The Past, Present and

Future Computational Tools

in Engineering
RICHARD J. AQUINO, MSCE, MSCM
Civil/Structural Engineer and Environmental Planner
Associate Professor II
Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Central Mindanao University

February 22, 2020 (5pm-10pm), CESS Program at UCC

 Counting (50,000 years ago)
• Counting is the act of finding out
how many units
• Counting is probably the first
and most basic mathematical
operation ever created

Methods of Counting:
• Finger Counting
• Tally System (35,000 B.C.)
Source: https://www.mathemania.com/lesson/counting/
 Tally System (35,000 B.C.) (35,000 BC)

Source: https://www.mathemania.com/lesson/counting/
 Abacus (approx. 3000 B.C.)
• Abacus is a Latin
word means
“table” or
“tablet”
• can do x, /, +, -
• still in use today
in parts of the
world
• used for the next
3600 years

Source: https://alohagujarat.com/blog/the-origin-and-evolution-of-abacus
 Napier's Bones

Source: https://www.slideshare.net/toshanbadiye/napiers-bones-85099541
 Gunter's Scale or Gunter's Rule
• Edmund Gunter (1581 – 10 Dec
1626), was an English clergyman,
mathematician, geometer and
astronomer of Welsh descent.
• Gunter's Rule is a large plane
scale, usually 2 feet (0.61 m)
long by about 1½ inches broad
(600 mm by 40 mm), and
engraved with various scales, or
lines.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Gunter
 (1622-1972)

Source: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/oct/22/the-slide-rule-a-computing-device-that-put-a-man/
 Blaise Pascal (1642)
• Pascaline, also called
Arithmetic Machine, the
first calculator or adding
machine to be produced
in any quantity and
actually used.

Source: https://history-computer.com/MechanicalCalculators/Pioneers/Pascal.html
 Charles Babbage (1820-30's)
• A difference engine is an
automatic mechanical
calculator designed to tabulate
polynomial functions. It is
strictly calculator!

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org
 Charles Babbage (1820-30's)
• Analytical engine (1848) was
designed to perform any kind
of mathematical calculation
because it is programmable!
(punch cards)

Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org
 ENIAC (1946)
• Electronic Numerical Integrator
and Computer was the first
electronic computer used for
general purposes, such as
solving numerical problems.
• It was invented by John Presper
Eckert and John Mauchly at the
University of Pennsylvania to
calculate artillery firing tables for
the United States Army's Ballistic
Research Laboratory.
Source: https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/e/eniac.htm
 Pocket Calculator: The Microchip Age
• In 1972 Hewlett-Packard came
out with the first handheld
electronic calculator with
trigonometric and algebraic
functions.
• Mid-70's - 5 Major Brands:
Sharp, Texas, HP, Canon and the
new kid on the block, Casio.

Hewlett HP-35: first scientific calculator

Source: https://www.kpbs.org/news/2014/oct/22/the-slide-rule-a-computing-device-that-put-a-man/
Source: https://qz.com/1598826/without-the-great-calculator-race-of-the-1970s-there-would-be-no-iphone/
 Personal Computers
• Apple was founded by Stephen
Wozniak and Stephen Jobs
• The Apple II e was made in 1983
• It was the first “personal
computer” that was affordable
for the general public
• It launched the personal
computer revolution

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
 Apple Macintosh (1984)
• The Apple Macintosh
revolutionized the entire computer
industry by the year of 1984.
• It implemented the first GUI
operating system, with a mouse
• Microsoft copied this type of
operating system with “Windows”

