UNI

TII
ENGI
NEERI
NGASSOCI
ALEXPERI
MENTATI
ON

ENGI
NEERI
NGASEXPERI
MENTATI
ON
Beforemanuf acturi
ngapr oductorpr ovi
dingaproj
ect,wemakesev er
alassumpt i
onsand
tri
als,design and r edesi
gn and t estsev er
altimes ti
l
lthe pr
oductis obser
v ed to be
functioni
ngsat isfact
ori
ly.Wet r
ydi f
ferentmater
ial
sandexperiment
s.From thet estdata
obtainedwemakedet ai
leddesi gnandr et
est
s.Thus,desi
gnaswel lasengi neeri
ngi s
i
terativeprocessasi ll
ustr
at edinFig.3.1.

Desi
gn

Fabri
cati
on,
Assembl
y,
physi
calTest
s,
Si
mulati
on

Pr
otot
ype,Pi
l
ot
Pl
ant,
Model
St
udy

Fi
nal
Desi
gn

Manuf
act
ure

Fi
eldSt
udy

Fi
g.3.
1Desi
gnasani
nter
act
ivepr
ocess

ENGI
NEERSASRESPONSI
BLEEXPERI
MENTERS
Although the engi neersf aci l
i
tate exper i
ment s,they ar e notal one i
nt he fiel
d.Thei r
responsibil
ityisshar edwi tht heor ganizati
ons,peopl e,gov er
nment ,andot hers.Nodoubt
theengi neersshar eagr eaterresponsi bi
li
tywhi l
emoni tori
ngt hepr oj
ects,identif
yingthe
ri
sks,andi nformingt hecl ientsandt he publ icwi t
hf acts.Basedont his,theycant ake
decisionstopar ti
cipateorpr ot
estorpr omot e.
Theengi neer,asanex peri
ment er,owesev eralresponsibil
it
iestothesoci ety,
namel y,
1.Aconsci entiouscommi t
mentt olivebymor alvalues.
2.Acompr ehensiveper spectiv
eonr el
evantinformat i
on.Iti
ncludesconst ant
awar enessoft hepr ogressoft heex peri
mentandr eadinesstomoni t
orthesi de
 eff
ects,ifany.
3.Unrestri
ctedfree-personalinvol
vementinallstepsoftheproj
ect
/pr
oduct
development ( autonomy ).
4.Beaccount abl
ef orther esul
tsofthepr
oject(account
abi
l
ity
).
Consci
ent
iousness
Consci enti
ousmor alcommi t
mentmeans:( a)Beingsensi ti
vet of ullrangeofmor al
valuesand r esponsi bil
it
iesr elevanttotheprevail
ingsi t
uati
onand( b)thewi l
lingnesst o
dev elopt heskil
l andputef fort
sneededt oreachthebestbal ancepossi bleamongt hose
consider ations.Inshor t,engineersmustpossessopeney es,openear s,andanopenmi nd(i
.e.
,
mor al
v i
si
on,mor alli
stening,andmor al
reasoning).
Thismakest heengi neer sassoci alexperi
ment ers,respectf oremostt hesaf etyand
heal
thoft heaf f
ected,whi l
et heyseekt oenrichtheirknowl edge,rushf orthepr ofi
t,foll
ow
therules,orcar ef or onl yt hebenef i
ciar
y.Thehumanr i
ghtsoft hepar t
ici
pantshoul dbe
prot
ect edt hroughv oluntaryandi nf or
medconsent .

Compr
ehensi
vePer
spect
ive
Theengineershouldgr aspthecontextofhi swor kandensur et hatt hewor kinvolved
resultsinonl ymoralends.Oneshoul dnotignor ehisconsci ence,ifthepr oductorproject
thathei sinv
olvedwillresul
tindamagingt henervoussy stemoft hepeopl e(
orevent he
enemy ,incaseofweapondev el
opment )
Apr oducthasabui l
t-
inobsol eteorredundantcomponentt oboostsal eswithaf alse
cl
aim.I npossessingoftheper spect i
veoffact
uali nf
ormation,t heengi neershoul dexhibi
ta
mor alconcer nandnotagr eef ort hi
sdesign.Somet i
mes,t hegui l
ti st ransfer
redt ot he
gover nmentort hecompetitors. Someor ganizati
onsthinkt hattheywi l
ll
ett hegovernment
fi
nd t he f aultorl etthe f r
audulentcompet i
torbe caught f i
rst.Fi nally,a full
-scale
environment alorsocialimpactst udyoft hepr oductorpr ojectbyi ndividualengineersi s
usefulbutnotpossi bl
e,i
npr acti
ce.

