In Taiwan, a huge 140 meter (459 feet) bridge collapsed in October of 2019, the event is known as the “Taiwan Bridge Collapse”. The oil tanker that was traversing the bridge at the time fell into the water and caused a fire when it struck three fishing boats that were below the bridge. This resulted …
Taiwan Bridge Collapse: A Recent Disaster That Could Have Been Avoided Read More »
Mechanical Engineering Games are somewhat rate, however, there are plently of games that can be used by mechanical engineers as an alternative way to learn, and as a way to let off some steam in between projects, classes or anything else they may be working on. We have included the games that have engineering concepts …
Mechanical Engineering Games: Fun for Engineers! Read More »
You’ll have to be an engineer to laugh at these engineer jokes! We’ve searched around and gathered some of the funnies mechanical engineering jokes and memes for you and perhaps our favourite anecdote of all time. Enjoy! When the general public thinks about mechanical engineers, I’m sure the first thing they think about is the …
Best Engineering Jokes, Puns, Memes and Anecdotes Read More »
Engineering disasters. Why do they happen? Let’s look at most famous engineering disasters and the circumstances preceding them. Engineers must study these in order to prevent catastrophes like these from reoccurring. Engineering processes have vastly improved in recent times and especially in the last 100 years, however the journey to get to where we are …
Engineering Disasters: 25 of the Worst Engineering Failures on Record! Read More »
Sometimes engineers underestimate the power of resonance and positive feedback phenomena, when a small disturbance is exacerbrated through the feedback loop, resulting in a disaster.A great example of this phenomena is the infamous Millennium Bridge, nicknamed it the “Wobbly Bridge”. Due to the structure of the bridge, with the cable supports at the side rather …
What better time than the New Year to reflect on the ups and downs of the last twelve months? Hopefully, there are many achievements and great memories to look back on, but we probably also have a few regrets and some instances where we could have done better. So, with that in mind, it’s time …
Top 5 New Year’s Resolutions That Mechanical Designers Never Fulfill Read More »
You may have thought about or discussed the question: Which invention has saved the most lives throughout human history? The field of medicine has many claims on this. Vaccines, blood transfusions, and antibiotics are probably near the top. Within sanitation, there are some big arguments for antiseptics and toilets that drastically reduced the spread of …
Seriously, you won’t believe some of these mechanical engineering bodges. You’ll be intrigued, flabbergasted and horrified in equal measures at these bodges that ended in catastrophe. 1. Titanic (1912) Everyone knows that the maiden voyage of the Titanic didn’t go quite as planned. The captain was blamed for poor navigation and traveling at a speed …
Whether you’re a seasoned engineer or a wet-behind-the-ears novice, there are some immutable laws that must be followed to produce a good mechanical design. If you don’t follow them, you’ll be sentenced to eternal hellfire and damnation. Either that, or you’ll find yourself having to do lots of redesigning and pulling out of hair. So, …
Have you got your tablet of stone and hammer and chisel at the ready? Ok, so these are the 7 deadly sins, not the 10 commandments, but you get the idea. You don’t want to make these mistakes in your career if you can possibly avoid them. In this article, we’ve outlined some of the …
The Chernobyl accident was a nuclear explosion which took place at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in the city of Pripyat during the time of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). The Chernobyl incident is one of only two nuclear disasters classified as a level 7 event (the maximum classification) on …
What Caused the Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster: In Detail Read More »
In 1981, a walkway in the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Kansas City collapsed, killing 114 people and injuring 200 more. A change in the original design of a series of walkways suspended above the lobby’s hotel led to a connection failure. The original design had all of the walkways suspended from the ceiling with steel …
Engineering Disasters: Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse (1981) Read More »
The Cleveland East Ohio tragedy occurred on Friday, October 20, 1944. At 2:30 p.m., laboratory workers at the East Ohio Gas Company spotted white vapour coming out of above-ground storage tank number 4, a liquefied natural gas (LNG) tank at the gas company’s Lake Erie tank farm. Gas was flowing from the tank and wind …
Engineering Disasters: Cleveland East Ohio Gas Explosion (1944) Read More »
This short article covers the circumstances surrounding the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003 and the steps taken to correct the root cause of the accident. Space Shuttle Columbia broke up on re-entry On February 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia broke up as it returned to earth’s, killing the seven astronauts on board. The investigation …
Engineering Disasters: Space Shuttle Columbia (2003) Read More »
The Tacoma Narrows Bridge opened to traffic on July 1, 1940 and collapsed into Puget Sound on November 7 of the same year. At the time it was the third longest suspension bridge in the world, just behind the Golden Gate Bridge and the George Washington Bridge. Fortunately no human life was lost during …
Engineering Disasters: Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse (1940) Read More »
What really happened to the Hindenburg? A German passenger airship called The LZ 129 Hindenburg caught fire and crashed during its attempt to dock in New Jersey on May 6, 1937, just after completing a transatlantic flight from Frankfurt, Germany three days earlier. The incident shattered public confidence in the giant, passenger-carrying rigid airship and …
RMS Titanic was the biggest, most luxurious and the most expensive ship on the waters back in 1912. This is a ship which was widely advertised as unsinkable, a statement which came back to haunt the owners! Sinking of the Titanic Some of the most prominent people of the day booked a passage aboard …
The launch of the shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986 was a huge television event, largely because one of the astronauts was New Hampshire’s Christa McAuliffe, a member of the Teacher in Space program. This was a NASA program announced by Ronald Reagan in 1984 to inspire students, honor teachers, and spur interest in the flagging space …
Engineering Disasters: Space Shuttle Challenger (1986) Read More »
In response to severe flooding and to ensure electrical power generation in 1949 and 1950, China built the Banqiao Dam in the Huai river basin of the Henan province. It was completed in 1952. However, they never imagined the dangers that would follow. Understanding the Banqiao Dam Failure Due to construction and engineering errors, numerous …
On the morning of July 25th, 2000, there was an Air France Concorde crash moments after takeoff from near Paris based International Airport, Charles de Gaulle, killing 113 people. During takeoff, suddenly a tire was cut by a piece of metal strip debris that was lying on the way, and a large chunk of the ruptured tire …
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