What's Mechanical Engineering like at UCD?

Aero787

What is the department like? How does it compare to other universities (UL)? Facilities, faculty, all that sort of stuff. I can't decide whether UCD or UL is better so I need your opinions!

Red Alert

(I'm an elec postgrad, not a mech!)

The course you'll get in 1st year is almost identical (at least in the first half of the year) across all disciplines.

A lot of courses in UCD focus on building blocks so that you can adapt to future technologies. For example, in electronic eng, we don't have a module on GSM Mobile Telecoms, however we've got one available on Communication Theory, Digital Communications and Communication Systems. The concepts here are specific to no particular technology. From my own experience this can be a bit bewildering at first, but trust me it will benefit you in the long run.

The hours can be long, especially in 2nd and 3rd year where mech, elecs and chems are all pushed for time. Labs can run on long, and in mech i know there are a lot of detailed reports to write up.

UCD is a very big university, and the social scene in Engineering is great. It's one of the few buildings on campus where loads of people know loads of other random people by name! Head up for one of the open days and see what you think.

Ask any more specific questions you want and i'll try answer them!

breadmonkey

I'm in Civil but from what I've seen the course is very demanding and facilities are excellent.

DirkVoodoo

I just finished mech eng there this year. Tough, pretty tough. Its a great degree, or so they say. Maths, Applied dynamics, thermodynamics and fluid mechanics make up the core subjects throughout the 4 years (well, 3 for maths...but pretty much every other course will make use of anything fom addition/subtraction to fourier/Laplace transforms).

If you dont mind a bit of a 9 to 5 haul (this is pre-modularisation), challenging yet interesting work and the odd lab practical, then go for it. Supposedly you can get a job in nearly any field and mechanical engineers are sought after by companies to join the management ranks, so any images you may have of guys in boiler suits at the local kwik fit should be got rid of .

Also, engineers are notorious for being very cliquy as the long hours and small classes (about 65 in my year, broken down into groups of 4/5 for 1st, 2nd, 3rd year labs and projects) so you get to know people very quickly and very well. Nights out are great as they drink far too much and have a bad reputation with most hotels/establishments.

As red alert said (hello, its me from friday!) the BE degree tends to alienate people because it deals mainly in abstracts. So while some engineers may look at a specific model of fridge, you will look at the vapour-compression cycle and while other engineers are building robotic arms, you will be carrying out Laplace transforms to determine system stability. This puts a lot of people off, but stick with it and ask questions of yourself about how this stuff applies to the real world and your set.

Any questions and PM me, I tend to ramble on in posts quite a bit and go off on tangents.

EDIT: on the subject of facilities, they are moderate at present. Dont expect MIT, UCd is hugely underfunded however it is trying to establish itself as a leading 4th level institution for masters and PhD study. What does this mean for undergrads? Well, the possibility of better equipment when you are doing your final year project, perhaps working with a postgrad and more private funding for the school as its reputation increases and more research is undertaken. Its ambitious, will it payoff....watch this space!

gubbie

Have to agree with the lads-the social side of engineering is the greatest thing about it. In the eng block there might be only a couple of hundred so you know people either by name or by sight (you'll soon learn those names though due to drunken nights when you ramble up to them and ask their names and that you recognise them and they'll be like ya I recognise you too... well thats what always happens me. First years amazing for the social scene but then 2nd years just as good as you get to know poeple in the class and not the year more specifically. Eng soc nights are the bomb-ain't missed one yet and never plan on doing so!

Aero787

How many students are involved in the UCD Formula Student team and what year must you be in? Did UCD enter the 2005 or the 2006 event - UCD not mentioned in results for those years at all on the FS website? What funds are there to spend on the development of the car?

Do students enter competitions like "Siemens Engineers Ireland Innovative Engineer Award" and other national and international engineering competitions? If yes, how have they fared? DirkVoodoo, you said that the course deals in abstracts - do you think this might put UCD students at a disadvantage in these competitions?

Pure Cork

Could anyone give me an idea what the modules are like for 4th year mech eng? And, are you able to take any electives in third year?

pimpy_c

Mech eng is easy! Easy but time consuming! You'll here them complain about it alot, but they don't realise how easy they have it!

