Leaders in Professional Engineering

Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. I layman's terms, structural engineers design the "bones" of buildings.

Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty discipline within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right. In the Florida, most practicing structural engineers are currently licensed as professional engineers. They have a civil engineering bachelors degree and some have a master's degree in structural engineering. Structural engineering experience is obtained at the office(s) they are employed. Some states have a separate license for structural engineers (and SE License) who are required to design special or high-risk structures such as schools, hospitals, or skyscrapers. Florida now has an SE recognition program but has yet to enforce the SE license for certain building types.

Typical structures designed by a structural engineer include buildings, towers, stadia, and bridges. Other structures such as oil rigs, space satellites, aircraft, and ships may also be designed by a structural engineer. Most structural engineers are employed in the construction industry, however, there are also structural engineers in the aerospace, automobile, and shipbuilding industries. In the construction industry, they work closely with architects, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, and construction managers.

Structural engineers ensure that buildings and bridges are built to be strong enough and stable enough to resist all appropriate structural loads (e.g., gravity, wind, snow, rain, seismic (earthquake), earth pressure, temperature, and traffic) to prevent or reduce the loss of life or injury. They also design structures to be stiff enough to not deflect or vibrate beyond acceptable limits. Human comfort is an issue that is regularly considered limited. Fatigue is also an important consideration for bridges and aircraft design or for other structures that experience many stress cycles over their lifetimes. Consideration is also given to the durability of materials against possible deterioration which may impair performance over the design lifetime.

(Most of the info above was obtained from Wikipedia)

A structural condition assessment is the process of collecting observations and data and systematically using them to evaluate and assess the condition of an existing structure. Each structural condition assessment is unique. The steps necessary for an adequate structural condition assessment require engineering judgement and depend on the structure's size, type, and quality.  UPE follows guidelines set forth in ASCE 11-99, Guideline for Structural Condition Assessment of Existing Buildings (ASCE 11-99).

Typically, the structural condition assessment process entails a basic assessment of critical members and areas followed by a detailed assessment of larger portions of the structure, if deemed necessary by the basic assessment. The basic assessment consists of documents review to attempt to determine the original design information and criteria followed by a visual condition assessment. The visual condition survey involves the close assessment of the structure or portions of the structure to document visual observations. The visual observations that are made vary based on the structure being evaluated and generally include observations of:

--Settlement, heaving, bowing, sagging, warping, or other distortion

--Concrete cracking, scaling, spalling, or delaminations

--Corrosion of metal objects

--Discoloration/staining

--Moisture accumulation

--Construction details and type of construction

The results of the visual structural condition assessment assist UPE in developing a detailed assessment plan. Before completing a detailed inspection, a more thorough document review is completed, pending the availability of documents. Next, a detailed testing and analysis protocol is developed. The formulation of the protocol will include determining the most appropriate destructive and non-destructive test methods to further investigate the observed conditions and distress, determining the best sampling locations, and determining the sample quantities as needed.

After completing the detailed inspection, the results are typically summarized in a report. The report will include the scope of the structural condition assessment, the results of the basic inspection, the results of the detailed inspection, the summary of the testing methods and techniques employed, and the recommendations for the best course of action for further analysis, repairs, remediations, and/or retrofits moving forward.

Non-destructive testing services are a valuable resource in UPE's structural condition assessments. They assist UPE in further investigating the nature and cause(s) of the observed distress. NDT services can provide the following:

--Locating concrete reinforcing steel for penetrations or additions to existing structures

--Estimating the quality and/or level of deterioration of an existing structure

--Identifying and confirming the underlying causes of structural distress and deterioration

--Determine various parameters needed to accurately estimate the strength of an existing structure

--Determining various parameters needed to estimate a structure's remaining service life

--Determining if the structure was constructed in accordance with the original contract documents

--Estimating the extent of structural repairs required to address deterioration and/or non-conformant construction

--Avoiding damaging portions of an existing structure while completing any destructive testing, retrofits, and/or repairs

Yes. All of our engineers are experienced in the design of structural works and we take our health and safety responsibilities very seriously. We advise all of our clients on health and safety matters at the time of providing a proposal.

Your engineer will represent your interests during project construction. On controlled construction projects, inspections by the engineer of record are mandatory. The engineer will make periodic inspections to assure that the work is being performed in substantial compliance with the drawings and specifications, and will notify you and other appropriate parties if it isn't. Furthermore, you are paying for the project as designed and specified, and retaining an engineer throughout project construction is in your best interest to assure that you will get what you are paying for.