Faculty of Engineering

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 licensing body in every Canadian province upon completion of the work experience requirement and upon passing the 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 some 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 terms.

Each student is responsible for selecting his or her own program of electives, in keeping with the student's ultimate career objective after graduation. Each term, certain faculty members are designated to give information and advice to students. To assist in ensuring that course selections satisfy all academic requirements, each student's course selections are approved by the Department's Undergraduate Advisor and/or the Associate Chair. 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:

Fluid Mechanics; Environmental Fluid Mechanics

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.

Machine Design and Solid Mechanics

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.

Materials Engineering and Processing

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.

Welding and Joining Specialization

Welding and joining techniques are used to fabricate almost all manufactured products. Recent developments of new automated manufacturing methods have made welding and joining more important than ever before. The courses in this specialization are intended to prepare students to work in all areas related to welding and joining, including welding metallurgy, welding and joining processes (including robotic welding), and welding design. The specialization is the only one of its type in Canada and compares well with programs in Europe and the U.S. Table B below outlines the normal sequence of courses for this specialization. If all Mechanical Engineering degree requirements and requirements for the Welding and Joining Specialization are satisfied, then a Welding and Joining Specialization Certificate of Completion will be awarded on graduation.

Automation and Control

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. These topics are a prominent part of the mechanical portion of the Mechatronics Option.

Thermal Engineering

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.

Mechanical Engineering Core with a Designated Option

Mechanical Engineering students typically specialize in one of the six areas listed above. However, students may also obtain a Designated Option, which typically involves courses in other departments. If all requirements for the Designated Option are satisfactorily completed, the Option is designated on the student's graduation transcript and University of Waterloo degree. There are ten Designated Options, described elsewhere in this Calendar, most of which are open to Mechanical Engineering students. The most popular designated options for Mechanical Engineering students are the Biomechanics, Mechatronics and Management Sciences Options. Each Option requires students to complete a set of specific elective courses. Some Options permit Complementary Studies Courses (defined below) to be included in the courses counted towards the Option. Students interested in a Designated Option must therefore plan the choice of complementary studies courses very carefully in order to ensure that both the Option requirements and the complementary studies requirements will be met.

Mechanical Engineering Core Program (excluding First Year)

• Credit Courses
  ME 201 Advanced Calculus
  ME 202 Statistics for Engineers
  ME 203 Ordinary Differential Equations
  ME 212 Dynamics
  ME 219 Mechanics of Deformable Solids 1
  ME 220 Mechanics of Deformable Solids 2
  ME 230 Control of Properties of Materials
  ME 250 Thermodynamics 1
  ME 262 Introduction to Microprocessors and Digital Logic
  ME 269 Electromechanical Devices and Power Processing
  ME 303 Advanced Engineering Mathematics
  ME 321 Kinematics and Dynamics of Machines
  ME 322 Mechanical Design 1
  ME 340 Manufacturing Processes
  ME 351 Fluid Mechanics 1
  ME 353 Heat Transfer 1
  ME 354 Thermodynamics 2
  ME 360 Introduction to Control Systems
  ME 362 Fluid Mechanics 2
  ME 380 Mechanical Engineering Design Workshop
  ME 481 Mechanical Engineering Design Project
• Non Credit Courses
  ME 200A/B Seminar
  ME 300A/B Seminar
  ME 400A/B Seminar

Elective Courses - Complementary and Technical

• Complementary Studies Electives
  Students entering the program will take Engineering Economics plus four Complementary Studies Elective courses in non-technical subjects. The marks obtained in these courses will be included in the calculation of term averages. These courses are organized on a faculty basis and described elsewhere in this Calendar under the section Complementary Studies Requirements for Engineering Students. Credit for an additional complementary studies elective is earned by obtaining satisfactory evaluations for four work term reports. These reports are based on work term experience and are intended to develop skill in technical report writing; further information on work term reports can be found in the section on Examinations and Promotions.
• Technical Electives
  Eight technical elective courses plus a project course are required in addition to the core courses listed above to fulfill the requirements of the Mechanical Engineering program. In the final year, a project design course, ME 481 must be taken in the 4A term. The project requires the student to demonstrate initiative and assume responsibility. The project may be continued as technical elective course ME 482 in the 4B term.

  Each term, certain faculty members ("Class Professors") are designated to provide information and 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 to take graduate-level courses. Students who are contemplating graduate study are particularly urged to discuss their study plans with a 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. Note that undergraduate students who complete the basic courses in each specialization will be permitted and encouraged to take relevant Mechanical Engineering graduate courses in that area.

  • Fluid Mechanics; Thermal Engineering
    ME 452 Energy Transfer in Buildings
    ME 456 Heat Transfer 2
    ME 459 Energy Conversion
    ME 557 Combustion 1
    ME 559 Finite Element Methods
    ME 563 Turbomachines
    ME 564 Aerodynamics
    ME 566 Computational Fluid Dynamics for Engineering Design
    ME 567 Fire Safety Engineering
    ME 571 Air Pollution
  • Machine Design and Solid Mechanics
    ME 423 Mechanical Design 2
    ME 435 Industrial Metallurgy
    ME 524 Advanced Dynamics
    ME 526 Fatigue and Fracture Analysis
    ME 538 Welding Design, Fabrication and Quality Control
    ME 555 Computer-Aided Design
    ME 559 Finite Element Methods
  • Materials Engineering and Processing
    ME 435 Industrial Metallurgy
    ME 436 Welding and Joining Processes
    ME 526 Fatigue and Fracture Analysis
    ME 531 Physical Metallurgy Applied to Manufacturing
    ME 533 Non-metallic and Composite Materials
    ME 535 Welding Metallurgy
    ME 538 Welding Design, Fabrication and Quality Control
    ME 559 Finite Element Methods
  • Welding and Joining Specialization
    ME 435 Industrial Metallurgy
    ME 436 Welding and Joining Processes
    ME 526 Fatigue and Fracture Analysis
    ME 535 Welding Metallurgy
    ME 538 Welding Design, Fabrication and Quality Control
    ME 547 Robot Manipulators: Kinematics, Dynamics, Control
  • Automation and Control
    ME 435 Industrial Metallurgy
    ME 538 Welding Design, Fabrication and Quality Control
    ME 547 Robot Manipulators: Kinematics, Dynamics, Control
    ME 548 Numerical Control of Machine Tools 1
    ME 555 Computer-Aided Design
    ME 559 Finite Element Methods
    ME 561 Fluid Power Control Systems

The Mechanical Engineering Core Program
The Mechanical Engineering course structure for students entering Fall 2011 and later is summarized in Table A:

TABLE A – THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAM

TABLE B – THE MECHANICAL ENGINEERING WELDING AND JOINING SPECIALIZATION