The McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Engineering provides a compendium of more than 18,000 terms that are central to the various branches of engineering and related fields of science. The coverage in this Second Edition is focused on building construction, chemical engineering, civil engineering, control systems, design engineering, electricity and electronics, engineering acoustics, industrial engineering, mechanics and mechanical engineering, systems engineering, and thermodynamics. Many new entries have been added since the previous edition with others revised as necessary. Many of the terms used in engineering are often found in specialized dictionaries and glossaries; this Dictionary, however, aims to provide the user with the convenience of a single, comprehensive reference.