Mixed Deck — All ME or MEng Master of Engineering Topics Flashcards
100 cards from real ME or MEng Master of Engineering practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 20 Mixed Deck — All ME or MEng Master of Engineering Topics flashcards as text
The critical speed of a rotating shaft is most effectively raised by:
Answer: Shortening the shaft span or increasing shaft diameter
Critical speed ∝ √(EI/m) per unit length; a shorter, stiffer (larger diameter) shaft raises the critical speed.
Cavitation in pumps occurs when local fluid pressure drops below:
Answer: The vapor pressure of the fluid
Cavitation occurs when local static pressure falls below the fluid's vapor pressure, causing vapor bubble formation and collapse.
In CMOS logic design, which phenomenon causes dynamic power dissipation?
Answer: Charging and discharging of load capacitances
Dynamic power P = α·C·V²·f arises from charging and discharging load capacitances at each switching event.
The effectiveness-NTU method in heat exchanger analysis defines effectiveness as:
Answer: Ratio of actual heat transfer to maximum possible heat transfer
Effectiveness ε = Q_actual / Q_max, where Q_max is the heat transferred if one fluid underwent the maximum possible temperature change.
The primary purpose of a secondary wastewater treatment process is to:
Answer: Biologically remove dissolved organic matter using microorganisms
Secondary treatment (activated sludge, trickling filters) uses biological processes to degrade dissolved and suspended organic matter after primary settling.
The Reynolds number for flow in a pipe transitions from laminar to turbulent at approximately:
Answer: Re = 2300
For pipe flow, laminar conditions persist below Re ≈ 2300, with transition to turbulence occurring between 2300 and 4000.
What does 'Design for Manufacturability (DFM)' primarily aim to achieve?
Answer: Reducing production cost and defects by designing parts that are easier to manufacture
DFM integrates manufacturing constraints into the design phase to minimize cost, simplify assembly, and reduce defect rates.
In retaining wall design, what is the primary purpose of a drainage layer or weep holes?
Answer: To relieve hydrostatic pressure behind the wall
Drainage layers and weep holes relieve hydrostatic pressure that would otherwise add significant lateral force to the retained soil pressure.
Dynamic viscosity has SI units of:
Answer: Pa·s
Dynamic (absolute) viscosity μ has SI units of Pascal-seconds (Pa·s), equivalent to N·s/m² or kg/(m·s).
Which type of stress causes shear failure along a 45° plane in a uniaxially loaded ductile member?
Answer: Maximum shear stress
Maximum shear stress on planes at 45° to the principal stress axes causes slip and shear failure in ductile materials under uniaxial loading.
The Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) test measures:
Answer: Oxygen consumed by microorganisms to decompose organic matter in water
BOD measures the oxygen consumed by microorganisms breaking down organic matter in a water sample over typically 5 days at 20°C (BOD₅).
Stokes' Law for drag on a small sphere at very low Reynolds number gives drag force as:
Answer: F_D = 3πμVD
For creeping flow (Re << 1), Stokes' Law gives F_D = 3πμVD, where μ is dynamic viscosity, V is velocity, and D is sphere diameter.
Which software architectural style uses an 'event bus' where producers publish events and consumers subscribe independently, with no direct coupling?
Answer: Event-Driven Architecture (EDA)
EDA decouples producers and consumers through an event bus or broker (e.g., Kafka, RabbitMQ), enabling asynchronous, loosely-coupled communication.
This is when a task is completed with the least amount of effort possible. This is accomplished through avoiding resource waste (e.g. time, money, equipment, facilities, skills, talents, and management attention).
Answer: Efficiency
Efficiency is defined as doing things right, meaning achieving a desired outcome with the minimum expenditure of resources. It focuses on optimizing the use of time, money, materials, and effort to avoid waste. In contrast, effectiveness is about doing the right things, which means achieving the intended goals, regardless of the resources used.
The endurance limit of a steel part is reduced by surface finish, size, and reliability factors. If Se' = 300 MPa and ka=0.8, kb=0.9, kc=0.897, the corrected endurance limit Se is:
Answer: 194 MPa
Se = ka·kb·kc·Se' = 0.8 × 0.9 × 0.897 × 300 ≈ 194 MPa.
When performing tolerance stack-up analysis, the Root Sum Square (RSS) method assumes that:
Answer: Individual tolerances are statistically independent and normally distributed
RSS analysis assumes tolerances are statistically independent and follow normal distributions, yielding a less conservative result than worst-case analysis.
Created the 14 management guiding principles.
Answer: Henri Fayol
Henri Fayol, a French mining engineer and management theorist, is credited with developing the 14 Principles of Management. These principles, such as division of work, authority, discipline, unity of command, and scalar chain, provided a comprehensive framework for how organizations should be structured and managed. His work laid the foundation for modern administrative management theory.
Which semiconductor device structure is used in insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs) to combine high input impedance with low on-state voltage drop?
Answer: MOSFET channel in series with a PNP BJT collector-emitter path
An IGBT uses a MOSFET input stage (high impedance gate) to drive a PNP bipolar transistor output stage, combining MOS controllability with BJT low saturation voltage.
What causes a tooth at the heel to be short and thick and an unproportionally thin and high tooth at the toe?
Answer: Difference in outer and inner circumference of the generating gear
This phenomenon, where a tooth is short and thick at the heel and thin and high at the toe, is characteristic of issues in bevel gear manufacturing. It typically arises from a difference in the effective outer and inner circumference of the generating gear or the gear blank itself. This non-uniform generation leads to an uneven tooth profile along its length.
The highest shaft diameter during shaft and hole manufacture was 49.88 mm, and the smallest hole diameter was discovered to be 49.94 mm. Which of the following statements is true?
Answer: Clearance fit
A clearance fit occurs when the smallest possible hole diameter is larger than the largest possible shaft diameter, always resulting in a gap between the mating parts. In this scenario, the smallest hole diameter (49.94 mm) is greater than the highest shaft diameter (49.88 mm). This ensures that the shaft will always fit into the hole with a clearance, indicating a clearance fit.