEN E 170 | |||
| 1B (W,S) |
GEN E 121 | M E 123 | MATH 118 | M E 215 | PHYS 125 | M SCI 261 | WKRPT 100* | ||
| 2A (F,W) |
M E 200A | M E 201 | M E 202 | M E 330 | M E 219 | M E 269 | 1 CSE | WKRPT 100# | |
| 2B (S,F) |
M E 200B | M E 203 | M E 212 | M E 220 | M E 250 | M E 262 | WKRPT 200* | ||
| 3A (W,S) |
M E 300A | M E 303 | M E 321 | M E 340 | M E 351 | M E 354 | WKRPT 200# WKRPT 300* |
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| 3B (F,W) |
M E 300B | M E 322 | M E 353 | M E 360 | M E 362 | 1 CSE | WKRPT 300# | ||
| 4A (S,F) |
M E 400A | 4 TECH ELECT++ |
1 CSE | WKRPT 400* WKRPT 400# |
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| 4B (W) |
M E 400B | 5 TECH ELECT++ |
1 CSE | ||||||
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The Undergraduate Calendar is published by the
Office of the Registrar, University of Waterloo,
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1 Canada
Inquiries: infoucal@www.adm.uwaterloo.ca
Revised February 1998