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Concept
Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing
Summary
Mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) refers to the installation of services which provide a comfortable space for the building occupants. In residential and commercial buildings, these elements are often designed by a specialized MEP engineering firms. The part of Mechanical in the overall MEP system is almost 70% of the total work. MEP's design is important for planning, decision-making, accurate documentation, performance- and cost-estimation, construction, and operating/maintaining the resulting facilities.
MEP specifically encompasses the in-depth design and selection of these systems, as opposed to a tradesperson simply installing equipment. In countries of Asia such as Pakistan, China and Saudi Arabia the use of MEP is increasing in building construction projects due to extreme climates in summer and winter. For example, a plumber may select and install a commercial hot water system based on common practice and regulatory codes. A team of MEP engineers will research the best design according to the principles of engineering, and supply installers with the specifications they develop. As a result, engineers working in the MEP field must understand a broad range of disciplines, including dynamics, mechanics, fluids, thermodynamics, heat transfer, chemistry, electricity, and computers.
As with other aspect of buildings, MEP drafting, design and documentation were traditionally done manually. Computer-aided design has some advantages over this, and often incorporates 3D modeling which is otherwise impractical. Building information modeling provides holistic design and parametric change management of the MEP design.
Maintaining documentation of MEP services may also require the use of a geographical information system or asset management system.
HVAC
The mechanical component of MEP is an important superset of HVAC services. Thus, it incorporates the control of environmental factors (psychrometrics), either for human comfort or for the operation of machines.
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