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ASU101: Fulton Schools of Engineering

Introduction to the ASU Library resources, services and spaces for engineering students

Knovel is your first stop for finding engineering facts and formulas ...

The best resource for finding engineering information and data quickly is Knovel. Knovel is the full text of 5000 science and engineering handbooks, manuals, dictionaries, encyclopedias, and databases all located in one resource. It is searchable by keywords from the text as well as searching data tables for numeric properties.

With Knovel you can: 

  • Get up to speed in a new area
  • Validate assumptions
  • Spec out project plans
  • Look up a chemical formula
  • Locate a new material
  • Solve a design problem
  • Improve processes
  • Compare properties of substances
  • And more!

 

Create a free "My Knovel" account using your "asu.edu" email; you'll be able to access Knovel from both on- and off-campus using the account and you'll have personalization features available such as saving searches and sharing content.   

How to Find Knovel from the Libraries' Home Page

To access the Knovel database from the Libraries' home page, click on "Databases" link under the Library One Search box and "Frequent Used Resources" boxes (fig. 1).  Then select "K" in the alphabet and find Knovel in the list of databases beginning with "K" and click the "connect" link (fig. 2).

 

Figure (1)
Click on the Databases' Tab

Figure (2)
Select "K" from the alphabet, then browse down to Knovel and select it.
 


 

 

How to Use Knovel

Learn how to get the most out of Knovel through these brief (2-3 minute) tutorials. Please note that Knovel continually adds new content throughout the year. Your search results may not exactly match the examples in the videos.

View the demonstration videos for Basic Searching and Data Searching; the videos for Interactive Equations, Interactive Tools, and My Knovel are recommended but optional.  

When you've finished viewing the demonstrations, do the practice exercises below.  

 

 

Practice Exercises

For the questions below, we'll give you a question along with a suggested search statement to use in Knovel; enter the search statement and open the top 5 results for each search to see what types of information Knovel provides. 

  1. Who is/was Nikola Tesla and what is he best known for?
    Search:   Nikola Tesla 

  2. How do I determine the horsepower of a water pump?
    Search:  horsepower formula

  3. What are the general principles behind helicopter flight?
    Search: helicopter aerodynamics

  4. What is involved in estimating construction costs?
    Search: construction cost estimating 

  5. Where can I find a text that will help me get up to speed on partial differential equations? 
    Search: partial differential equations

  6. What happened to the Tacoma Narrows Bridge?
    Search: Tacoma Narrows Bridge

For the questions below, use Knovel's Data Search to find the answers. 

  1. What is the enthalpy of formation for benzene?
  2. What is the shear modulus for "HexWeb", a metal form mesh made by Hexcel?
  3. What is the thermal conductivity for AISI E9310 Steel?
  4. What are some compounds that have an octane number between 90 and 95? 

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