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Civil Engineering Club - February 2015 Update

Structural Engineers from L.A. Fuess Partners

James Kleineck and Phillip Pesek started off a two-part series with the Civil Engineering Club by talking to students about the engineering design method and how it is applied to structural engineering.  Students were asked by James to define terms such as engineering, structure, load, and structural engineering while also considering what structures are around them as they go through a normal day.  The intent was to illustrate where structural engineering is used in obvious and not-so-obvious ways.  Phil then led the students through a design example using a simply supported beam with a concentrated point load applied at mid-span.  Students were given a brief introduction to deflection and moment equations as well as the properties of various building materials and section properties.  A student or two from each class was then asked to come up to the board and work through the problem while the audience helped with calculations.  Mr. Carver then took the design problem and assigned it as homework over the weekend since the students were in the middle of the structural engineering portion of their curriculum.  Students were also told by James and Phil that they would be given the opportunity to build and test their own beam design in a couple of weeks for a “build-a-beam” activity with the hope that the students could build upon and apply the lessons learned from this presentation and the curriculum being taught by Mr. Carver.