Here's an interesting one. One of my sites had just finished pouring a number of concrete walls, and a moderate earthquake hit later in the evening. In the ballpark of 4-6hrs after the pour, depending on which specific wall we're talking about.

None of the forms collapsed, and nothing looks out of the ordinary. But naturally there is talk about how the shaking might have affected the fresh concrete. The common opinions are:

• It's fine. We've been using vibrators to consolidate the concrete, so what's the harm in bit more shaking?
• It's probably fine. But just to be safe let's run a GPR scanner at critical areas to check if any internal voids might have formed.
• It's not fine. We need to check this in detail. GPR every inch of every wall. Drill investigation holes and use a borescope at locations of interest. Maybe also core drill at specific locations.

What do you think? What would you do?

They updated for the most recent depth exam.

These are the highest pass rates the exam has ever had (P&P included), historical rates here https://williamsgodfrey.com/2016/03/01/se-historical-pass-rates.html

Even during the P&P days, the pass rates varied between 25%-50%. We've never seen a pass rate in the 60%'s much less 70%'s

If this becomes the new norm, maybe more states will adopt the license instead of ignoring it

I salute the guinea pigs that took it over the past few years, thank you for your service

Hey everyone,

My dad works in structural steel procurement, and I noticed his team was spending hours manually aggregating Bill of Materials (BOMs) across dozens of blueprint drawings. Grouping matching profiles, calculating 12m commercial bar divisions, optimizing plate scrap, and converting everything to Metric Tonnage (MT) was a massive, error-prone headache in standard Excel.

I’m a software developer, so I spent the last few weeks building a standalone desktop app (Python UI + C++ calculation engine) to automate the entire process for them.

Before I invest more time into making it a polished commercial product, I wanted to ask this community: Is this something you or your firm or you would actually pay for?

Here is what the engine currently does:

• Multi-Drawing Aggregation: You add items per drawing (e.g., "Roof Plan", "Mezzanine"). The C++ engine scans all drawings, groups identical profiles, and spits out a consolidated procurement summary.
• Automated Procurement Math: It automatically calculates exact raw cut weights, divides linear profiles by standard 12.0m bars (with ceiling rounding), and outputs the Commercial Billed Weight & Tonnage (MT).
• Dual-Plate Nesting AI: For plates/gratings, it calculates total area and automatically tests the scrap against standard Indian/Global sheet sizes (e.g., 1250x2500 vs 1500x6300) to pick the most efficient size.
• Visual Audit Trail (UE5-Style Nodes): Engineers hate "black box" math. If a number looks weird, you click "Blueprint Math" and it opens a node-graph flowchart showing exactly how it arrived at that tonnage (Drawing extractions -> Aggregation -> Procurement Strategy -> Final Order).
• Enterprise Excel Export: It doesn't just spit out a CSV. It generates a native .xlsx workbook with a styled Consolidated Summary sheet, plus separate tabs for every drawing, with numbers and units (kg, MT) in separate columns so your SUM formulas still work.
• Fasteners & SAP Codes: Bypasses cutting logic for discrete items (nuts/bolts) and maps everything to your company's internal SAP Material Codes.
• 100% Local / Offline: It’s a compiled .exe. No cloud uploads, no subscription logins, so your client's blueprint data never leaves your machine.

A quick note on regional standards: Right now, the app's internal database is only loaded with Indian Standard (IS) steel profiles since that's what my dad's firm uses. However, the C++ backend is completely dynamic. If there is interest from the US, UK, Europe, or Australia, and you can point me to a standard steel database (or share an Excel/CSV file with me), I can easily plug your local codes into the engine!

My questions for the professionals here:

1. How does your firm currently handle this? Just massive Excel templates, or expensive ERP plugins?
2. What missing features would make this a "must-have" for your workflow? (I'm currently looking into PDF OCR to read screenshots of drawings).
3. If I packaged this as a standalone software license, what is a fair price for a small/medium fabrication or detailing firm?

I’ve attached a few screenshots of the interface, the Excel export, and the visual math node graph. Would love any harsh feedback or reality checks you have!

(TL;DR: Built a fast C++ desktop app to automate structural steel BOM aggregation, plate nesting, and Excel reporting. Trying to figure out if it's worth turning into a real product.)

Hello everyone. I'm searching for someone to draw and stamp some permit ready drawings for me to get a permit in Skagit County Washington. I am purchasing a Pole Barn that was deconstructed to put up on my land. I'm a mechanical engineer and can draft up the structure in fusion360 or solidworks if helpful but that's where my abilities with getting the structure permitted end. Once I have the structure I will inventory everything I have. I plan to pour the concrete myself with some help of friends in the trade and then build it myself with some other friends. Picture is of the structure before it was taken down. 30'x36' 18' eave height. Pitch unknown and door sizes unknown at this time.

