Translating into Engineer Speak: A Structural Systems Mock Exam

How do you build a hospital so it can withstand an earthquake? How do you calculate axial loading bearing capacity? How do you draw out a shear moment diagram? Find out with today’s episode, the Structural Systems Mock Exam featuring Mike Newman and Heather Heidenreich. You can download this mock exam and answer the questions yourself, and then listen in. The questions will help you develop a strategy for how to study for the exam and some of the formulas, tables, and terms you’re going to see in this exam, such as Allowable Stress Design, Camber, and Belled Caisson.

Mike Newman is an instructor for the ARE Prep Curriculum powered by Black Spectacles, he’s an Adjunct Professor at the School of the Art Institute Chicago, and he also runs his own architectural practice, SHED Studio.

Heather Heidenreich is a structural engineer at the Chicago office of KJWW, an international engineering consulting firm with expertise in designing sustainable and high performance building infrastructure systems.

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Slides from episode:

[markbullard]

Thaddeus warns about using the deflection equations with little 'w' (uniform load) due to the errors with unit conversions. He highly recommends only using the equation with big 'W' (total load), but that requires you to convert the uniform load into total load in an equation like this. This of course changes the deflection equation you're using though. Converting the uniform load gets you (500lb x 15ft = 7500lb). Then you would have to use the deflection equation 5WL^3/384EI. Then you're only converting your L (length) into inches by multiplying by 12. You don't then have to worry about forgetting to convert the uniform load (little w) into inches. If you use the total load (big W) equation, this is how it would look.

(5 x 7500lb x (15ft x 12)^3)/(384 x 1, 900, 000psi x 36.44^4) = 8.64in

[markbullard]

The answer to #4 is not a good example. I understand that you're trying to highlight the differences on the exam between correct versus most correct, but this is more confusing than it is helpful. Your question asked for the size of the footing not the area of the footing. So, the answer should reflect a potential size like your answers a & b. Of course, answer a is just short of the required loading. So, the obvious answer for size would be answer b (6x6). As you stated, it's a larger jump than is needed for efficiency which makes it a bad example answer, but that still doesn't warrant choosing an answer in a format that doesn't match the question.

[phillypino]

Can you show the calculation to #9? I can't get to 8.64" now matter how I calculate it. Thank you