To be or not to be...

[a7x1984]

... a mechanical engineer.

I did some structural design for a buried concrete tank and thrust block a year or so ago. Subsequently, I was asked to size tension rods, bolts, and plates for a restrained DIP pipe joint, which was to be housed in the buried concrete tank. This DIP is very large, and the restrained flange connection was going to see working forces of 33 kips per tension rod (a set of 8 rods).

It was a rush to get this checked (like always). My immediate thoughts were: Where is the mechanical engineer? and, ah...fatigue!

Should I be protesting this type of design? Or, should I start reading the ASME design manuals and prepare for this sort of request in the future (we recently started doing a lot of the structural work for the buried buildings housing this mechanical gobbledygook?

Before you doing anything creative, make sure the code likes the artwork you are trying to wow the world with.

 

[bridgebuster]

I do this sort of design too, on somewhat of a regular basis. Then again bridge engineers do everything, although I haven't done lighting design since the 20th Century.

 

[chicopee]

As a ME, expect to do a lot of work outside your field, however, do research. I had to do a lot of research for projects outside my ME educational background and I am sure that I am not the exception. With the internet service, research has become a lot easier.

 

[a7x1984]

I am not surprised others are dabbling (and some apparently regularly designing) outside of their discipline. The bummer part for me is, sometimes, not having a few extra hours in proposals to bill in order to do some research outside of my realm.

Related: We have to perform some geotechnical services quite often - Many clients don't want to pay for the additional consultant. I am usually happy to do so, when the hours are allotted. However, I was a a local Structural Engineers board meeting the other month and was scolded by a geotechnical colleague for venturing out into his territory. I wondered afterward if he was offended that structural engineers were 'stealing' his work or whether he actually thought performing tasks outside of our normal scope was an inherent risk to others, regardless of how much due diligence was performed.

In Russia building design you!