I don't feel like working for 4 years helped me pass the PE exam. All the questions I felt good about from my work, were the low-hanging fruit I would have scored well on anyway. I think those 4 years are necessary to have the increased responsibility and to understand the industry.
I've seen bars used in slab construction joint details often by lots of different engineers. Big pour that needs to be broken up, but still wanting the slab to act monolithically across the joint. It's not practical to lap mesh through the side form, so they drill holes in the end form and run...
I'm curious why this was considered. was there a testing question driving this? as in... if the bottom materials and the top materials are different, it makes the reference proctor invalid or you set the bar at the higher proctor. Or did they want to proofroll the subgrade again before...
I did this for about 10 years. It's a case-by-case decision. MOST of the time jobs only required 1 technician, including jobs with sets every 50. We knew when we would have to staff more, but we would get that sense from everything leading up to the pour and the info we would get about the...
An RSF has been operating for 20 years. It's for a neighborhood system and treats an average of 10,000 metered gals/day. We took it offline for work on the tank and hauled away the sewage. Before the work, the sand filter lab results had been taking both BOD and TSS from around approx 200-300...
If you are building a road that you designed, you should be advocating for the owner to have proofrolls of subgrades and density tests for compaction..... If you are having both of those things done, you'll have a testing laboratory involved which will give you access to a Geotech Egr who can...
Is there no room to just lower the yard area? you don't have to make a "pond" with structures or anything.... just have to show a depression with the offsetting volume that has been freed up..... Theoretically, if you are above the seasonal high groundwater table at the bottom of the...
I'm having a hard time believing there isn't already a design professional involved in this who would be the person who would respond to the concerns of the official. For the amount of infrastructure investment we're talking about here, it can't all be in the hands of the pump vendor like it's...
ditto to Eirechch's comments. I used to do a lot of building envelope consulting at a different company that had a lot of senior roofing/waterproofing consultants. You're just not going to find robust technical information on foundation drains that isn't married to a waterproofing product. Any...
My recommendation is to buy a modular and design the concrete basement area (*cough* man-cave) that goes underneath and supports it. Companies have big catalogs of modulars today are very good at giving lots of layout and style options and feel stick-built. Building a home is enough of a...
It sounds like you might have 1 degree of separation from the building official and everything is going through your client. I suspect you'll be doing your client and yourself a favor by stamping ONLY the work you oversaw the design of. If the AHJ is REALLY requiring more engineering formality...
It sounds to me like you don't need an engineering solution but need a bureaucratic solution. There is no way that the PA DEP representative's concern about concrete pedestals that you expressed is based on science or the intent of the PA legislative intent. You're dealing with a regulator who...
the biggest trouble I've had with lightweight concrete density is whenever somebody gets the crazy idea of questioning a UL design because something that doesn't matter is slightly different. I've never met a structural engineer who had issues with an extra couple of pcf. It is always the...
the retaining wall doesn't exist yet either. that sketch was made by owner before they had to get an engineer involved. he was showing one to use as a backstop for the drop inlet. I was switching that out for an armored berm.
these comments have got me thinking about turning this thing into a...
the issue is there is an off-property railroad culvert uphill that dumps water on this property and causing deep gullies across the property as the soils are all sand deposits from the major river the property abuts. the goal is to intercept the culvert discharge runoff downhill from the...
A client bought a bunch 3ft diameter HDPE corrugated-out/smooth-interior pipe and a shop-fab 3ft elbow joint so they could build an HDPE catch basin and the discharge line that basically looks like an elbow. This was their idea before I came in and their goal was to intercept and divert runoff...
Hi geotechguy1,
I've worked for 3 different Large A/E firms and I agree with what you say... but with some more nuance. I often found myself being the person at the Big A/E hiring smaller firms who would sign our sub-agreement and I've found myself also working for smaller clients who would...
I've worked at 6 different geotech firms in the NC, VA, SC area of the USA. I don't know for sure, but i would bet we worked directly for the Owner at least 75% of the time. A/E's that don't like terms & conditions shouldn't hire subs.
One thing that isn't known as well as it should is that...
Hello, I'm looking to clean up some old permits of a Gymnasium and an Auditorium at a boarding school. The school has a centralized wastewater disposal system just for themselves. The state's rules on wastewater demands mirrors the values of the Uniform Plumbing Code Table H201.1(4) and the...
Question for the SEs: i've got a "can you design this building like this under todays codes?" question.... Specifically, can the stair tower in the far wing NOT be designed with just 1 shear wall? Isn't there some limit to how much open floor plan you can have before you connect to a shear...