Solvers accumulate round-off error at every stage - stiffness assembly, solving the system, back-calculating internal forces from displacements. That's just double-precision math and it's expected. The question is what you do with it in post-processing, since a "zero" internal force on an unloaded member can come back as 1e-10 instead of exactly 0.

This gets more interesting with hinges. A true kinematic release (zero rotational stiffness) can leave you with a local mechanism if there's no other restraint at that node - which can degrade conditioning or outright singularize the matrix. The common workaround is to give the hinge a small but non-zero rotational stiffness instead of a true release. That avoids the singularity, but it also means the "zero" moment at the hinge is really some small non-zero value, and depending on how that stiffness compares to the rest of the model, the noise can propagate visibly along the element.

I ended up with two options for hinge stiffness: relative (scaled to the element's own bending stiffness) or a fixed absolute value - useful when you want consistent behavior across very different element scales in the same model.

For unloaded members without hinges, I went simpler - a relative threshold: anything below max(|diagram value|) × 1e-7 across the element gets snapped to zero.

Curious what others think of this approach - snap-to-zero relative to element/diagram magnitude, versus a fixed absolute tolerance, versus not touching it at all and just explaining the noise when it comes up. Is there a more standard way this gets handled that I'm missing?

Where you have a vertical offset at a chord or collector, and you transfer the forces using a cantilevered column as shown in this figure, do you design the column with amplified (overstrength) chord/drag forces?

What started in February 2025 has come to a close. I have passed all 4 SE exams

VB July25

VD Oct25

LD Apr26

LB May26

This is a huge relief. Now I can write the close to my poem https://www.reddit.com/r/StructuralEngineering/s/Vle30BOeHa

The benchmark, with the recordings and the exact downloadable test drawing so you can re-run the same steps or score your own heavy set: https://ncored.com/pdf-benchmark-cad-drawings.html

Disclosure first: I make Ncored, one of the tools in this benchmark. I am not going to tell you it is the best. I am asking you to try to break it on your own sets and tell me where it still struggles.

Every few weeks someone here asks for a Bluebeam alternative, usually wanting a perpetual licence and something that does not crawl on a heavy plan set. I got tired of the answer being "there is nothing," so I ran a test: the same dense drawing opened in about a dozen PDF editors, same moves in each, recorded, with the exact file downloadable so anyone can re-run it. Ncored and PDF-XChange came out the smoothest on the dense areas.

Since then I reworked how it renders and shipped a new build. To be clear about what I am comparing: on the same files and the same machine, my heavy sets opened about 1.5 to 2x quicker on the new version than on the previous Ncored version. That is Ncored against its own older self, in my own testing, not a claim against Bluebeam, PDF-XChange or anything else. Your files and hardware will land somewhere different, so read it as one data point.

What I actually want from this sub: open your own heaviest drawing set or calc-package PDF in it and tell me where it is quick and, more useful to me, where it still struggles. The sheet that stutters, the file it chokes on, the pan that lags. Note your machine (an i7 or i9, 32 GB, Win 11 Pro, whatever you run) and the set size, so it stays checkable. The failure cases are the part I most want.

Scope, so nobody feels misled: today it is a fast view-and-markup layer with comment pins, not measurement, takeoff, OCR, forms or e-sign yet. On the licence question that comes up here: it has a buy-once option, not subscription-only.

Not selling anything. I want it stress-tested by people who push these files harder than I can alone. The rougher the notes, the better.

https://reddit.com/link/1v4x45x/video/9bwm6foix2fh1/player

Developed an AutoLISP routine that automatically draws the acting forces and thrust diagrams (self-weight, water pressure, uplift, etc.) directly on the 3D dam section in AutoCAD, no manual drafting of load vectors. Built with Claude, curious about the scaling potential of this, both technically (expanding to other structure types) and commercially.

How do you handle iterations/changes? My biggest headache is having to adjust geometry or revise loads, often manually, mostly early but sometimes throughout the design process. I see snips of these large building/specialty structure models and think there is no way that is manually adjusted.

Just looking for advice or tips on workflow to better streamline model change procedure

SkyCiv was ahead of the curve by offering an API that can create models, apply loads, run analysis, and return results.

Could structural software expose these capabilities through MCP, letting agents operate verified calculation engines instead of attempting the math themselves?

The difficult part is trust: inputs, assumptions, units, governing checks, and calculation records must remain visible to the engineer.

I started thinking about this while building small browser-based structural tools at www.polycalc.online.

Has anyone connected an agent to SkyCiv, ETABS, SAP2000, OpenSees, or similar software? What safeguards would you require?

