Quality Control/Assurance in Design Calcs

Question

Quality Control/Assurance in Design Calcs

71corvette (Structural)

(OP)

22 May 03 20:09

Hi All, I have a question I thought I would throw out there. As a young structural engineer I spend a fair amount of my time running design calculations by hand. In my 3 years of work so far I've found several methods for reducing errors or ommisions in my calculations. I've got several methods of my own, such as simply double-checking my own work, using calcs from a similar project as a template, reading through the pertinent codes before starting on the calculations, and asking a mentor/senior engineer for advice or guidance.

What methods do you use to ensure quality in your design calcs? Have any of you found any methods to be particularly useful? What have you found that works or doesnt work?

Thanks

steve1 (Structural) · Answer 1 · 2003-05-23 09:05:04

I believe the best QA is to have someone else, who is knowledegable of the subject, check your work. I realize that this is not always possible, but I believe that it's the "best" method.

Also, and this is very important, make sure to verify any assumptions you make in the design process. I venture to say that this is just as important as having calculations checked.

I seem to remember a discussion on this subject in this forum. Try searching for it.

Ron (Structural) · Answer 2 · 2003-05-23 09:32:38

tinytim22...you mention your "3 years of work so far", indicating you are not yet licensed. I would certainly hope that your firm has a policy that the engineer of record reviews all calculations for a project.

As steve1 stated, it is better to have a second set of eyes on your work.

SRO (Structural) · Answer 3 · 2003-05-23 10:35:40

Ask yourself if your result makes sense. Young engineers don't really have the years of practical experience under their belt to tell them that their design doesn't make sense.

You know what they say if you Assume, right?? They say you are an engineer. If you have a simple span beam with uniform load across 75% of it, run the numbers for that case. Than assume a simple case of the uniform load running the entire length of the beam.

Lastly, check your result with a computer, although that is usually how we get the original result.

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Quality Control/Assurance in Design Calcs