EDIT: Ah, maybe I'm being a bit harsh! Mech is very tough compared to most things you can do in UCD (e.g. arts, commerce etc.) but compared to other engineering disciplines, it's an easier one.

Rnger

completely OT....

Can anyone reccomend a book for Dr. D Timoney's 1st year thermodynamics course? He likes to leave massive gaps in his lecture... not good for the disorganised amongst us

Red Alert

Seriously don't bother with a book - get someone else's notes.

gubbie

Agh just look over the past papers. If you were lazy enough to not go to classes and only getting notes now then I doubt you'd want to be studying the whole course (or have the time to do it)

blondie83

Rnger wrote:

completely OT....

Can anyone reccomend a book for Dr. D Timoney's 1st year thermodynamics course? He likes to leave massive gaps in his lecture... not good for the disorganised amongst us

Is he still teaching that course? Hope the hairpeice hasn't fallen off yet! Just print off a copy of the notes and you'll be fine for the test

O.T. Mech eng in UCD is quite difficult, and has long hours, but the people who did it seemed to really enjoy themselves (another grad elec-head here). I'm not sure what mech is like in UL, although I do know some elecs who went there and they seem very able. Both institutions have a good name in industry, so I'd say go for either and you'll be grand. I know thats not much help when your choosing between the two, sorry

breadmonkey

Timoney is such a bollocks the way he does that with the notes. Just get someone elses. Any thermo book you get will be way too advanced.

Harkev

I'm in final mech eng this year.

Our electives are:

• Bioengineering
• Engineering Failure Analysis
• Power Generation
• Technical Ceramics
• Advanced Materials Processing
• Manufacturing Information Systems
• Advanced Composites Polymer Engineering

We've to do three of the above as well as the core subjects:

• Applied Dynamics & Control Systems
• Fluid Mechanics and Heat Transfer
• Materials Engineering & Design
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Managing Manufacturing Enterprise (includes Law)
• Engineer in Society (Economics!)
• Energy Conversion Systems
• Electronic Engineering

We have a project that counts for about 25% of the degree as well.

My year is the last not to be moduralised so things could change over the next few years...

On the course overall, I think its pretty good. There is a good spread in the department with several materials lecturers, a couple of bioengineering, maunfacturing, thermo/fluids and petrolheads. I wouldn't recommend that people choose only it on the basis of Formula Student as I did, but never really got a proper chance to participate.

RE: Book for Timoney's stuff, I found the course book "Introduction to thermodynamics and heat transfer" by Cengel to be useful

fatal

my brother did it and he LOVED it.......and hes in japan now

DirkVoodoo

Yup, cengel is the bible, timoney and will smith get most of their stuff from this, its worth gettin out on long loan, or buy it if u r in 1st year.

And im sorry, but civil HAS to be the easier eng option, mech is pretty damn hard as anyone who has ever sat applied dynamics or one of malachy's fluids papers can attest to.

FATAL: did ur brother finish last year? U wudnt happen to be a Whittle would you?

Rnger

DirkVoodoo wrote:

Yup, cengel is the bible, timoney and will smith get most of their stuff from this, its worth gettin out on long loan, or buy it if u r in 1st year.

thanks guys... i just wish i knew this sooner! i hope its still in the library considering the exam is on wedensday

/waster

Alkers

Timoney's notes for that first year course are in the library. I remember someone had them. Better off just studying the past papers and problem sheets and what not. Thought that exam was pretty easy.

breadmonkey

DirkVoodoo wrote:

Yup, cengel is the bible, timoney and will smith get most of their stuff from this, its worth gettin out on long loan, or buy it if u r in 1st year.

And im sorry, but civil HAS to be the easier eng option, mech is pretty damn hard as anyone who has ever sat applied dynamics or one of malachy's fluids papers can attest to.

FATAL: did ur brother finish last year? U wudnt happen to be a Whittle would you?

Malachy's papers are easy, as is Mech fluids as opposed to Civil Hydraulics.:p

DJDC

I assume you are taking the piss.Everyone knows Civil is a the easiest option.

