How to Make the Right Civil Engineering Career Decisions

How to Make the Right Civil Engineering Career Decisions

 

Align your civil engineering education with future expectations so you have the best chances of being the top candidate.

You have a long, but interesting road ahead of you. With civil engineering as your chosen career, you’ll enjoy being innovative and purposeful on a daily basis.

The term ‘civil’ is taken from ‘civilisation’. It’s the responsibility of civil engineers to plan, create and maintain the buildings & structures communities use:

  • Roads and transportation
  • Water infrastructures
  • Tunnels
  • Bridges

This is a noble cause to work for.

If you want satisfaction and enjoyment as part of your career path, read on. There’s much to learn. The civil engineering path doesn’t start the day you get your first job. You need to align your current decisions with where you want to end up.

We’ll help you get there.

Before You Decide—Read What it’s All About

Are you sure this is what you want? It’s important you understand all facets of civil engineering jobs. When you have a realistic expectation of your future, it will be less challenging and more enjoyable.

Does this sound like a job you’ll relish?

  • See the difference you’re making, by planning and creating different structures in & around cities.
  • Help cities function well by helping improve infrastructures.
  • Benefit the environment while engineering civil projects.
  • Work with many people and occasionally lead them as part of management.
  • Take initiative during planning and on site to solve & prevent problems.
  • Use computer software to design structures.
  • Offer consulting services.
  • Research civil engineering projects.

Are there enough aspects you’ll love doing, making this the right long-term decision for you?

If your answer is yes, your preparation starts now.

Make the Right Decisions at School

How well are you doing at school?

A civil engineering degree is a tough course. Because universities don’t want to waste resources, they only allow students into these courses who prove their capability.

And how do learning centers gauge this? They look at your subjects and marks.

These are required civil engineering subjects during school years:

  • Mathematics: Algebra, Geometry, Statistics and Calculus
  • Science: Advanced Physics and Chemistry, Applied Biology, Physical Science

Make sure 2018 marks are better than 2017’s. You must achieve top marks for these subjects, or universities may not even consider you.

Does that motivate you to study more for your next test?

Alternative Option

Are you already studying, but you’re considering doing a civil engineering course? The good news is universities may consider you if you already have BTech qualifications.

Pick the Right Course

What do you do if a university selects you? Do you know what course to pick?

Civil engineering can be approached from two angles:

-Doing a BEng

-Start with a BSc in civil engineering

Here is where it gets complicated. If your goal is to be accredited as an engineer, the BEng is the safest route. Some BSc courses don’t meet the requirements and may not be recognized for this honor.

This is why researching your course options is so important. Also, make sure your course is accredited by ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology).

If these civil engineering subjects interest you, you’ll enjoy your coursework:

  • Physics
  • Chemistry
  • Ethics
  • Structural mechanics
  • Surveying
  • Engineering math
  • Statistics and analysis
  • Design
  • Engineering materials

Students usually study for four years. If they pass they’re qualified to act as engineers, but still need to be supervised. Further experience and licenses are necessary to obtain senior positions.

The Next Step

Additional Studies

An additional option—which can open the career door you’re aiming for—is doing a MEng. You need to graduate a basic degree first. Occasionally the MEng aspect is built into undergraduate coursework.

But if you need an MEng degree, be prepared for even higher performance expectations than you faced getting in for your first degree.

Practical Experience

One of the best parts of studying civil engineering is the interesting coursework. Practical laboratory work and partnering with people in the industry are common features at most universities.

While practical experience takes place throughout your study years, you’ll enjoy your ‘sandwich year’ the most. This is your year out in the field where you see what civil engineering systems are all about. You may even get the opportunity to do yours internationally. And if you impress your temporary bosses with your skills, they may offer you a full-time position.

You can see civil engineering requires you to give your best from school years until you land your first job. Are you ready to start building your career today?

The Goal

What are the titles you’ll put on your business card one day?

When your studies and practical education are finished, you’re eligible for roles such as:

-Construction manager

-Site engineer

-Quality engineer

-Research engineer

-Development engineer

-Analyst

-Lecturer

-Geotechnical engineer

Which of these roles do you covet?

Is this the career that makes your heart beat with excitement? Start preparing today. Align your education with future expectations so you have the best chances of being the top candidate. You can one day change the world around you. And it starts today.

