1
C H A P T E R 1
Introduction to Reliability in
Mechanical Design
1.1 ENGINEERING DESIGN PROCESS
Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest branches of science. Mechanical design is one of
the primary purposes of mechanical engineering. It has created a lot of fantastic design projects
which greatly benefit human society such as the steam engine, elevator, bridge crane, automobile,
train, ship, and airplane. Unfortunately, some failures of mechanical design projects also caused
disasters to human society such as the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster on January 28, 1986,
which was mainly due to the failure in mechanical component design and resulted in the death
of all seven crew members including five NASA astronauts and two payload specialists. Because
of the complexity of modern mechanical design, mechanical design theory has been constantly
developed and updated. is book contributes to mechanical design theory by presenting how
to conduct reliability-based mechanical design.
e first key topic of mechanical design theory is the description of the engineering de-
sign or engineering design process, which is a summary of past success and failure of design
experience. is section will briefly describe the definition of engineering design and concisely
explain the engineering design process.
ere are many definitions of engineering design. e Accreditation Board for Engineer-
ing and Technology (ABET) definition of engineering design is: “Engineering design is the process
of devising a system, component, or process to meet desired needs. It is a decision-making process (often
iterative), in which the basic science and mathematics and engineering sciences are applied to convert
resources optimally to meet a stated objective. Among the fundamental elements of the design process are
the establishment of objectives and criteria, synthesis, analysis, construction, testing, and evaluation.”
is definition explains the four key aspects of the engineering design.
• Engineering design is a process.
• Engineering design utilizes many different skills with an iterative, decision-making, and
systematic approach.
• Engineering design will build an object, including a system, component, or process under
some constraints.
• e purpose of the engineering design is to meet the project’s required needs.
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