Phase 3 – Total Recall
I have recently moved from Gatwick Airport to start work at Sir Robert McAlpine Design Group in their Temporary Works team. I’m still in the first weeks here but have already been given quite a few tasks to work on. It’s certainly been a challenge to recall the lectures and read my notes from phase 1 and apply them to practical examples! I thought I would share some initial observations early days.
Some of the tasks I have done already include designing a concrete lintel for an opening including props to enable the lintel’s installation. I have also done buckling checks on plunge columns (not strictly temp works…) which has had me looking over some of the worked examples and exercises we did in phase 1. In particular have found that using the IStructE Eurocode guides and just asking around the office has been helpful. It seems that the design team here prefer to do a lot of design by hand on calc paper almost exactly the way we have been taught in phase 1. The team also use quite a bewildering number of software programmes to check the calcs. However, Robot and MasterSeries seem to be the most useful. Robot in particular for frame, slab and plate analysis, MasterSeries for connections and capacity of steel members. I have also found that BeamPal is quite useful for doing simple bending moment and shear force checks of beams.
For those about to go onto phase 2 and then phase 3 at the end of the year I hope this shows that what we learn is put into practical use in industry. Also it might prove useful for future students to gain a working understanding of software they use.
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Al – at risk of being devisive, I have found that the reliance on software is a generational thing. The senior members of the team seem to figure out what they expect to find on paper, use a computer to verify it, while the more junior engineers tend to build the model on the software and then check to see if it looks right with hand calculations. I will caveat that by saying some of the senior guys are complete software wizzes and some of the junior guys are software rookies (me).
I think you are right in saying that there is a VAST amount of software out there, of which each company has prefered lists/licenses for. For example Beampal actually mentions in its product description that it should only be used for temporary works. On Phase 1 I was adament that we should be taught software because we were going into this world un-prepared but im starting to see the impossibility of the task and couldn’t suggest software that would help all or even most. For example BAM dont use AutoCad they use Revit and for anyone who has used both, knows they are polar opposite.
For me personally, phase 1 (paired with my under graduate) has at least put me on par with the engineer pen and paper skills of those around me but my steepest learning curve will be all the software. I am sure every engineer new to a design office feels the same.
Ash, could be just that I’m surrounded by a (slightly) older generation in my team, so paper first is the way they prefer to do business! In fairness the engineers here say that everyone tackles problems in different ways using software they are most comfortable with. Agree that the software is a big learning curve. I suppose its difficult to prepare in some ways for this as you don’t know which companies use what software. That said if you have at least a basic understanding of the big software suites such as Robot and Revit it still helps. From my very limited experience so far I’ve not used AutoCAD at all yet and it seems my team don’t use it as SRM have their own CAD team to do that work. That could just be the nature of Temp Works though.
Great to get your feedback on software. Ultimately PEW should be teaching software that is utilised by 170 Engr Gp as that is the role we are training you for. However, there is a significant time gap between Phase 1 and working in 170.
This could be rectified by giving you a military focused design exercise in Phase 4, that requires the use of software. This could be done for Civil and E&M, possibly in an integrated project. I would be interested in your thoughts.
Mark
Whilst I am all for every day being a school day, Phase 4 is essentially a reorientation to an organisation the students have stepped away from for nearly 2 years. It would be great to have the time allocated to allowing them the opportunity to practice on software they will be using at 170, but my experience of Chilwell is that rather like the design office, there is little consensus about what good looks like in the IT world and therefore, a similar variety of programmes being used. When we were looking at alternatives to HEVACOMP back in the day, it became rapidly apparent that apart from the location of function buttons in the user interface, the programmes all pretty much have to be used in the same way; the underpinning maths is the same after all. Requiring the students to teach themselves how to use unfamiliar programmes, as happens in the design office, is therefore, probably the best preparation they can be given for their future role.