Top 10 Companies for Civil Engineers to Work for

Top 10 Companies for Civil Engineers to Work for

 

We are in the middle of a construction boom, fuelled by large civil engineering projects in India and the Middle East. This makes it a great time to work for a civil engineering company. There have rarely been so many opportunities in both developed countries and the developing world. This article is going to give you the lowdown on what the best companies offer to their employees and some criteria you can use to pick out the best of the bunch. It will also list ten companies that are recognised as being industry-leaders in civil engineering and score highly with employees.

Characteristics of a good civil engineering company

The top-ten companies listed below are obviously some of the larger, often internationally-respected, businesses. In reality, there are thousands of smaller companies, consultancies and agencies that you can work for. So, how do you make a decision on which vacancies to apply for? The first thing to consider is a company’s pedigree. In general, companies that are well established will be more accommodating to new staff than start-ups that haven’t yet found their feet. They are also more likely to offer good remuneration packages and benefits. Some of the bigger companies will offer perks like extra holidays, free health insurance and enhanced pension schemes.

Another thing to pay attention to is any staff satisfaction surveys or reviews that are available. Websites like www.glassdoor.co.uk can give you a good insight into what it’s like to work for a particular company. Finally, if you are going to be a site-based civil engineer, make sure you check out each company’s safety record. Look for companies that have robust health and safety processes in place and low accident rates. Let’s take a look at the top ten civil engineering companies to work for, based on a combination of the above criteria.

The Top 10:

1. Arup

In a recent survey by the New Civil Engineer publication, 96% of employees agreed that Arup was great, and they had no desire to work anywhere else. That tells you something about the ethos and culture of the company. It offers excellent training and career progression and scores highly on pay and benefits. Arup is a well-established company with a large portfolio of construction and infrastructure projects in Europe and throughout the world, employing over 13,000 people in more than 30 countries. It is well known for its creative approach to structural design and is not afraid to innovate, making it a great company to work for if you relish a challenging position at the cutting-edge of engineering.

2. Atkins

Atkins scored a healthy 7.4 out of 10 in a recent job-satisfaction survey, with employees particularly happy with the level of personal support and professional development. As Atkins is the main contractor on large projects such as London’s Crossrail, there will be plenty of opportunities to get stuck into interesting engineering jobs.

3. Vinci

French construction company Vinci is one of the largest in the world, employing over 180,000 people globally. Their employees work on large international structural and infrastructure projects, including a multi-million dollar highway system in Atlanta, Georgia and large natural gas projects in Australia. Operating for over 115 years, Vinci definitely ticks the ‘well-established’ box and regularly scores highly on job satisfaction.

4. Mott McDonald

Mott McDonald is a fast-growing global construction and engineering company that regularly scores 80% or more on job-satisfaction surveys. It is an employee-owned company, which means that the culture is very people-centred and values professional development and collaboration very highly. It also boasts one of the best graduate training schemes, which consistently ranks highly in comparison tables.

5. Stantec

Stantec is a globally renowned engineering firm that has a particularly large presence in North America and the UK. Employees praise the benefits system and the promotion of a work-life balance within the company.

6. Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty specialises in large-scale infrastructure projects and has a solid global reputation for successful delivery. It has a strong focus on helping communities to grow and gets involved with positive initiatives such as local sustainability projects.

7. Bechtel

If you decide to work for Bechtel, you will probably be working on some of the most challenging engineering projects in the world, possibly in locations such as Africa, where Bechtel has a strong presence. It is a prestigious and world-leading company for structural design, construction and energy provision.

8. Skanska

Skanska is a Swedish construction company that is highly regarded worldwide. Employees say that they are happy with the working environment at the company. One of the reasons regularly given is that Skanska is happy to give new recruits and graduate engineers positions of responsibility early on in their careers.

9. Laing O’Rourke

Laing O’Rourke has a large presence in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Its graduate training programme is highly regarded and it is a company that promotes training and professional development, as well as the opportunity to work on high profile projects.

10. Arcadis

Arcadis is a large consultancy that focuses on environmental and sustainability projects, including design and build projects such as transit hubs that improve urban living. It’s a popular company to work for, offering a wide variety of projects to work on – ideal for those starting their career in civil engineering or who fancy a new challenge.

 

Source : www.newengineer.com

CAD Vs BIM: Advantages and Disadvantages

CAD Vs BIM: Advantages and Disadvantages

 

With the advent of computers, the design industry has experienced a never-before revolution. Creating designs on computers has brought about a change in the way the designers and architects work. Different software such as CAD and BIM software aid the design and execution process. However, these professionals often face a dilemma while selecting the appropriate software for their project. It, thus, becomes imperative to understand the benefits offered by CAD and BIM and their disadvantages.

