Advanced Engineering Design · Tribology · Calculation Tools
Four decades of mechanical-engineering knowledge, rebuilt for today.
From tribology and bearing design to gears, springs, fasteners and fatigue — the calculators, the encyclopedia and the book behind Anton van Beek’s engineering practice, carried into a modern, durable home. The engineering logic is preserved exactly; only the surface is new.
The book behind the siteAdvanced Engineering Design — the seven editions this site’s calculators and encyclopedia are drawn from.
Pitting and spalling on a camshaftOne of the failure-analysis cases behind the book’s chapter on surface fatigue (Fig. 7.28).
A flexure cross-hinge test rigFrom Anton van Beek’s own research — the basis for the flexure design chapter and this cross-hinge calculator.
Explore
What Engineering ABC contains
Engineering CalculatorsClient-side calculators for bearings, fits, stresses, wear and reliability — the working tools from the original site, preserved and validated.Gas BearingsAerostatic, spiral-groove and narrow-groove bearing design — the scarce core, with tools that have almost no free equivalent anywhere.TribologyFriction, wear and lubrication: the encyclopedia, failure analyses and the judgement behind them.KnowledgeThe A–Z reference of concepts, worked examples and real failure cases from four decades of practice.The BookAdvanced Engineering Design — Lifetime performance and reliability. Seven editions, 2004–2019.CoursesThe four-day tribology course taught at Mikrocentrum, and how the curriculum is carried forward.
Tools
Validated calculators
Each calculator is checked against the original site’s output before it is published here — all 188 are validated.
Normal distribution: value for a given failure probabilityGiven a mean, standard deviation and target failure probability F(t) = p, returns the corresponding value t.Aerostatic thrust bearing — simple orifice restrictorLoad capacity, stiffness, mass flow and orifice sizing for an aerostatic thrust bearing with a simple orifice restrictor. Unlocked from the legacy demo gate; general in its geometry.Aerostatic shallow-pocket thrust bearingLoad capacity, stiffness and flow for an aerostatic shallow-pocket thrust bearing, from the pocket and land pressure profiles. Unlocked from the legacy demo gate; general in its geometry.Aerostatic bearing — grouped inherent orificesDesign pressure ratio and load capacity for an aerostatic thrust bearing fed through grouped inherent orifices.Spiral-groove bearing (axial)Axial load capacity, stiffness, friction torque and power loss for a spiral-groove thrust bearing — a specialist calculation with essentially no free equivalent anywhere.Spiral-groove thrust bearing (design)Operating speed, friction torque and power loss for an axial spiral-groove thrust bearing carrying a given load, from the groove geometry and film thickness.
Founded on four decades of engineering work by Anton van Beek, Delft University of Technology. This site preserves knowledge first published on werktuigbouw.nl between 1999 and 2026, so it stays available — and citable — for the engineers who rely on it.