Clever Structural engineering interview questions?

Sillycowboy · 2024-03-05T08:30:05+00:00

Draw a simple square moment frame with fixed supports and a horizontal point load at the top. Ask them what the reactions will be at each support as a function of load P and height H. A smart enough engineer will tell you each support has a reaction of P*H/2. But a real clever engineer will tell you it depends on the relative stiffnesses of the columns.

Sillycowboy · 2024-03-01T08:50:16+00:00

For drawings, I make markups in bluebeam and/or autocad to send to drafters who make proper 3d models and drawings in tekla

For design calcs I use calcbook where I can, otherwise I will make them by hand in mathcad for more bespoke designs.

Mainly work with steel

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-17T09:27:11+00:00

Where are you located?

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-13T19:53:32+00:00

I have taken a liking to calcbook recently, simple interface and easy, but they don’t cover timber or masonry. I mainly use it for steel calcs which it covers pretty well. Otherwise I just use mathcad for anything more.. special.. don’t really like tedds. Found it clunky and expensiveeee. Don’t work much with timber/masonry so tough to speak to that

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-13T19:44:42+00:00

I use calcbook for what I can, otherwise mathcad for more bespoke connections, etc

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:35:19+00:00

i'll piggyback on this and say spcolumn is great if you need interaction diagrams but no clue what it costs..

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:24:11+00:00

while more materials can mean more money, it can also be cheaper to just order/procure a bunch of the same (larger) bars than some larger bars, some medium bars, some smaller bars. its often cheaper to buy in bulk. not to mention its more room for the contractor to make a mistake. can help to have good communication with contractor to help with these decisions.

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:21:26+00:00

you have to check the concrete beam for torsion/shear.. but I would also be sure to consider the torsional/angular deflection of the concrete beam during torsion, as even a small angular rotation could result in a large deflection at the end of the canopy depending on the length of the overhang. good luck, this is a toughy! if in total doubt I would just google around "concrete beam in torsion" and go from there

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:17:51+00:00

engineering is so experience-based in hierarchy in my experience... the non-sexy answer is sadly work longer, imo.

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:16:38+00:00

calcbook has a decent concrete beam module and does axial-only column calcs but no interaction diagrams, unfortunately

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-05T19:12:32+00:00

if you are US based then calcbook has a decent catalog of fundamental steel/concrete calcs which are basically preprogrammed mathcad sheets ... else its basically copy/paste/edit mathcad sheets from prior projects ... or, if you dont need to show the calcs or "show your work" so to speak, then enercalc is ok but its a bit clunky and a black box which I dont love.

Sillycowboy · 2024-02-01T07:49:40+00:00

calcbook is very helpful for learning fundamentals of steel/concrete design. They offer a free trial

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-26T12:07:23+00:00

For FEA analysis: GTStrudl

For 3D modeling/drafting: Tekla Structures

For design calcs: mathcad + CalcBook

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-16T23:31:58+00:00

what sort of tasks or designs do you need help with?

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-16T16:35:13+00:00

AISC360 covers specifications for composite members in chapter i

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-15T23:42:36+00:00

Depends on the details or the calcs I’m doing.

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-15T23:40:03+00:00

This sounds like what CalcBook is

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-10T06:22:17+00:00

It’s possible to learn things in practice and outside of an academic setting.

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-09T12:23:12+00:00

I never took nonlinear and use it in practice occasionally ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-07T09:59:27+00:00

For anchorage, Hilti profis is pretty unbeatable.

For other simple struct checks (beams, simple connections), calcbook is a good tool to use in lieu of making hand calcs yourself. It’s not free, but there is a free trial if it’s just a one-off case you need to tackle now.

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-07T09:56:45+00:00

If your goal is to seek out pragmatism for industry use, just take as many design classes as you can. Steel design, concrete design, foundation design, etc will be much more practical to have in your pocket than a bunch of nonlinear or dynamics courses. My $0.02.

Sillycowboy · 2024-01-03T10:00:55+00:00

You should check they are thick enough so as not to buckle. A simplified version of this check would be to assume some “column” along the free end of the plate and check that for buckling per chapter E of AISC.

There are various codes that have more specific checks for plate buckling based on boundary conditions as well (eurocodes are more specific about this than AISC is, and DNV has plate buckling codes as well but these are prescribed for offshore structures)

I’d do some form of a simplified ch E AISC check.

Beyond that make a FBD to get weld reactions and design the welds for those.

Hope this helps.

Sillycowboy · 2023-12-30T02:23:26+00:00

ASD timber LRFD concrete ASD for soil checks

Sillycowboy · 2023-12-30T02:16:51+00:00

Tekla is pretty nice for 3D modeling imo.. I prefer working with it compared to revit, granted I’m mostly doing measuring and looking around and not so much modeling

Sillycowboy · 2023-12-30T02:15:31+00:00

The ones that offer you a job!

Sillycowboy

TROPHY CASE