Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

I read eagerly the Structural Forum column in the July 2013 issue, Increasing the Velocity of Knowledge, by Gene Frodsham, MS, S.E. As a professional educator and professional engineer, I hoped that he had insights that I could use. I am constantly faced with clientele that ask me to teach them the same material faster – always faster. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

Most of us would agree that simplicity is an admirable characteristic of design. Indeed, simplicity has historically been considered a virtue. This article considers the question of simplicity in structural engineering practice. It concludes by critiquing the advancement of the profession in the area of design specifications. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

Generally speaking, structural engineers first gain confidence that we can know the true behavior of structures during our engineering education, when we become exposed to the sophisticated and beautiful theories of structural mechanics. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

A short time ago, I started working on a project that will be designed for construction in Europe. As such, I decided that I ought to know European construction law. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

Structural engineering has been around since the first cave shortage, yet there is a growing perception that this noble profession might now be dying. What fuels this troublesome notion? Perhaps it starts in high school, where many of the brightest students are discouraged from pursuing the long, hard path to engineering. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE® magazine Editorial Board. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

The complexity of calculations and the development of new materials and methods have increased the amount of knowledge necessary for engineers to learn. …

As engineers, we have a great deal of black and white in our world. We have been trained to define a problem and come up with a solution. Does a structure have the capacity we need, or not? How do the capacities compare to the imposed loads? We use “engineering judgment” grounded in our knowledge and experience to determine whether a structure is safe; but, even with this information, we are using defined skills. It can be difficult to see that there is also a lot of gray area in engineering. …

Are They Really That Bad?

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

In discussing my profession with a friend recently, I explained how we are bound (and protected) by building codes. I mentioned that it is a bit of a challenge keeping up with code changes, since a new code comes out every three years. …

Structural Forum is intended to stimulate thoughtful dialogue and debate among structural engineers and other participants in the design and construction process. Any opinions expressed in Structural Forum are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NCSEA, CASE, SEI, C³Ink, or the STRUCTURE^® magazine Editorial Board.

In my February column, I challenged engineers to think about the culture of structural engineering. The workplace that I described is now one where about half the engineers are women, but the gendered culture of engineering is still not extinct. …