ABSTRACT
The engineer is the driver of engineering design. To achieve engineering success, an engineer needs to understand and avoid potential failures that may occur down the road.
Engineering systems have their own "minds" and behavior, which may not be fully understood by their designers. A catastrophic bridge collapse may come from a lack of engineering knowledge about the structural characteristics or un-
Actually, every failure is a logical result of its causes although properly diagnosing the cause may be difficult. Back in the 1830s, when the engineers of steam engines drove the Industrial Revolution, the word engineer meant one who managed an engine. The sketch in Figure 1.1 shows the basic parts of a simple, single cylinder steam engine. The term "valve gear" is not a traditional "gear", but instead refers to the equipment that moves the slide valve.
