Preface

Background

In 1988, a group of faculty members at Texas A&M University began work on a new integrated curriculum to replace the core engineering science courses in a typical curriculum. The result was an interdisciplinary sequence of four courses called the Texas A&M/NSF Engineering Core Curriculum\(^3\) and organized around what they called the conservation and accounting principle. Glover, Lundsford, and Fleming produced an introductory textbook\(^4\) that used this approach. More recently Holtzapple and Reece have introduced this approach in a freshman text.\(^5\) Recently, the author has also learned of a similar approach being promoted and developed by Prof. W. C. Reynolds at Stanford University for a course called ME10: Introduction to Engineering Analysis.\(^6\) Calls to consider a systems approach have also come from physicists.\(^{7, \ 8}\)

In 1993, seven schools came together as the Foundation Coalition (FC) under the auspices of the NSF Engineering Education Coalitions Program. One of the major thrusts of the FC was curriculum integration. Building on the earlier work at Texas A&M, Rose-Hulman developed a new sophomore engineering curriculum—the Rose-Hulman/Foundation-Coalition Sophomore Engineering Curriculum (SEC). The curriculum is currently required for all Rose-Hulman students majoring in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and computer engineering.

The Sophomore Engineering Curriculum

The SEC is a required, eight-course\(^9\) sequence of engineering science and mathematics courses completed during the sophomore year. The SEC covers material traditionally taught in dynamics, fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, electrical circuits, system dynamics, differential equations, matrix algebra, and statistics. Two faculty-student teams developed the curriculum and its content during the summers of 1994 and 1995. The curriculum was first taught in the fall of 1995. Currently the SEC consists of the eight courses shown in the table below:

One of the unique features of the SEC is the 1–3–1 sequence for the engineering science courses. The sequence starts with the general course ES 201 in the fall. In the winter, the courses are more discipline/phenomena specific with ES 202, 203, and 204. Finally in the spring, the focus again becomes more general with ES 205.

This Textbook

This textbook is based on over five years of experience in teaching the first engineering science course in the SEC, called ES 201: Conservation and Accounting Principles. ES 201 is taken during the first quarter of the sophomore year and introduces the systems, accounting, and modeling approach as the basis for engineering analysis. The content of ES 201 as mapped to traditional engineering science courses is shown in the table below:

After a general discussion of the approach in the first two chapters, six fundamental physical laws are formulated using the systems and accounting framework. The fundamental laws are related to six extensive properties—mass, charge, linear momentum, angular momentum, energy, and entropy. In each case, the physical law is introduced by answering four questions about the pertinent extensive property:

• What is the property in question?
• How can it be stored in a system?
• How can it be transported across the system boundary?
• How can it be generated or consumed inside the system?

The answers to these questions provide the information to formulate each law within a systems and accounting framework. Once these questions are answered, the behavior of the property for a system can be described using an accounting (or balance) equation. All but one of the physical laws are conservation principles. Although not a conservation principle, the sixth law (entropy accounting) is important because entropy can only be produced or in the limit of an internally reversible process conserved. A summary of the basic physical laws formulated in the systems and accounting framework can be found in the appendix.

Once the governing equations are developed the emphasis shifts to the analysis of system behavior. With the basic laws formulated in a consistent fashion, the problem becomes one of identifying the appropriate system, selecting and applying the pertinent accounting equations, and constructing a problem specific model. Throughout the text a consistent problem solving approach is emphasized regardless of the underlying physical laws. Again this is based on a series of generic questions as shown in the tables below:

This is another benefit of using the systems and accounting framework to organize the material. As an example, all problems involving linear momentum begin from the conservation of linear momentum equation. From this single starting point, problem specific forms can be obtained by applying appropriate modeling assumptions, e.g. closed vs. open system and transient vs. steady state vs. finite time. Using appropriate, problem-specific assumptions, we can quickly recover any of the "standard" forms, e.g. \(F = ma\), \(\sum F = 0\), the impulse-momentum equation, and the steady-state linear momentum balance for fluid mechanics. In each case, the emphasis is not on the final form of the equation but on the modeling assumptions and how they change the basic equations.

A Request of Students and Faculty

As the first effort to generate a complete textbook from a mushrooming set of notes, there are surely errors and omissions in the text. For these the author takes full credit and asks your help in identifying mistakes in this text. To eliminate these in future editions, you are encouraged to contact the author directly with any errors or omissions you identify.

You are also encouraged to contact the author and share your views about the systems, accounting, and modeling approach that forms the basis for this text. It is the author’s firm belief that this approach has much to contribute to engineering education and that we have only begun to explore and exploit its potential impact. A major strength of the approach is in how it forms a foundation for advanced work. Faculty members are encouraged to explore how they can use what students learn from this text as a springboard to learning in related and advanced courses.