what do civil/structural engineer usually do in a plant? 1

[westheimer1234]

what do civil/structural engineer usually do in a plant (chemical, refinery, etc..)?

i have minimal experience in the site..
i have been involved on the design a lot of plants but wants to know
what is the scope of civil/structural engineer when the plant is in operation already?

 

[MiketheEngineer]

Repairs, additions, consults on new equipment placement and anchoring.

New buildings, walls, etc. Pads, footings, foundations, etc.

While I have never worked directly in a plant - I have been in enough to see that there usually is plenty of this type of work.

 

[apsix]

A lot of places will directly employ mechanical and process engineers etc. and use consultants when they require civil/structural engineers.

 

[byrdj]

for my next turbine maintance job at a power station, its sucess or failure will depend upon a civil/structrual engineer.

He will provide me with guidance on rigging, removal, and staging of componenets for inspection.

 

[msquared48]

You mean besides drink coffee and eat Krispy Kremes with the plant Superintendent?



Mike McCann
MMC Engineering
Motto: KISS
Motivation: Don't ask

 

[stanier]

Build targets for mechanical engineers

 

[debodine]

Pollenate the stamin like the bees do?

 

[csd72]

westheimer,

I am a structural engineer working for a utilities company so I have a few parallels.

Temporary works is one area that may be required.
As mentioned above, structural modifications are often required.
Equipment replacement (what if the plant is heavier than the old one).
Project management of external consultants
Management of cranes e.t.c. for the above.
feasibility and preliminary design

 

[metengr]

what do civil/structural engineer usually do in a plant (chemical, refinery, etc..)?

Eat donuts, drink coffee and play solitaire on the company issued desk top or PC.

 

[westheimer1234]

what are the chances of getting laid off?

i just got laid off a few months ago..
i have a stable low paying job right now..

the thing is i have design experience but very minimal site experience i also feel weak when it comes to retrofit coz most of my experience involved new structures..

 

[unclesyd]

Here is a picture of where I worked and as you can see it covers quite a large area. There is presently one civil/structural engineer in residence who is now directing two engineers from Rent-A-Civil.
He is charge of maintaining all the site maps by working with drafting. He is in on all site planning. He approves all construction drawings in his area of expertise. He is at the beck and call of the inspection group for advice on planning of modification or repair work on all structural steel. On any repair he issues detail drawings of said repair. He is the on-site monitor of all concrete work from the beginning to end. Calls out repair or replacement of anchor bolts. he has to have a through understanding of the plant processes as to what can and can't be shutdown as we are operating on 24/7/365 schedule. He conducts a yearly settlement survey.
Answers question like: Will this sidewalk support a 300 ton crane with a 100 tone load? He signs off on all lifts including temporary building loadings. he just completed assisting in the design and construction of large loading facility for polymer pellets for overseas shipment. At present he is working with the county on a relocation of the central waste treatment plant immediately to the left of the lake on the road into the plant. He just sent out a letter saying that he has confirmed that the chemical plant is downhill(-60') from the waste treatment plant and no, a dam is not feasible.

He does make the round of all shops at Thanksgiving and Christmas to sample all the goodies.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=30.59...5587,-87.253933&spn=0.010011,0.01781&t=h&z=15

 

[graybeach]

Like csd72, I am a structural engineer working for a utility. It addition to the item's on csd72's list, I end up doing a fair amount of Civil stuff. For example, I am currently preparing contract documents for some dredging and debris clean up, and it's much more complicated than one would think.

Unclesyd captures what it's like as well. You get questions like the crane question all the time, and you have to come up with the right answer which can be pretty challenging.

We hire plenty of consultants, but we definitely need some in-house engineers to review their work. The legal exposure is just too great. Plus, we need to make sure that consultants are not being overly conservative which would cause us to spend funds unnecessarily.

 

[plasgears]

As an ME/PE I was facility mgr in a chem plant. Much of what I did was structural, but I got into elect power, rain retention, security gates, security monitoring, maint., purchasing, model shop, owner's rep on contruction, etc.

War story: We were having a high bay addition made, and in the block wall construction we had a near fatal. The wall was about 16-20 high, and the masonry people decided to use long rebars. A long bar got out of control and hit a 16,000V incoming line. The guy was burned but not killed. His lawyer sued everyboy in sight including me. Got settled quietly.