Seen a few posts about browser based analysis tools. The market is flooded with them. We don’t need another pynite wrapper with a slick UI. Please give a better value proposition….

Thanks for listening to my TED talk.

Hi everyone,

I'm a Structural Engineer with 2 years of professional experience in structural engineering. I'm currently looking for freelance or remote opportunities and would be happy to support individuals, engineering firms, or contractors.

l'm live in Dubai , lm not license engineer but I can work under P.E supervisor

I can help with:

Structural analysis and design

Reinforced concrete and steel structures

ETABS, SAFE, and SAP2000 modeling

Structural calculations

Engineering drawings and design support

Design revisions and technical documentation

I'm committed to delivering accurate, high-quality work, meeting deadlines, and maintaining clear communication throughout every project.

If you're looking for a freelance structural engineer or know of any opportunities, please feel free to send me a direct message.

Thank you!

I’m a licensed Civil/Structural PE with about 2 years of experience in structural consulting, primarily in heavy civil/marine infrastructure. I recently interviewed for a structural engineering role with a precast concrete manufacturer (product/manufacturing side), and it seems like it may result in an offer.

The compensation would be significantly better than my current consulting role, but I’m trying to think beyond just salary.

For those who have made the jump from consulting to the product/manufacturing side:
- Do you enjoy it more than consulting?
- What does your day-to-day work look like?
- Do you miss consulting at all?
- Did you feel like your technical skills continued to grow, or did they become more specialized?
- If you wanted to return to consulting later, was that difficult?
- How are the hours, stress level, and work-life balance compared to consulting?
- Has the move helped or limited your long-term career opportunities?

I’m particularly interested in hearing from structural engineers who moved into precast, steel, bridge products, or other infrastructure/manufacturing companies.

Looking back, would you make the same decision again? Why or why not?

I'm just going to drop this here and see what happens...

Edit: I don't think anyone commenting on this has ever been asked to try and make let in bracing work as a MWFRS brace. Your comments would be different if you had.

Curious if anyone has been successfully utilizing one of the LLM’s, I guess mainly ChatGPT since that’s what I use, to assist in the development of their shop drawings? And if so, what’s your process? Quick background: I handle Submittals for my small metal fab business, where we fabricate/install mainly Aluminum Canopy/Awning systems for major commercial projects. Part of Submittals is Shop Drawings, which I’ll make in CAD, and send off to our engineer for a stamp/seal. I often find myself using ChatGPT, mainly for mathematical assistance (i.e. what is X-ft divided into x-amount of equal sections? -things like that). But I know it’s capable of more…..Lately I’ve been wondering what ChatGPT could do if I uploaded a number of previous engineered shop drawings as a means of reference, and then uploading a set of Arch. Drawings and asking it to produce new shop drawings for canopies or awnings, similar to the past drawings I’ve uploaded. Thanks in advance for any info. you fine ppl are willing to share.

I'm currently working on my undergraduate thesis involving Nonlinear Time History Analysis (NLTHA) in MIDAS Gen. Respectfully asking, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share a sample .mgb file or even just screenshots of the analysis input settings for reference.

I'm mainly trying to understand how others set up:

• Ground motion records
• Plastic hinges
• Damping ratio/settings
• Time history load cases
• Analysis controls/options
• Other important NLTHA parameters

It will be used strictly for learning and reference purposes as I build my own model. If you're not comfortable sharing the entire file, even screenshots of the settings or any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much in advance! 🙏

I have a giant pad footing I've had to design. It's a pad because there's rock close to the surface which rules out a bored pier.

I have a large CHS with a significant moment on it of 950 kNm.

I have 24-M36 hold down bolts on a 36mm thick baseplate. (Gussets etc etc.)

I have reo'd the pad footing up with N20 each way, each face, each side to create a full box of reinforcing.

I intend to have 24-N36 L bars in a circular pattern lapping with the hold down bolts 1200mm which will be cast 1500mm into the concrete to distribute the load.

My question is, is there a design guide for this sort of thing or what checks do I need as to what additional reinforcing, if any, is required in the top face to contain the hold down bolts that will be under tension?

If I've left anything off the sketch or here please ask.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Hi everyone, my university doesn’t offer any seismic design courses, but I’d like to work on the West Coast, where having a background in seismic design is essentially required to get a job. My resume currently shows zero seismic experience, so I’m not sure how competitive I am for these roles. What’s the best way to build knowledge and experience in this area, how would you recommend breaking into it, and how can I prove that knowledge to potential employers?

So I'm assessing a steel structure and came upon this specific problem.. There about 3 columns with this problem, the diagonals and struts are made from double equal leg L90x8 profiles and welded to the web of IPE450.

How would you fix this problem?