CODESOFETHI
CS
The‘codesofet
hics’exhi
bit
,ri
ghts,duti
es,andobl
i
gationsofthemembersofa
prof
essionandaprofessi
onalsoci
ety.Thecodesexhi
bitthef
oll
owi
ngessent
ialr
oles:
I
nspi
rat
ionandgui
dance.Thecodesexpr
esst
hecol
l
ect
ivecommi
tmentoft
he
professiontoet hicalconductandpubl i
cgoodandt husi nspiret hei ndividuals.
Theyi dentif
ypr imar yresponsi bil
i
tiesandpr ovidest atement sandgui del i
neson
i
nterpretati
onsf orthepr ofessionalsandt hepr ofessi onalsoci eties.
1. Suppor ttoengineer s.Thecodesgi veposi tivesuppor tt oprof essionalsf ortaking
standsonmor ali ssues.Fur thertheyser veaspot ent iallegalsuppor tt odischarge
professionalobl
igat i
ons.
2. Deterrence( di
scour aget oacti mmor all
y)anddi sci pl i
ne( r
egul atet oactmor all
y).
Thecodesser v
east hebasisf orinvest i
gatingunet hicalact ions.Thepr ofessi
onal
societi
essomet imesr evokemember shi
porsuspend/ expelt hemember s,when
provedt ohav eact edunet hical.Thi ssanct i
onal ongwi thl ossofr espectf rom the
coll
eaguesandt hesoci et
yar eboundt oactasdet er rent .
3. Educat i
onandmut ualunder standi ng.Codesar eusedt opr omptdi scussionand
refl
ection on mor alissues.They dev elop a shar ed under standi ng by t he
professionals,publ ic,andt hegov ernmentont hemor alr esponsi bil
iti
esoft he
 engineers.TheBoar dofRev iew oftheprofessi
onalsociet
iesencour agesmor al
discussi
onforeducati
onalpurposes.
4. Creategoodpubl i
ci mage.Thecodespr esentposit
iveimageoft hecommi tt
ed
professi
ontot hepublic,hel
pt heengineer
st oservethepubliceffectivel
y.They
promot emor eofsel fregul
ati
onandl essenthegov er
nmentr egul
ations.Thisis
boundt orai
sethereputati
onoftheprofessi
onandt heorgani
zati
on,i
nest abl
ishi
ng
thetrustofthepubli
c.
5. Protectt
hestatusquo.Theycreatemi
nimum l
evelofethi
calconductandpromotes
agreementwi t
hinthepr of
ession.Pr
imaryobli
gati
onnamel yt hesafet
y,health,
andwel far
eoft hepubli
c,declar
edbythecodesservesandprotect
sthepubli
c.
6. Promotesbusinessinter
est
s.Thecodesof ferinspi
rat
iontotheent
repr
eneurs,
establ
i
shsharedst andar
ds,heal
thycompet
it
ion,andmax i
miz
eprof
itt
oinvest
ors,
employees,
andconsumer s.
Li
mit
ati
ons:Thecodesar
enotr
emedyf
oral
lev
il
s.Theyhav
emanyl
i
mit
ati
ons,
namel
y:
1.Gener
alandvaguewordi
ngs.Manyst
atement
sar
egener
ali
nnat
ureandhence
unabl
etosol
veallpr
obl
ems.
2.Notappl i
cabl
et o al
lsituat
ions.Codes ar
e notsacr
ed,and need notbe
accepted wi
thoutcr
it
ici
sm.Tol er
anceforcr
it
ici
smsofthecodest hemsel
ves
shouldbeall
owed.
3.Oft
enhav eint
ernalconf
li
cts.Manyti
mes,thepr i
ori
ti
esarecl
earlyspeltout,e.g.,
codes forbi
dpublicremarkscri
ti
calofcoll
eagues(engi
neer
s),buttheyact uall
y
di
scover
edamaj orbri
bery,
whichmighthavecausedahugelosstotheex chequer.
4.Theycannotbet reat
edasf i
nalmoralauthor
ityforprofessi
onalconduct
.Codes
havef l
aws by commi ssi
on and omissi
on.Ther e are sti
llsome grey ar
eas
undef
inedbycodes.Theycannotbeequat edt olaws.Af t
erall
,evenlawshave
l
oopholesandt
heyi nv
okecreati
vi
tyi
nthelegalpracti
ti
oners.
5.Onlyaf
ewenrol
lasmembersi
nprofessi
onalsoci
etyandnon-
member
scannotbe
compel
led.
6.Evenasmembersofthepr
ofessi
onalsoci
ety,manyareunawar
eofthecodes
7.Differ
entsociet
ieshavedif
fer
entcodes.Thecodescannotbeuni form orsame!
Uni
fyi
ng thecodesmaynotnecessar i
lysol
vet heprobl
emspr evail
ing var
ious
pr
ofessi
ons,butat
temptsaresti
l
lmadetowardsthisuni
fi
edcodes.
8. Codesaresaidtobecoerci
ve.Theyaresometi
mescl ai
medtobet hreateni
ngand
for
cef
ul.

