Could you recommend materials for learning and improving myself as a piping materials engineer?

[springwaterbr]

I posted this under the piping engineering forum, but I'm not sure if this forum isn't more suitable, as this post focuses on piping materials.

I'm a young engineer with a little over three years of working experience as a piping materials engineer. Right now I'm feeling overwhelmed.

Engineering as a whole in my country was heavily impacted by some events in the recent past, and most of the seasoned engineers either switched fields, retired early, or were laid off. The company I work at used to have a robust team of specialists. When I started working here as an intern most of those people had already left, as the crisis had begun earlier. There still were some experienced engineers, but one by one they left for other endeavors.

As of now, there is only one person more knowledgeable than I in the field working here - my boss (another colleague just quit to switch fields). But they are progressively taking on more of a managerial role, while leaving the technical part of the work to me. I just don't feel confident. There isn't a rich source of in-house information, other than in completed projects' documentation. I rely heavily on the internet, forums, vendors and clients themselves. Other than my boss there aren't really other people I can go to for more seasoned advice on the particular topic of piping materials.

Do you have suggestions on specific references (books, videos, lectures, documents, brochures, whatever) I could use to gain more knowledge of the field? Experience and actually working as an engineer no doubt are the most influential to my learning curve, but I feel like I need a supplement. If relevant: I don't have a background in materials engineering; I graduated as a mechanical engineer.

Thanks.

 

[EdStainless]

What is your field? Are these pipelines, or in plant? What are the materials that you work with, steel, API grades, SS, other?
Narrow it down a bit and we can give you some advice.

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P.E. Metallurgy, consulting work welcomed

 

[davefitz]

One of the things I learned was that if you educate yourself so that you know 10% more than your boss, then you will immediately be considered an expert at your company ( but not in general, becuase there are always persons more knowlegeable at other companies).

A solid theoretical background can be had by taking beaucoup graduate courses in your field at a good engineering school. Getting some field experience by visitng the foundries and forges and pipe fab shops helps as well; seeing things physically manaufactured is a great aid to escape the fictional boundaries of theoretical classroom work.

Finally , reading trade magazines and techical papers presented at the tech conferences will put you over the top insofar as being well educated in the current state of the art. While it might no longer be possible in today's digitized libraries, it used to be possible to accelerate your technical education by visiting a good engineering library that has archives of older conference proceedings, and just browse thru the abstracts of each paper in the proceeding, and when an interesting or relevant paper is found, scan its entirey to understand its methods and its conclusions.

"...when logic, and proportion, have fallen, sloppy dead..." Grace Slick

 

[springwaterbr]

What is your field? Are these pipelines, or in plant? What are the materials that you work with, steel, API grades, SS, other?
Narrow it down a bit and we can give you some advice.

The vast majority of projects are of plants - chemical, fertilizer, oil and gas, ethanol, cogeneration, mining, tank terminals. There are some pipeline projects, but those are fewer and usually involve a greater deal of experienced professionals.

We work with carbon, stainless, duplex, and alloy steels (API / ASTM), cast/ductile iron, plastics, FRP, and lined pipe.

 

[springwaterbr]

One of the things I learned was that if you educate yourself so that you know 10% more than your boss, then you will immediately be considered an expert at your company ( but not in general, becuase there are always persons more knowlegeable at other companies).

A solid theoretical background can be had by taking beaucoup graduate courses in your field at a good engineering school. Getting some field experience by visitng the foundries and forges and pipe fab shops helps as well; seeing things physically manaufactured is a great aid to escape the fictional boundaries of theoretical classroom work.

Finally , reading trade magazines and techical papers presented at the tech conferences will put you over the top insofar as being well educated in the current state of the art. While it might no longer be possible in today's digitized libraries, it used to be possible to accelerate your technical education by visiting a good engineering library that has archives of older conference proceedings, and just browse thru the abstracts of each paper in the proceeding, and when an interesting or relevant paper is found, scan its entirey to understand its methods and its conclusions.

Thanks for the tips! Do you have any specific magazines/papers/conferences you recommend?

 

[1503-44]

Mcgraw Hill's "Piping Handbook" by Cocker & King.
ASME B31.3 or whatever code you use most.

 

[kingnero]

From an outsider's perspective, I'd say there is an other approach as those mentioned before:

Get to know the standard to which you're working inside and out, and try to figure out why everything is specified like that.
This will probably not teach you the basics you also need to know, but this will focus your "education" on the aspects that are most important to your job, and will probably yield the best results short term in order to do your work better.

I'm certainly not advocating for this as an only option, but as complimentary to getting a good education by reading books/literature/... .