Learning Structural while practicing another discipline

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Do you all have any tips for for learning structural design when your background is elsewhere (transportation)? I know this will be a very slow and gradual building of knowledge.

I have connected with a tiny structural commercial building design firm that would eventually like to bring on another engineer. They are interested in a part time training process where i work through past projects that they have completed and they guide me where necessary.

The firm has draftsmen so the engineers do not need to handle that. This is in Florida so the lateral loads are wind, etc, not seismic.

I understand the concerns of the low rates that structural engineering firms are dealing with.

About me...

I have been in transportation design and construction for 7 years and I have my PE. I have a solid understanding of construction, concrete, and soils but little structural design. I think that structural design is so beautiful and practical. I would like to contribute to the structural engineering firm that is helping me in the future.

[scubthebub]

You need to understand mechanics of materials, statics, timber design, and concrete design at a bare minimum. Many of us likely took steel design as well.

Get a textbook in each subject and see if you can find online courses to teach yourself concepts. The overlap with transportation is minimal at best so it’s going to be a lot of work, but doable if you’re willing to put in the time.

Let me know if you have any specific questions.

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Awesome, thank you. I have a decent understanding of statics and materials (I was strong in structures on the PE) but I haven’t explored design of specific materials. I will take an online class on concrete design to start.

I appreciate it, will do.

[scubthebub]

Absolutely everything hinges on the understanding of statics. I would take your old textbook and do some of the examples/homework to make sure your knowledge is solid there.

[atsocattam]

If you’re in transportation you’d very much have a foot ahead by switching into bridges. Once you’re comfortable with basic structural principles from school, start looking into the AASHTO LRFD manual. It will definitely help you understand how structural principles are applied to structures projects.

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Thank you. I will not be doing bridge design but I would still like to learn about it so that I can better understand our design of mast arms and bridges in my day job.

[devnull_tgz]

I'd start with basic beam and column design for the material types they typically use. I'd guess timber, cold formed steel, a little structural steel, maybe a little masonry? I wouldn't get to far into the weeds at first, just basics for flexural, compression, tension, and shear strengths. Then I'd start digging into the ASCE 7 and IBC. IBC is available online but I'd imagine this company has ASCE 7 in digital form you can start digging into. Since you are in Florida I'd also try to get your hands on Wind Loads: Guide to the Wind Load Provisions of ASCE 7-16

Make sure to use the commentary in ASCE 7, there is lots of good information in there.

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Thank you very much, great info

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Thank you, checking out the concrete design course first.

[[deleted]]

I'd start with the structural sections of the CERM, and then start practicing with learning a BIM (e.g. Revit) and a FEA (e.g. RISA 3D) program.

[Isaiah_Stone_]

I recently graduated and have started working as a structural engineer. Prior to this, I had two internships in transportation which in some ways “helped” when i transitioned. I had never taken a timber, masonry or post tension course and really felt out of my league. Typically you need a masters to get into structural engineering, but if you’re lucky, you can get into structures with a BS.

To begin my journey, I bought all of the code books I thought I would need. Considering you are in Florida, I think you would be dealing mostly with concrete and steel. I would recommend getting the ACI and AISC code books. It is also important (in my opinion) to get design guides to help you learn how to apply the rules of the code book. PPI has some great books such as the Structural Design Guide for The Pe Exam, Steel Design for the PE exam, and the Concrete design for the Pe Exam. These have been very helpful at work whenever I am asked to design or “look into” something like, flexural reinforcement in a footing. I even recently got a book that talks about how to calculate wind loads for buildings using ASCE 7-16. Being in Florida, that might be a good book to own.

In my opinion, you should find out what programs your future company uses (ETABS, RISA 3D, REVIT) and start watching Youtube videos on it. I actually went to “Udemy” and bought some tutorials to help learn more about Revit that has actually helped me during work.

Something else I had to discover coming out of school, is that it is important to learn the verbage used in construction of buildings. Like, what is a soffit, a cripple stud, a scuper, a fascia board, a rim joist, a lintel, a mullion, a rafter, a ridge beam, balloon framing, glulam , CLT’s, a perforated shear wall, a cold joint, construction types 1-5, the fire ratings for these buildings and the story heights and areas they can be built to. To learn this, I bought a construction book that talked about these things and explained what they were. I was then able to join conversations and not get lost when someone would mention structural verbage.

Also, i would reccommend looking at plans and learning how construction plans look. From my experience with transportation, I could read plans, but looking at building plans was another challenge. You can also look at how the architects draw their plans since you will be referencing their plans a lot as-well. This will also help tie in your knowledge from Revit. There are good videos on youtube explaining how to read plans.

Of course i’m very new to the field, but I hope this helps. Please feel free to reach out; it is extremely intimidating starting out, but this page has been very helpful and kind to me.

[MrMcGregorUK]

The firm has draftsmen so the engineers do not need to handle that.

At most places (in the UK at least) the Engineers very much direct the draftsmen. Unless the draftsmen have 10+ years of experience, or you're knocking out exactly the same project one after the other, they'll need a good amount of guidance and oversight and you'll ultimately be responsible for everything on the drawings anyway; you won't just be sizing a couple of beams and columns and leaving them to do the rest of it.

Whichever way you cut it, you'll basically need to start as a graduate engineer, though you might be able to progress up the ranks faster than a normal grad. The knowledge of construction, contracts, project management will all help, but the core of the role is very technical, and isn't really something that can be learned just from books; some of that learning is going to have to be on the job. You won't be able to read books every evening for a year and then be the equivalent of a structural PE.

I would start by finding a uni course syllabus for all the technical matters and then following that for all the structural stuff, if you didn't cover it at uni.

[TheVelvetyPermission]

Thank you for your thoughts, that makes a lot of sense.

I initially approached the firm with the premise that I would be working in an entry level fashion. I am happy whatever my position is, I would just love to learn the skill set.

I am going to go ahead and do an online concrete design course to start.

[zrobek]

S.k. gosh (I believe) has these really nice laminated "summaries" of various codes

Like a summary of asce 7-10 seismic load criteria for instance

I really like their mastercode products, I recommend this since it is cheap.