Structural Design Training for a Non-Engineer

[merton]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking for some advice and direction on where to start with regards to understanding and design of steel plate & shell structures and welded/bolted connections.

I don't want to bore the reader, but here is some backstory...

My original training was as a Draftperson and then Architectural Technology. I had worked in this field for years until the lack of employment in my province (I'm from Canada) encouraged me to move to Alberta in search of more opportunities. It was the right choice as I found a job within days doing drafting and project coordination on residential and commercial projects. The structural steel designs were always most interesting to me.

After getting married I took a drafting position with a tank manufacturer who did mosting API 12F at that time. Although I had no previous experience in the field I soon knew that I had found a career that I could be passionate about. I studied the API 650 specification and over time have gained a good understanding of requirement with the taking some additional courses on tank design and purchasing design software. The software helped me the most by showing the calculations so I could work through them on my own to see where the values were coming from.

I feel that I have an understanding of the principles of loading and the forces which effect design. But I want to go deeper to see the hows and whys of where he formulas and values come from. I purchased two books in this quest, Design of Plate & Shell Structures by Maan H. Jawad and Process Equipment Design by Brownell and Young. These volumes are full of great information for sure, but over my head as far as implementing their principles. I would love to be able to understand this information more thoroughly and implement it in API 650/620 designs with confidence.

I need to start small and work up to the more complex items. To start I would like to go with connections to the shells such as clips for platforms, etc. Formulas and guides are great but you need to know the why and the how.

I work full time and to this point have not found any part time of distance learning courses that would exactly match with my desires.

Any suggestions or direction that the reader may have in regards to the above would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you in advance.

 

[Ron]

Unfortunately, to get to where you want to be, most have to go fairly far through a college curriculum. Structural analysis and design are cumulative to the prerequisite courses in mechanics, materials science and physics. While you can get a yeoman's understanding of the concepts, to be proficient you'll need multiple courses, not just a design course or two.

 

[abusementpark]

If you want to learn the engineering principles to simply enhance your own personal understanding (and not get licensed), then I would say that you need to purchase a book on Statics and start from there. You will quickly run into concepts that are beyond your understanding, but you may be able to skim over those parts and/or ask a colleague to give a quick overview of what you are missing. Having someone who can guide you through the most important concepts will be critical. There are a lot of very important things a typical Statics book, but there are also some things that could be skipped.

I you can get a comfortable grip on Statics, then move on to Mechanics of Materials.

 

[FeX32]

...get a statics text with simplified math, many of the modern texts utilize vectoral notation, matrix algebra.. ect. This will extremely confuse anyone not familiar with these....



Fe

 

[GregLocock]

I'd start with Structures by JE Gordon.

As he observes, unfortunately structural analysis was a mathematician's playground in the 18th century, with the legacy of an over analytical approach to those cases that were solvable, and a disregard for realities like unknown loadscases, variable materials, and what we might politely call assembly techniques. Very often an acceptable analysis can be obtained by common sense and approximation rather than indulging in higher math.

Since statics and dynamics are taught at an appalling level in high school it is a fair bet that a university course will pretty much start at ground zero, therefore their textbooks should be OK.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[Qshake]

Greg - I almost thought you were an architect there for a minute!

Sure, there was a great deal of math and mathematicians involved in the development of structural analysis from an elasticity point of view (Euler, LaPlace, Kirkoff, etc). But I like to think they did wonders for progressing the field to help us practicing engineers push the envelop more and more.

Q

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[Bobber1]

Design of Welded Structures by Omar Blodgett.