Application Of Established Engineering

Methods To Complex Engineering

Problem Solving
Last week, we finished the first part of the Professional Engineer Summary
Statement document, Knowledge and Skill base. Today we take a look at the first
element of competency of the second part of the Summary Statement
Engineering Application ability, with our first part on element
2.1: Application of established engineering methods to complex engineering
problem solving.
While the first section of the Summary Statement concerned the Knowledge and
Skills Base, the second one is in regards to the Engineering Application
Ability. This means that applicants will need to match clauses from their three
Career Episode documents that describe practical engineering work. As the title
of section 2.1 suggests, applicants are expected to highlight the cases where they
acted in the context of established engineering methods to solve complex
technical problems.

This is a very important competency as problem solving in engineering calls for

the utilization of multiple principles, and a wide spectrum of specialized
knowledge in practical engineering. This is perfectly reflected by the relatively
large number of different indicators that correspond to this element of
competency. On this first part, we will analyze and provide examples for the first
three indicators of attainment.
a.) Identifies, discerns and characterizes salient
issues, determines and analyzes causes and
effects, justifies and applies appropriate
simplifying assumptions, predicts performance
and behavior, synthesizes solution strategies and
develops substantiated conclusions.
Example: I investigated the tank overflow problem by conducting chemical
analysis of the contained liquid. This revealed water contamination which led my
investigation to the water pump that was the source of the problem.
Example: I predicted that the installation of three additional milling machines
would require 24% more electric power from the grid. Thus, I proposed the
installation of a 200 KiloWatt generator.
Example: I instructed four technicians to take position in different points of the
line and measure the output voltage. This way, I was able to find out if the drop
was because of the Ferranti effect, or due to a technical problem.
b.) Ensures that all aspects of an engineering
activity are soundly based on fundamental
principles by diagnosing, and taking appropriate
action with data, calculations, results, proposals,
processes, practices and documented information
that may be ill-founded, illogical, erroneous,
unreliable or unrealistic.
Example: I ensured that the power system was working according to the
specifications by comparing the critical operation data with the values indicated
by load to power tables found in the manufacturer's manual.

Example: The supplier didn't have available replacement gears for the product
conveyor belts, so I designed an alternative gear arrangement by calculating the
required module, teeth number and height, pitch diameter, and pressure angles.
c.) Competently addresses engineering problems involving uncertainty,
ambiguity, imprecise information and wide-ranging and sometimes conflicting
technical and non-technical factors.
Example: While the specifications of the proposed electric generator indicated
that it would cover the plant's power needs, wherever the same model was
implemented there were frequent power outages. I run a power system simulation
on ETAP and located reliability issues caused by unequal load flow.
Example: Submerging the temperature sensors in the oil tank resulted in greatly
deviating values. As I didn't have a third sensor to test and determine which one
was defective, I put both inside a jar containing hydrogen, and used a
spectrometer to find out the correct temperature.
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