CAD and  BIM Advantages and Disadvantages

CAD Advantages

CAD is a line based approach to design.

  • When it comes to the software price, CAD software is cheaper than the ones for BIM.
  • CAD is easier to learn. 2D drafting skills are enough to produce CAD drawings. Even the 3D CAD model is generated by drawing lines.
  • It is easier to create 2D drawings on CAD as all the process are direct processes. For e.g., if you need to represent a line, you just need to draw a line. In BIM, a line is a product of indirect process e.g. the façade view derived from the 3D model of the window which, in turn, is an assembly of parametric 3D objects.

BIM Advantages

BIM is a model-based approach to design.

  • The greatest advantage of BIM is that it can capture reality in a way that 2D drawings are unable to capture. Availability of various mapping tools, aerial imagery and laser scans of existing infrastructure have made this information to be the starting point of a project. This information can be integrated with the BIM model.
  • It has a multidisciplinary approach to design. A single BIM software can be used to design all the disciplines such as architecture, structure, and MEP. This is achieved by assimilating the design parameters from all the disciplines in the model which results in a better-coordinated design.
  • Synchronization between all the drawings such as plans, elevations, sections, perspective etc. is easier in BIM as all these drawings are extracted from a single model. Any change in the design that is incorporated in the model will automatically result in the updation in all the drawings that are extracted.
  • A lot of labor and time is saved when deriving quantities from BIM model with the use of tools such as element counts, volumes, areas, etc.
  • Simulation tools in BIM software allow designers to visualize various parameters. It also allows the designers and engineers to carry out the detailed analysis with the click of a button.
  • The BIM toolset helps in resolving conflicts between elements of different disciplines that arise in the design. For e.g. it can resolve clashes that arise when an electrical conduit runs into a beam.

BIM offers a number of advantages over CAD. This has prompted the Industry bigwigs to shift to BIM. The possibility of a human error getting carried forward in BIM is negligible. In a nutshell, BIM modeling is a holistic approach to design, development, and maintenance of a building. With the numerous benefits that BIM offers over CAD, BIM modeling is undoubtedly an efficient and intelligent approach.

Excel Sheet to Make a Gantt Chart in Microsoft Excel 2013

Excel Sheet to Make a Gantt Chart in Microsoft Excel 2013

 

This Gantt Chart spreadsheet is designed to to help you create a simple project schedule. You only need to know some basic spreadsheet operations, such as how to insert, delete, copy and and paste rows and cells. For more advanced uses, such as defining task dependencies, you will need to know how to enter formulas.

 

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Sheet Pile Design Spreadsheet

Sheet Pile Design Spreadsheet

 

This spreadsheet calculates the capacity of a cantilever sheet pile in English units and using common US sheeting sections. The geotechnical worksheet computes earth pressures and embedment. The Structural worksheet uses BEAMANAL spreadsheet by Alex Tomanovich, P.E. and the geotechnical analsyis worksheet to compute stresses and deflections.

 

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Canadian Seismic Design of Steel Structures

Canadian Seismic Design of Steel Structures

 

Design of Steel Structures of the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) governs the design of the majority of steel structures in Canada. Clause 27 of the standard includes the earthquake design provisions for seismic force resisting systems for which ductile seismic response is expected. Technical changes and new requirements have been incorporated in the 2009 edition of CSA S16, including modifications of the expected material properties for HSS members, consideration of protected zones, definitions of brace probable compressive and tensile resistances for capacity design and special requirements for braces intersecting columns between floors for concentrically braced steel frames, new seismic provisions for buckling restrained braced steel frames, design and detailing requirements for built-up tubular ductile links in eccentrically braced steel frames, changes to the requirements for ductile steel plate walls and for plate walls with limited ductility, including allowances for perforations and corner cut-outs in infill plates, and special provisions for steel frames of the Conventional Construction category above 15 m in height. These modifications were developed in parallel with the 2010 National Building Code of Canada (NBCC). The paper summarizes the new CSA S16-09 seismic design requirements with reference to NBCC 2010.