I
NDUSTRI
ALSTANDARDS
Industrialst andar ds arei mpor t
antf orany i ndustry.Specifi
cat
ion helps in achi
ev i
ng
i
nt erchangeabi l
i
ty.Standardizat
ionreducest hepr oduct i
oncostsandatt hesamet ime,the
qual i
tyisachi evedeasily.Ithel
pst hemanuf acturer,customersandt hepublic,i
nkeepi ng
compet i
ti
venessandensur ingqualit
ysi multaneousl y
.Industri
alst
andardsar eestabl
ished
byt heBur eauofI ndianStandards,inourcount r
yinconsul tat
ionwit
hleadingindustri
esand
ser v
ices.
I
nter
nat ionalst andardshav e become r el
ev antwi t
ht he dev
elopmentoft he wor l
d
trade.TheI nt ernati
onalStandardsOr ganizat
ionhasnowdet ail
edspecif
icati
onsforgener i
c
product
s/ser
viceswithprocedur
es thatthe manuf
acturer
s orser
vice pr
ov i
der
s shoul
d
fol
low t
oassur ethequalit
yoft hei
rproduct
sorservi
ce.ISO9000-
2000seriesaretypi
cal
examplesinthisdi
rect
ion.
Tabl
e3.
1gi
vesal
i
stofsomet
ypesofst
andar
dswi
thaf
ewex
ampl
es.

Tabl
e.3.
1Indust
ri
alst
andar
ds

Aspect
s Pur
pose Exampl
es

1.Qual
it
y Val
ueappr
opr
iat
etopr
ice Sur
facefini
shofa
pl
ate,l
if
eofamot or
2.Qual
it
yofser
vice Assur
anceofproductt
o Quali
tyofdegrees
I
SOpr ocedur
es accordi
nginsti
tuti
ons by
educati
onalinsti
tuti
ons
3.Saf
ety Tosaf
eguar
dagainsti
njur
y Met
hodsofwast
edi
sposal
ordamagetopropert
y

4.Uniformi t
yof I
nterchangeabi
li
ty Standar
dbolt
s
physical ,easeof andnuts,
proper t
iesand assembl y standar
dti
me
functions

