To solve their design problems engineers draw in a vast body of knowledge about how things work. This problem-solving knowledge may appear mundane or derivative from science, but in What Engineers Know and How They Know It Walter G. Vincenti shows how sophisticated and "internal" to engineering it really is-and how seemingly simple design requirements can have complex intellectual implications. Examining previously unstudied historical cases, Vincenti shows how engineering knowledge is obtained and, in the book's concluding chapters, presents a model to help explain the growth of such knowledge.
Preface and Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: Engineering As Knowledge
2. Design and the Growth of Knowledge: The David Wing and the Problem of Airfoil Design, 1980-1945
3. Establishment of Design Requirements: Flying-Quality Specifications for American Aircraft, 1918-1943
4. A Theoretical Tool for Design: Control-Volume Analysis, 1912-1953
5. Data for Design: The Aur Propeller Test of W.F. Durand and E.P. Lesley, 1916-1926
6. Design and Production: The Innovation of Flush Riveting in American Airplanes, 1930-1950
7. The Anatomy of Engineering Design Knowledge
8. A Variation-Selection Model for the Growth of Engineering Knowledge
Notes
Index
