Math software for calculating design constraints

This article describes how, to determine the specifications for a combustor in a high-speed civil transport plane, mechanical engineers are using a commercial math program to solve hundreds of complex equations. Since the demise of the slide rule, many engineers have created math routines from scratch or adapted spreadsheet programs when they needed to calculate design parameters. Commercial math programs, however, are more flexible than homemade routines or jury-rigged spreadsheet calculators, and therefore make it easier to solve complex equations. They can also cut the time it takes to determine key parameters early in the design process, when time savings can translate into big cost savings. Engineers working on Pratt and Whitney`s portion of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration`s high-speed civil transport (HSCT) project estimated that they were able to cut in half the time needed to solve equations in the preliminary design process by using a commercial math program, TK Solver, from Universal Technical Systems Inc. in Rockford, Ill. The time savings resulted from the program`s ability to solve any equation for any variable, relieving engineers of the need to rewrite or reenter equations.