Basic capacity design provisions are given in CSA S16 to ascertain that minimum strength hierarchy exists along the lateral load path such that the intended ductile energy dissipation mechanism is mobilized and the integrity of the structure is maintained under strong ground shaking. In the design process, the yielding components of the SFRS may be oversized compared to the specified design seismic forces, as would be the case when drift limits, minimum member sizes or non-seismic load combinations govern the design. In this case, it is specified both in NBCC 2010 and CSA S16 that the design forces in capacity-protected elements need not exceed those induced by a storey shear determined with RoRd = 1.3. This upper bound essentially corresponds to the elastic seismic force demand reduced by 1.3, recognizing that nonyielding components will likely possess minimum overstrength. This 1.3 reduction factor only applies if the governing failure mode is ductile, and RoRd = 1.0 must be used otherwise.

This file contains formatted spreadsheets to perform the following calculations:
– Section 1: Area of equivalent diagonal brace for plate wall analysis (Walls).
– Section 2: Design of link in eccentrically braced frames (EBF).
– Section 3: Design of Bolted Unstiffened End Plate Connection (BUEP).
– Section 4: Design of Bolted Stiffened End Plate Connection (BSEP).
– Section 5: Design of Reduced Beam Section Connection (RBS).
– Section 6: Force reduction factor for friction-damped systems (Rd_friction).

Additionally, this file contains the following tables:
– Valid beam sections for moment-resisting connections (B_sections).
– Valid column sections for moment-resisting connections (C_sections).
– Valid bolt types for moment-resisting connections (Bolts).
– Database of properties of all sections (Sections Table).

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Core Wall Design Spreadsheets to Eurocode 2

Core Wall Design Spreadsheets to Eurocode 2

Core-walls  have been the most popular seismic force resisting system in western Canada for many decades, and recently have become popular on the west coast of the US for high-rise buildings up to 600 ft (180 m) high. Without the moment frames that have traditionally been used in high-rise concrete construction in the US, the system offers the advantages of lower cost and more flexible architecture.

In the US, such buildings are currently being designed using nonlinear response history analysis (NLRHA) at the Maximum Considered Earthquake (MCE) level of ground motion. In Canada, these buildings are designed using only linear dynamic (response spectrum) analysis at the MCE hazard level combined with various prescriptive design procedures.

This paper presents the background to some of the prescriptive design procedures that have recently been developed to permit the safe design of high-rise core-wall buildings using only the results of response spectrum analysis (RSA).

The series of European standards commonly known as “Eurocodes”, EN 1992 (Eurocode 2, in the following also listed as EC2) deals with the design of reinforced concrete structures – buildings, bridges and other civil engineering works. EC2 allows the calculation of action effects and of resistances of concrete structures submitted to specific actions and contains all the prescriptions and good practices for properly detailing the reinforcement.

In this spreadsheet , the principles of Eurocode 2, part 1-1 are applied to the design of core wall.

 

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Steel Beam Design Spreadsheet to BS 5950

Steel Beam Design Spreadsheet to BS 5950

 

Description:

 

Essential spreadsheet for steel design. Due to its form, easy input and clear output it reduces time required for designing steel members. It includes lateral torsional buckling check therefore is a comprehensive and an important tool for structural engineers.
Features:
– A clear and easy to read output (all on a single page);
– Quick summary of utilization factors;
– Change steel grade: S275; S355; S460;
– Supported steel sections: UC, UB, PFC;
– Design for Lateral Torsional Buckling (LTB) based on effective length;
– Loading options: UDL, 2x Partial UDL, 2x Point Load;
– ‘Live’ Loading diagram;
– Change between deflection for Dead Load + Imposed Load or Imposed Load only;
– Changeable safety factors;
– Design is based on British Standard (BS 5950:1 2000).

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Concrete Mix Design EXCEL Calculator

Concrete Mix Design EXCEL Calculator

 

Mix design plays an imperative function in civil construction projects. With the aim of obtaining the accurate measurement of any construction site, the usage of this user-friendly concrete mix design spreadsheet is absolutely necessary. This handy construction sheet will supply you the amounts of mix design for your construction site.

The concrete mix design refers to a technique for choosing suitable ingredients of concrete as well as establishing their balanced values so as to produce a concrete of the optimal strength, elasticity and feasibility as economically as possible.

The following properties are required to extend basis of choosing and proportioning of mix ingredients:

-The smallest amount of compressive strength is obligatory from structural consideration
-The adequate workability is considered necessary for complete compaction through the obtainable compacting equipment.
-Extreme water-cement ratio and supreme cement content to offer ample force for the specific site conditions
-Highest cement content to steer clear of shrinkage cracking due to temperature cycle in mass concrete.

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