ABALANCEDOUTLOOKONLAW
The‘balancedoutlookonl aw’i nengineeri
ngpracti
cest r
essesthenecessit
yofl awsand
regul
ati
onsandal sot heirl
imitati
onsindi r
ect
ingandcont rol
li
ngtheengineeri
ngpr act
ice.
Lawsarenecessarybecause, peoplearenotf ull
yresponsibl
ebyt hemselvesandbecause
ofthecompet it
ivenatureoft hef reeenter
pri
se,whi
chdoesnotencour agemorali
nit
iati
ves.
Lawsareneededt oprovideami nimuml evel
ofcompliance.
Thef ol
lowi
ngcodesar et ypi
calexamplesofhowt heywer eenfor
cedinthepast:
Codef orBuilder
sbyHammur abi
Hummur abit
hekingofBaby l
onin1758framedt hefoll
owi
ngcodef orthebuilder
s:
“
Ifabuil
derhasbuiltahousef oramanandhasnotmadehi swor ksoundandt hehouse
whichhehasbui l
thasf all
endownandcausedt hedeathoft hehousehol der,t
hatbuilder
shallbeputt odeath.Ifitcausest hedeathoft hehousehol der’
sson,t heyshallputt hat
bui
lder’
ssont odeath.Ifitcausesthedeathofthehouseholder’sslave,heshallgi
veslavefor
sl
avet othehouseholder.Ifitdest
roysproper
ty,heshallreplaceany thingithasdest r
oyed;
andbecausehehasnotmadet hehousesoundwhi chhehas
buil
tandithasf all
endown,heshallrebuildthehousewhichhasf al
lendownfr
om hisown
proper
ty.I
fabui lderhasbuil
tahousef oramananddoesnotmakehi sworkper
fectandt
he
wallbul
ges,thatbuil
dershal
lputt
hatwallinsoundcondi
tionathi
sowncost”
Thiscodewasexpect edtoputi
nsel f
-regul
ati
onser
iousl
yinthosey
ears.
Steam BoatCodei nUSA
Whenev ert her
ei scr i
sisweclaimt hatthereoughttobel awt ocontrolthis.Whenev erthereisa
fi
reacci dentinaf actoryorfi
recr acker’sstor
ehouseorboatcapsi zewemaket hi sclaim,and
soonf orget.Lawsar emeantt obei nter
pretedformi nimalcompl i
ance.Ont heot herhand,l aws
whenamendedorupdat edcontinuously,wouldbecount erproduct i
ve.Lawswi l
lalway sl ag
behind t he technol ogicaldevelopment .The r egulatory or i
nspection agenci es such as
Environment alauthorityofI
ndiacanpl ayamaj orrolebyf ramingrulesandenf or
cingcompl i
ance.
Intheear ly19t hcentur
y,al aw waspassedi nUSAt oprovi
def ori nspect
ionoft hesaf ety
ofboi l
ers and engi nes i
n ships.I twas amended many t imes and now t he st andards
formulatedbyt heAmer i
canSocietyofMechani calEngi neersarefoll
owed.
ProperRol eofLaws
Good lawswhen enf orced ef f
ect i
velypr oducebenef its.Theyest ablish mi ni
malst andardsof
prof
essionalconductandpr ovideamot ivationt opeopl e.Furthert heyser veasmor alsupport
anddefensef ort hepeopl ewhoar ewill
i
ngt oactet hi
cal l
y.
Thus, i
ti sconcl udedt hat:
1.The r ules whi ch gov ern engi neer i
ng pr acti
ce shoul d be const rued as of
responsi ble exper iment ationr athert hanr ulesofagame.Thi smakest heengi neer
responsi blef orthesaf econductoft heexper iment .
2.Pr eci ser ulesandsanct ionsar esui t
abl eincaseofet hicalmi sconductthati nvol
vest he
violationofest abli
shedengi neer i
ngpr ocedur es,whichar eai medatt hesaf etyandt he
wel fareoft hepubl i
c.
3.I nsi tuationswher et heexper iment ationi slargeandt imeconsumi ng,t
her ulesmustnot
tryt o cov eral lpossi bleout comes,and t heyshoul d notcompelt heengi neerst o
follow r i
gidcour sesofact i
on.
4.Ther egul ationshoul dbebr oad, butmakeengi neersaccount ablefortheirdeci si
ons,and
5.Thr ought heirpr of
essi onalsoci eties,t heengi neerscanf acili
tateframingt her ul
es,
amendwher evernecessar y,andenf orcet hem,butwi thoutgi vi
ng-i
nf orconf li
ctsof
interest .

