BigH nailed it. I grew up doing construction so when I went into engineering design I had a good understanding than most text-book engineers. I don't know how many times I've sent designs back to young engineers because something physically couldn't be built. Get the young ones out in the...
If you are working on a bridge you may have no choice in regards to adding the flange splice plates. Most DOT's in the US require it regardless of what your calculations show. Also, if you read some steel design books they often comment on not having the flange plates changing the "stiffness"...
RackaRoll - my advice, don't use this forum for much of anything. You will not get an answer to your question. I read posts for entertainment purposes only these days.
chris3eb - take a look at the published material. I've been doing this a long time. The Rule of Thumb is half, but of course you have to determine it via accepted methods. I forget I'm on a forum of engineers and that 0.48 is not 0.50.
Take the advice for what it is, or let the slope fail...
XR250 - here are a few basic illustrations.
Failure mechanism when not in a slope:
Failure mechanism when in the slope:
You should be able to start with any college textbook explaining the theory, but you can see from the images that in a slope you only have roughly half of the...
Check your state (assuming this is in the U.S.) regulations on retainage of engineering records. My state only requires that calculations, reports, etc. have to be retained for a minimum of 6 years. Of course, I don't throw anything out, but nonetheless the engineering laws usually have...
You should be more concerned with the soil bearing capacity if the foundation is in a slope. Your capacity is usually cut in half. You should take a look at basic theory.
I have an opportunity to work as a sub-consultant. I want to register an official business with my state. I'm a licensed engineer but would not be stamping any of the work I would be doing. From what I'm reading, that means I can just register as a consulting firm as a limited liability...
For the situations you are describing where you are being solicited to visit, evaluate drawings, etc. then charging a fee is appropriate. However, when "bidding" on engineering contracts that are not in place yet site visits are the cost of doing business and are generally charged to overhead.
MIStructeE-IRE: 95% of all engineering disasters happen during construction, not design. I don't know how they do things in Ireland, but most structural firms in the USA have people checking each others work. I used to mentor a lot of junior engineers and had many come to me over the years...
KlunkerSolar - your original post says your are designing a steel column. There is a factor of safety associated with that, the omega term in the AISC Manual. The loading you compare to the capacity to comes from the load combinations. There aren't any factors of safety in loading...
KlunkerSolar - you are confusing the "material" factors of safety with the percentage of the loading used for each group. For ASD you generally have no more than 75% of any transient load acting simultaneously since the probably of occurrence is low. There is a difference between the factor of...
KlunkerSolar: You may want to do a bit of research on the philosophical differences between ASD and LRFD. I can offer a brief summary. For ASD, the factor of safety is on the capacity side of the equation and it's a blanket "global" factor of safety. It's nice because you know exactly what...
It sounds like you have a great opportunity to start your own company and control the market in the area these guys are lacking in. You can bill them accordingly and eventually they will wish they brought you in at the start as a founding partner.
Generally, dynamic/impact loads don’t need to be considered for buried portions (footings). The theory is that the surrounding soil will absorb the dynamic loading. Check whichever code you are using.
