Conversation starter: How heavily do you rely on computational tools?

[human909]

Conversation starter: How heavily do you rely on software computational tools?

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In a effort to start an interesting conversation.... How heavily do you lean on computational tools. To help aid the discussion I'll try to break up the tools into categories in order of computationsal complexity: (I'm attempting to define groupings here, if things clearly don't fit feel free to let me know and I'll adjust...)

1. 3D FEA either in 3D bodies or 3D shells (including BUCKLING ANALYSIS)
2. 3D FEA either in 3D bodies or 3D shells
3. 3D analysis with 1D elements (eg; typical structural analysis programs where elements are defined as lines (columns/beams) in 3D space)
   
   1. Member design via software
   2. Member design via hand calcs or similar
4. EXCEL or similar calculative spreadsheets/software.
5. HAND calcs (calculator allowed)

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[Ron247]

On many (not all) projects, we are made to submit detailed info (calcs, dwgs, etc) because the price of failure is so high in our profession. If it was not required to submit them, how good would our design documentation be?

But, the "Risk-Reward" concept is out of balance when you consider the gravity of our designs. We risk a lot daily in our work, but look how many professions have a higher potential income on average and many with no or little risk. They generally get paid based on how much money they make someone or some company. For the amount of effort we literally put in daily, to be competent, current and valuable in our profession, the financial return does not appear to be compensatory.

If I could go back in time, I seriously know, I would not choose engineering of any kind, or I would get a degree, but never practice in it nor become registered. So many jobs require a college degree, but the flavor of the degree does not matter. So get the CE degree, for myself, but work elsewhere would be my hindsight solution.

 

[NorthCivil]

Who would? If one would learn HTML, CSS and a bit of Java script, in three years or less one could be building web pages, make more money than a structural engineer and work anywhere in the world. This is true whether you are 18 years old, 40 years old and maybe 50 years old. The worst thing that could happen? A web site crashes. No biggie.

this boom is coming to an end (if it hasnt already).
the web page design gold rush is dead.
talented coders that build complex and rare things are still well paid. and so they should be.
No different than in the structural engineering field. there is commodity engineering, (race to the bottom), and specialty stuff (more lucrative).
Also, rightly or wrongly, structural engineers arent subject to the same global competition as software guys.

Also, with the advent of the cloud, the recent teams/zoom boom, structural guys have a lot of location flexibility as well. Hell, i work remote ~10 weeks per year. i do one 5 week trip over January, and one 5 week trip over august. I just bring my laptop, still work mostly full time hours, be available for clients on email and the phone, and its easy as. sometimes require a late or early teams meeting. my ex-boss (retired) loves filling in on site visits, and i love having him in there.

 

[BridgeSmith]

#3 - Maybe 3%
#4 - 85 -90%
#5 - 10%

The 10% hand calcs is usually in the first iteration of design for a component of a different type, which is them automated in Excel. Occasionally, there's a one-off design or review calculation I'll do by hand, also.

 

[Tomfh]

I really don't understand the aversion to doing calcs.

There’s doing calculations, and there’s producing calculation packages. I enjoy the former and hate the latter.

 

[Just Some Nerd]

Have you tried the SpaceGass connection design?

I don't think we have the module actually, but a lot of the connection design is doing the breakout/pullout calcs for fixing into concrete elements. Most of our steelwork is a small part of a larger concrete structure (like awnings or more open communal spaces), steel-to-steel is generally made to be simple shear connections

 

[human909]

this boom is coming to an end (if it hasnt already).
the web page design gold rush is dead.
talented coders that build complex and rare things are still well paid. and so they should be.
No different than in the structural engineering field. there is commodity engineering, (race to the bottom), and specialty stuff (more lucrative).
Also, rightly or wrongly, structural engineers arent subject to the same global competition as software guys.

Also, with the advent of the cloud, the recent teams/zoom boom, structural guys have a lot of location flexibility as well. Hell, i work remote ~10 weeks per year. i do one 5 week trip over January, and one 5 week trip over august. I just bring my laptop, still work mostly full time hours, be available for clients on email and the phone, and its easy as. sometimes require a late or early teams meeting. my ex-boss (retired) loves filling in on site visits, and i love having him in there.

That is certainly what I'm observing. I spent a while wondering if I should taken the computer science path. But looking my peers in that world unless you are extremely good then things are becoming harder.

On the other hand I'm seeing more demand for structural engineering and less supply. Plus I can more easily work for myself.

 

[Just Some Nerd]

On the other hand I'm seeing more demand for structural engineering and less supply

In my part of the industry here in Sydney, projects just seem to be getting increasingly more and more complex and program timelines for design and coordination getting longer and longer. Clients don't seem to want to pay the fees (unsurprising) but there's definitely workload out there for more engineers