1 comments about Mechanical Estimating Manual: Sheet Metal, Piping and Plumbing.

1. I am designing and estimating for a light commercial HVAC contractor and this book gives me what I need to estimate and bid projects. This reference book gives the background about where the estimating numbers come from - which is good. The Correction Factors" tables (among others) are easy to find and easily understood. For someone doing ductwork estimates by hand, and are working to be accurate will have the info they need in this book. My etimates have been competitive - so I am trusting the book more all the time.

3 comments about Engineering Mechanics: Dynamics (5th Edition).

1. I have taught dynamics at the university level, and have used several different dynamics books. This one is clear and well-written, but oversimplified, even for a one-semester undergraduate course. The selection of problems is poor.



2. I have taught dynamics at the university level, and I have used several different texts. This text is clear and well-written, but oversimplified, even for a one-semester undergraduate course. The problem selection is weak.



3. Overall this book is not horrible, but it's not great by any stretch of imagination. Some of the chapters are well explained, but there are also a couple of chapters, such as chapter 18, that are very unclear. There are too few examples in each chapter, and they usually fail to underscore most of the theory stated earlier, some even skip the steps that are being taught in the same chapter! Needless to say, this makes understanding the material frustrating at times. There are probably much better dynamics textbooks around.

4 comments about Benchmarking Best Practices in Maintenance Management.

1. This book is very useful, if you are searching for benchmarking information in the maintenance sector. The benchmarks which are listed in the book are based on the experiences of more than 100 companies and are therefore quite reliable.



2. I was drawn to this book by the promise of a 'benchmarking database from more than 100 companies'. There is no database and very little useful information other than elementary waffle.
   Effective Maintenance Management by Narayan is a far better investment and suited to all readers not just learners.



3. This book contains very little information on benchmarking and even less on best practice. I have also read "developing performance indicators for managing maintenance" by the same author - equally poor. In summary, if you want a VERY broad overview and currently have NO experience then this book may represent some value - otherwise look elsewhere.



4. This book will not help you to solve the most complicated and advanced problems in maintenance management, but usefulness exists with no doubt.
   
   - If you are inexperienced it will do a very good job in introducing you to many features of maintenance management.
   - Even if you do complex maintenance management tasks it can serve as reminder to bring you from deep-diving into some task back to overall common sense of maintenance management. Good book structure helps in that.
   - It gives you useful and backed data about trends, common thinking in field of maintenance. You allways think about that when you are maintenance practicioner.
   - It is great book to be borrowed to your colleague - technical or non-technical but technically inclined manager. If you persuade your colleagues to read it they will have much better overall understanding of your work, they can buy these idea expressed in authoritative bu simple manner. Their better understanding of your work will make your job easier, no doubt.

5 comments about Computational Methods for Fluid Dynamics.

1. This is a very good book for learning the details of implementing the Finite Volume method in Computational Fluid Dynamics. I view it as very complimentary to S. V. Patankar's book, which is more general in nature. Both books are geared toward people who want to write computer programs to solve fluid transport problems (heat transfer, Navier-Stokes, etc.) Both tend to focus on numerical issues (as opposed to the physics of transport phenomena). But while Pantankar's book provides a very easy, approachable introduction that is thin on the details, Ferziger & Peric have written a book rich in details. For instance, they devote an entire chapter to solving linear systems of equations. They compare all of the commonly used methods and contrast their rates of convergence for various test cases. This level of detail is great if you already understand the big picture. I think it may be somewhat difficult for someone new to CFD to really understand the finite volume method from this book alone. I would recommend Patankar's book for a good intro and this book for the implementation details.



2. I agree with the reviewer that said this book is complimentary to an intro text such as Patankar. This is not a cook book for a first time coder. But it is a really great reference for the Finite Volume dilettante.

   I really appreciate that all numerical results presented are thoroughly documented. That counts.

   Really, really nice chapter on iterative solvers....

   Good overall description on many other topics such as multi-grid methods, turbulence, grid geometry and PV coupling.

   This book really helped me speed up my homegrown quite a bit.

   They also have all kinds of stuff available by ftp....




3. This is the best book on CFD I' ve read. It is more useful to those who want to develop their own codes rather than CFD users: It mostly describes in deep detail (although in a concise manner) a single method used by the authors and developed by themselves and their colleagues. It is not intended to be a list of the vast number of CFD techniques developed so far.

   Their method is state-of-the-art and they provide plenty of results to support it's quality. It is mostly directed towards incompressible flows. They provide a chapter that extends their method to compressible flows but they do not describe any special convection schemes for flows with shock waves. It can be applied to both structured and arbitrarily unstructured grids, although their approach to the discretization of the convection and diffusion terms is particularly useful in the case of arbitrarily unstrucured grids. State of the art subjects such as multigrid and error-driven grid refinement are also covered and integrated into their method.

   I agree with a previous reviewer that they provide a very good coverage of solution methods for linear equation systems which arise in CFD. Most other books on CFD (all the ones that I have read) have a poor coverage of the subject and describe only old and inneficient methods. However even this book does not sufficiently describe conjugate-gradient type methods or Krylov subspace methods in general, but references are provided.

   In conclusion, this book is not for beginners but for code developers who have some basic knowlwdge of CFD and a relatively good mathematical background.




4. I found this book an excellent support in teaching and invaluable as an occasional reference in my practical work in industry. It is particularly gratifying to see that free surface flows are covered well. Best book I have seen so far in the field.