CASESTUDY:
THECHALLENGER
Whathappened?
Theor bit
eroft heChal l
engerhadt hreemai nenginesf uell
edbyl i
qui dhydrogen.Thef uelwas
carri
ed i nanext ernalf ueltankwhi chwasj ett
isonedwhenempt y .Duri
ngl if
t-off
,t hemai n
enginesf i
reforaboutni nemi nutes,alt
houghinit
iall
ythet hrustwaspr ovi
dedbyt het woboost er
rockets.Theseboost errocketsar eoft hesoli
df ueltype,eachbur ningami ll
ionpoundl oadof
aluminum, pot
assium chloride,andironoxide.
Thecasingofeachboost errocketisabout150f eetlongand12f eeti ndi amet er.This
consistsofcyli
ndricalsegment sthatareassembl edatt helaunchsite.Therear efour-f
ieldj oi
nts
andt heyuseseals
consi
sti
ngofpai
rsofO-
ri
ngsmadeofv
ulcani
zedr
ubber
.TheO-
ri
ngswor
kwi
thaput
tybar
ri
er
madeofz i
ncchr
omate.
 Theengineerswereempl oy
edwi thRockwel lInternat
ional( manuf actur
ersfortheorbi
ter
andmai nrocket),Mort
on-Thi
okol( makerofboost errockets),andt heywor kedforNASA.After
many post ponements,thelaunchofChal lengerwassetf ormor ningofJan28,1986.Al l
anJ.
McDonal dwasanengi neerfrom Mor ton-Thiokolandt hedi r
ectoroft heSol i
dRocketBooster
Proj
ect.Hewasskept i
c aboutt hef r
eez i
ngt emperatureconditionsf orecastforthatmorni
ng,
which was lowert han the previous launch condi t
ions.A t el econference between NASA
engineer
sandMTengi neerswasar r
angedbyAl l
an.
Arnol
d Thompson andRogerBoi sj
oly
,the sealex
perts atMT expl
ained t
othe ot
her
engi
neershowtheboosterr
ocketwall
swouldbul
geuponlaunchandcombusti
ongasescanbl
ow
pastt
heO-ri
ngsofthefi
eldj
oint
s(Fig.3.
2).
Ex
ter
nal
Fuel
TankOr
bit
er

Fl
i
ghtdeckf
orcr
ew

Pay
loadbay

Mai
nEngi
ne

Boost
erRocketFi
eld

j
oint
s

Fi
g.3.
2aChal
l
enger

Onmanyoft hepr eviousf l

ightst her ingshav ebeenf oundt ohav echar redander oded.
Infreezi ngt emper ature,ther ingsandt heput t
ypacki ngar el esspl i
able.Fr om t hepastdat a
°
gather ed,att emper aturelesst han65 Ft heO- ri
ngsf ailurewascer tai
n
n.Butt hesedat awer enotdel iberatedatt hatconf erenceast hel auncht imewasf ast
appr oachi ng.
Theengi neer i
ngmanager sBobLundandJoeKi lminsteragr eedt hatther ewasasaf etypr oblem.
Boisjolyt estifi
edandr ecommendedt hatnol aunchshoul dbeat tempt edwi tht emper atur eless
°
than53 F.Thesemanager swer eannoy edtopost ponet hel aunchy etagai n.Thet opmanagement
ofMTwas pl anningf orther enewalofcont ractwi thNASA,f ormaki ngboost errocket . The
manager st oldBob
Lund“ tot ake- offtheengi neeringhatandputony ourmanagementhat ”.Thej udgmentoft he
engineer swasnotgi venwei ght age.Thei nabil
it
yoft heseengi neerst osubst antiatet hatt he
l
aunchwoul dbeunsaf ewast akenbyNASAasanappr ov albyRockwel lt olaunch.
At11. 38a. m.t her ocketsal ongwi thChal l
engerr oseupt hesky .Thecamer asr ecor ded
smokecomi ngoutofoneoft hef il
edj ointsont her ightboost errocket.Soont herewasaf l
ame
thathi tthe ext ernalf ueltank.At76secondsi ntot hef light,theChal l
engeratahei ghtof10
mileswast otallyengul f
edi naf ireball.Thecr ew cabi nf ellintot heoceanki ll
ingal lthesev en
aboar d.
Someoft hef actualissues,concept ualissuesandmor al/
normat iveissuesi nt hespace
shuttlechal lengeri ncident,arehi ghlightedher eunderf orf ur t
herst udy.