Civil is to engineering,what special is to Olympics.
Enough said.

breadmonkey

No no no. You misunderstand. What I meant was this:

breadmonkey wrote:

Malachy's papers are easy, as is Mech fluids as opposed to Civil Hydraulics.

TimG

Aero787 wrote:

How many students are involved in the UCD Formula Student team and what year must you be in? Did UCD enter the 2005 or the 2006 event - UCD not mentioned in results for those years at all on the FS website? What funds are there to spend on the development of the car?

Hi, am involved in FS this yr, We'll hav a car build this yr and are will be heading to silverstone to race it in July. We didn't enter in 06 or 05, we were changing from the CBR600 to a single cylinder motocross and we had problems getting an engine, hav finally got ourself a nice lightweight GasGas. Funding use to be very tight, but is much better this year. As regards numbers, there are 3 postgrads and 5 4th yrs designing the car at the moment, but we'll be getting some 2nd and 3rd year students to help us build the car after christmas. One of the 4th yrs is building a carbon fibre chassis for his project, although we're going to go with a spaceframe this yr.

TimG

Oh, and I suprised no-one have mentioned Eng Day, best day of the yr, almost enough of a reason along to do engineering! We start drinkin the nite before, start again on eng day at 10.30 for the legendry stretcher race (5pints 5pubs, race between them, someone always ends up in hosptal), head back 2 eng and drink cans in front of lecturers, go to the student bar, by the end of the nite everyone in a engday t-shirt ends up getting kick out. Best day of the yr ever! (btw, can anyone confirm eng is on the 26th jan this yr? hav only heard rumours about it and I'm making lots of homebrew for it this yr.)

gubbie

TimG wrote:

Oh, and I suprised no-one have mentioned Eng Day, best day of the yr, almost enough of a reason along to do engineering! We start drinkin the nite before, start again on eng day at 10.30 for the legendry stretcher race (5pints 5pubs, race between them, someone always ends up in hosptal), head back 2 eng and drink cans in front of lecturers, go to the student bar, by the end of the nite everyone in a engday t-shirt ends up getting kick out. Best day of the yr ever! (btw, can anyone confirm eng is on the 26th jan this yr? hav only heard rumours about it and I'm making lots of homebrew for it this yr.)

Yup. First Friday back is eng day so that theres less disruption on classes. It is a class day. There was also bouncing castles last year. I don't know how no one got sick on them things

DirkVoodoo

Ok, only reading this now...i thought eng day was cancelled this year (as it supposedly is every year, maybe to build hype ). Something to do with the extra xmas break and not enough time for final year projects.

Someone with knowledge clarify please!

poobum

im in first year and i remember a few weeks back someone coming into our class to tell us about it...so id assumed it was still going ahead...and arent we back on 22nd? someone said first day back the 26th? what?

gubbie

DirkVoodoo wrote:

Ok, only reading this now...i thought eng day was cancelled this year (as it supposedly is every year, maybe to build hype ). Something to do with the extra xmas break and not enough time for final year projects.

Someone with knowledge clarify please!

I sat on the programme board where they clarified this so I'll tell you as much as I can remember. There were doubts about eng day due to the amount of classes that people would be missing that apparently in the old day before m&s they were able to change the times of lectures that would have been on eng day to another time. Now they can't and as they're already losing bank holiday mondays and good friday (which apparently aren't scheduled in for losing the time) that they were uneasy about the day. Also they said that the eng soc had given them too little time and that in future they would need to know mid summer when eng day was gonna take place so they've now penciled in the date to be the first friday back so that the department and lecturers can work around this. Something like that

Edited to say: The department isn't canceling lectures for the day, its up to individual lecturers to cancel it so if you have a mean professor then you may have a lecture that day!

Actually I can't think of what exactly to answer so if you want to know anything just say

We are back the 22nd. Eng day is the first Friday back ie the 26th

Pythia

gubbie wrote:

Edited to say: The department isn't canceling lectures for the day, its up to individual lecturers to cancel it so if you have a mean professor then you may have a lecture that day!

It's nothing to do with them being 'mean', they have a course to get through.