Source: https://www.mac-history.net/top/2011-01-24/the-history-of-the-apple-macintosh
 Smartphones
• The first smart phone came out in 1992 and
was developed by IBM called ‘Simon’ - a
handheld, touchscreen PDA (personal digital
assistant). It had a calendar, address book,
calculator, service, and even a touch screen.
• In the same year, Apple's Newton PDA first
made its appearance, also with a calculator
function.
• In 1996, launch of Nokia's 9000
Communicator - bundled mobile phone with
PDA functions and internet connectivity to
produce one of the world's first true
smartphones.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/articles/units/history-of-the-calculator-2.php
 Smartphones
• In 2000, the Ericsson R380
• The mid-2000s unleashed the
deluge: the Blackberry phone
(2003), followed by the
touchscreen Apple iPhone (2007)
and a host of Android and
Windows Phone imitators.
• From 2010 and the launch of the
Apple iPad, the idea of tablet
computing first essayed in 1993
had come to fruition.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/articles/units/history-of-the-calculator-2.php
Apps - App Store and Google Play
Reinforced Concrete Design Apps
2 Pillars of Science
• Theoretical
• Experimental
Concrete Cracks

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Selfhealing.Concrete/
Self-Healing Concrete

Bacterial Mineral Precipitation

Source: https://www.facebook.com/Selfhealing.Concrete/, http://www.s-code.info/media/1074/wp4_websitelink.pdf
3 Pillars of Science
• Theoretical
• Experimental
• Computational - Numerical Methods
 Fractals - Julia and Mandelbrot Sets

Source: https://www.karlsims.com/julia.html
http://www.alunw.freeuk.com/mandelbrotroom.html
Programming Languages in Scientific
Computing
Compilers
 Programming Languages in Scientific
Computing
Interpreter

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATLAB, https://wiki.rit.edu/

 MATLAB and GNU Octave - Mexican Hat

tx = ty = linspace (-8, 8, 41)';

[xx, yy] = meshgrid (tx, ty);
r = sqrt (xx .^ 2 + yy .^ 2) + eps;
tz = sin (r) ./ r;
mesh (tx, ty, tz);

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MATLAB
Numerical Methods • Partial Differential Equations

• Finite Difference Method

• Finite Element Method
• Finite Volume Method
• Discrete Element Method
• etc.
Navier-Stokes Equation - CFD
Aneurysm
• An aneurysm refers to a weakening of an artery wall that creates a
bulge, or distention, of the artery. Most aneurysms do not show
symptoms and are not dangerous. However, at their most severe
stage, some can rupture, leading to life-threatening internal
bleeding.

Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com › artic

A380 - Largest Passenger Airplane
 Supersonic Car - 1000 mph!

Supersonic travel is a rate of travel of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1).
 Supercomputers
• a computer with a high level of
performance as compared to a
general-purpose computer.
IBM Blue Gene/P supercomputer "Intrepid" at Argonne National Lab

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org
https://www.thecalculatorsite.com/articles/units/history-of-the-calculator-2.php
Multiscale framework for translating atomistic
behavior to engineering scales (MIT)
 Bagyong Tisoy - Dec 2, 2019

https://www.zeibiz.com/2019/12/bagyong-tisoy-pagasa-weather-forecast-live-update-december-2-2019/
Light-weighting Design
Light-weighting design
involves the use of
• advanced lightweight
material
• numerical structural
optimization, enabled by
advanced manufacturing
methods.

Utilized in automotive applications to

fashion, packaging and aviation sector. Bionic Shoe
Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)
Computational Structural Optimization
Process

Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)

Cantilever beam optimization

Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)

Optimization method - design of plate
component

Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)

Bionic lightweight optimization - Airbus
320 partition

Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)

 Examples of optimized structures

(a) Automotive bracket, (b) 3D printed lightweight titanium seatbelt buckle used in
airplanes and (c) a 3D printed lightweight titanium limb.
Light-weighting in aerospace component and system design, Zhu et al (2018)
Quantum Computer
• A quantum computer is
any device for
computation that makes
direct use of distinctively
quantum mechanical
phenomena, such as
superposition and
entanglement, to
perform operations on
data.

One of five Google quantum computers at a lab near Santa Barbara,

Molecular Computer
• Molecular computing is the
science of using individual
molecules to build computer
programs
End!