Technology Should Have Been There...

I'm a huge supporter of engineering interwoven with cutting-edge technology, and here's why: DO IT CORRECTLY ONCE AND IT NEVER FAILS. There's that old saying "why is there never enough time to do it right but always enough time to do it over?" which is especially evident in the structural engineering field. Some people are perfectly willing to work with a flawed design in the interest of savings, but then get upset when they need to do it over the correct way. Technology can solve this problem. If an engineer creates a structural design using technology, he can invest his time and energy in the critical areas, and can even re-create or revise those results within seconds. Even better, the engineer can be instantly notified if he's over-designing or under-utilizing parts of his structure. A simple change in the thickness of a structural tube can save thousands of dollars on the project (thereby making his engineering more valuable).

For instance, this picture has been floating around the internet for a few months:

This building's demise was probably caused from a multitude of errors, but here's my opinion of a typical example and how this led up to a failure:

• The soil engineer didn't test the ground properly, or didn't report the results correctly, to the structural engineer.
• The structural engineer assumes the soil engineer knows what he's doing and takes the results at face value. He then designs an appropriate foundation from the data he was given.
• The contractor receives the structural engineer's directives, and thinks to himself "well I don't think they need to be quite that big, or quite that deep. I'm sure if I go 6" short I'll be able to make a profit, plus I doubt anyone will ever find out."
• The structural engineer, unaware of the changes being made to his design, inspects and approves a foundation that is actually smaller than it should be, but without communication or checks on the contractor, nobody's the wiser.
• The weight of the building eventually overcomes the resistance of the soil, and it tips over.

Now I'm not saying that computers will fix everything. Far from it. But if technology would have been better utilized in this situation, all professionals involved would have been more informed. The contractor could have even used a simple widget to double-check if that 6" made a difference in the weight or bearing of the footer, by modifying this simple widget below:

Next up, and my personal favorite, is the Google Engineer. You didn't know Google had structural engineers all over the place did you? Well, technically it's called Google Earth. The full-blown advent of technology in the last 5 years has created ways for engineers to review structures that we never even thought possible before. Here's an example:

• A building in NYC was cited for having a crack running from the first floor to the third. The May 1 complaint from the Building Department says “Approx 1/2 inch to 1 inch wide vertical crack line in east wall (east south corner) facade from 1st to 3rd floor.” The inspection also found cracks on the interior wall on the third and fourth floors.
  

• Google Street View had actually caught the image of the building around this same time, which clearly shows the crack running up the side:

• The building eventually did collapse, but fortunately did not hurt anyone. Here's the aftermath:

While Google Street View is sometimes viewed as invasive, this shows an unexpected benefit: images that once seemed irrelevant are suddenly at the center of a major news event. Engineers can learn from this by using technology creatively and more proficiently. Just imagine what will be here in another 5 years....we'll probably have a McDonald's of Engineering (hint: it's called Engineering Express).

Power in the Ocean - World's First "Real" Floating Wind Turbine

Since my career first began in Ocean Engineering, I've always been interested in the growth and technology from the Marine industry. My biggest complaint, however, is the lack of resources that exploit this huge unexplored territory. The ocean has an almost infinite number of power sources--we can create power from offshore currents, from the ocean wind, from the jetstream, from the sun....you name it and the ocean has a place to put it. Well, finally, the world is being introduced to the first large-scale ocean wind turbine. It's 240-feet across, 120-feet up in the air, and extends about 300-feet deep. The best part is it's not founded in the seabed--IT'S FLOATING!! The manufacturer, Siemens, "anchored the structure to the seafloor with three wires and a control system enables the turbine to dampen the effects of wave-induced motion." Sounds structurally difficult but I like it! Personally, I would have created a multitude of smaller turbines that actually sit in the ocean and are constantly powered by waves, because this huge mammoth (which works intermittently because it's based on wind) only has a 2.3MW output (only enough to power about 2000 homes in a year). Those smaller turbines would actually be double-helix's and look similar to a DNA strand--creating the most surface area for multi-directional waves to penetrate. Either way I'm glad a major corporation is making strides in renewable power. Maybe someone will see my double-helix idea and make me a millionaire or at the very least copy my blog and make me famous. Not holding my breath.

By the way, what the heck is up with the Chevy Volt? According to this article, the car can get up to 230 MPG. Is it just me or is this a glaring admission that the American car companies have always been just a few steps away from truly renewable sources of power and simply waited until the last possible moment to roll out the technology? I find it hard to believe we magically made our technology 1000% more efficient within five years (going from 23 MPG to 230 MPG). Soon I hope our society starts to work with technology instead of against it, or we may all be living on our own floating turbine.

Information courtesy of CE magazine www.pubs.asce.org

Engineering Salaries Going Up!

Just read an article in Civil Engineering magazine that despite the recession, the salaries of engineers continue to go up year by year. The survey found that between April 2008 to April 2009 the median base salary of professional engineers rose almost 10%, from $85,000 to $92,000 annually. That's great news for me! Even better, my own field of structural engineering actually saw base salaries go up 12%! This is great news and shows that America is starting to finally see professional engineers for what they are--valuable assets to the safety and civility of society. Without engineers, you wouldn't even have a computer to read my blog. Although I still have to wait another 3 years for my own license in 2012 (right when the world ends), I'm glad that reports are finally coming out which make me feel more comfortable about choosing the right major. So now, not only do I love my job, but I'll be quite well off in doing it.....and will build my billion-dollar dream house in just a few short decades.

I also added some more GOOGLEJUICE (as Jeff Jarvis calls it) to my name. I now have a Google profile (which oddly enough doesn't even show up when you search for me, go figure) as well as a claimID account. ClaimID is a cool way to collaborate your digital self and put all the links into one simple site. My new claimID is www.claimid.com/troybishop and my new Google profile is http://www.google.com/profiles/troy.engexp. I even collected my sweet widget page at http://www.engexp.com/exos/widgets.cfm and a couple more profile pages at http://www.engexp.com/employee.cfm?employee_id=51 , http://www.linkedin.com/in/troysbishop. (Sorry about all the links, but I was told this would increase my exposure!)

My claimID

Information courtesy of CE magazine www.pubs.asce.org

Damaging Winds

As you know by now I'm obsessed with the damage wind can do. I just found this great article called "The Hidden Story of Storm Protection." by Frank Bennardo, P.E. Few people realize how complex and pervasive wind can be on a structure, but he breaks it down into easy to understand terminology. I didn't fully realize that the second function of a shutter is to reduce internal pressurization. The ability for wind to get into any and all spaces brings to mind a condo a few months ago that I got a chance to evaluate, which essentially failed during Hurricane Wilma because a resident (understandably) got scared when the violent winds shook the building and his balcony windows imploded.

This is what happened:

1) The implosion of the balcony windows suddenly increased the air pressure and flying glass shatter inside the apartment.

2) Panic took over and the residents forced the entrance door to open establishing a wind tunnel inside their hallway corridor. Once outside the door was released and slammed violently.

3) The pressure difference and the molecules expanding and contracting within his condo found its way into the interior hallway and blew the corridor's exterior exit door open, equalizing the full pressure difference and releasing energy towards the interior partition walls which collapsed.

4) Additional energy sources came into play such as stairwells to the roof exit and continued the destruction of interior walls and finishes.

Unfortunately, as demonstrated during Hurricane Wilma, even a small breach of the building envelope will impose excessive loads which can lead to failure. Do it right....get it engineered!