5. Peric's PhD thesis is one of my most precious possessions. I consider Ferziger to be one of THE greats in Large Eddy Simulation. So I had great hopes for this book. I was warned before I saw it that it contained nothing that I wouldn't already know, but even so it was a big disappointment. I could have written a better book myself and I don't have half the brain of either of the authors. I've looked at it three times and each time turned away in disgust.

   This book will point a novice in the correct direction, unlike Roach's book, and unlike Patankar's in a post Rhie-Chow age, but it avoids like the plague any subject with even the slightest whiff of controversy. As any new technique is always controversial, the book was some 5 to 10 years out of date even before it hit the press. Further, it discusses each subject in a very superficial way. More depth is needed.

   I want a book that will tell me what the advantages are and how to program the conjugate gradient method, algebraic multigrid, superbee, wall reflection terms for Reynolds Stress, multiphase flow, viscoelasticity, coalescence, the axis in cylindrical coordinates, grid generation, surface tension, adaptive grids, spectral elements etc. This book is no help with any of these.

   I frequently get asked "What's a good book for Computational Fluid Dynamics?". I have to admit that there isn't one. The best that I know are the user manuals for the various commercial CFD packages.

   To summarise, if programming CFD is a 100 step journey then this book will only take you the first 3 steps, but at least they're 3 steps in the right direction. After you've been programming CFD for a year you can probably toss the book out without any great loss.

No comments about Operator Certification Study Guide, Fifth Edition.

4 comments about Engineer's Guide to MATLAB, An (2nd Edition).

1. Excellent! ... Applied Engineering using computers, it doesn't get any better than this. Examples, programs, applications .. this is where this book beats the competition. Matlab is a powerful program, and this book shows why. It has been written for beginners and experienced users alike. Introduction to matrices, then goes into functions, and 2D/3D plotting ... then the fun begins with Engineering Applications in fields such as Machine Design, Vibrations, Control Systems, Dynamics, Fluid Mechanics, Heat Transfer and even Statistics and Optimization! Numerous programs and examples serve as practice for the reader. I am currently using the text to write programs for calculating the vibration of thin beams in my Grad Vibrations class. I only wish I could have gotten my hands on a book such as this when I took many of my undergrad courses. By the way, this book refers to MATLAB 5.3 (Release 11). Congratulations to the authors on such a thorough guide.



2. Many 'engineering' matlab books don't live up their titles. They are simply written as general introductions to matlab with a few useless thoughts about engineering thrown in.

   In my opinion, a good matlab engineering book focuses less on general tips that you could get anywhere, and more on practical problem solving techniques and methodologies that provide insight into a paticular engineering problem and its solution.

   This books succeeds in that respect. Though it gives space to the more general issues of using matlab, it gives ample room to specific engineering problems. I found its information and examples very useful. The topics are focused on mechanical engineering fields, such as vibration and control; however, the math used for such topics are used across engineering and science disciplines. Thus, any scientist or engineer will find this book useful.

   The book is written so that engineers at many levels can benefit from it. For example, as a former graduate student, I found the treatments of vibration response analysis insightful. However, an undergraduate or otherwise inexperienced user would benefit from this book as well, because there is alot of general discussion of how to effectively and efficiently use matlab and write m-files.

   All in all, I found this book excellent for both its treatment of high level engineering analysis issues and its more general matlab tips and discussion.




3. This one is really for engineers, it goes over the basics first, subsequently it goes into more details. It has handy examples of mechanics, dynamics...etc. if you are a mechanical or an electrical engineer, and you are a matlab user, this book would mean a lot to you.



4. This is one of the best books out there. I not only used it in my vibrations class back as an undergraduate (and I had vibrations with Magrab too!), I have continued to find new ways to use it in the work world today. Dr. Magrab and the others have written a very useful book that definitely relates engineering to this program.

No comments about Threat Assessment and Management Strategies: Identifying the Howlers and Hunters.

No comments about The Wind at Work: An Activity Guide to Windmills.

2 comments about Automating with STEP 7 in STL and SCL: Programmable Controllers SIMATIC S7-300/400.

1. A must for the person using Siemens PLC's. This is the book for the beginner or for the experienced Siemens S7 Programmer. Book cover the things you need to know or reference when programming.



2. "Automating with S7...STL/SCL" is a reference book for any EXPERT programmer using Siemens S7 PLCs. Hans Berger, the author, is the "father" of S7 PLC family (in a technical way). If you want to reach the EXPERT level, YOU MUST HAVE THIS BOOK!!! On the other side, if you know you will stay to ladder logic level at least 95% of the time (or, you "know and use / program" ten types of PLCs, ten types of drives, etc) then, YOU DON'T NEED THIS BOOK!

4 comments about Peterson's Stress Concentration Factors.

1. The definitive book of stress concentration factors...updated from Peterson's original edition. This is the ultimate source for aerospace engineers dealing with design and analysis. Other engineering disciplines should find it equally useful. The book is more compact, yet thicker than the original but the the figures are very clear and readable. Explanations appear much the same.



2. This is an excellent book. I found the book to be extremely informative and thoghtfully written. I recommend this book for anyone that is interested in applications of stress and strain analysis.



3. Absolutely essential book for anybody interested in stresses in notched bodies; structural analysts who like to use the 'back of the envelope', finite element analysts, fracture mechanicists; designers in aerospace, rail, heavy machinery, light machinery, medical devices, almost anything you can name. Book has been updated from the original; even if you have the original edition, this 2nd edition is well worth having for your engineering reference library.



4. I have access to Peterson's original book (older than me?) and to the first edition of this one, published in 1974. I recommend buying used copies of the old ones. They contain the same info and are easier to use since the charts are bigger.