471-Fundamentals of Helical Anchors/Piles, Part II - Compression & Uplift Capacity Calculations
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $9.95
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Course Objectives: By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing preliminary calculations relating to Helical Anchor/Pile load capacity for vertically installed piles as well as tieback systems for retaining walls.
Course Description:
This course covers the calculations required to design Helical Anchor/Pile deep foundation systems. This course is a good introductory course for engineers new to Helical Anchor design and is a good refresher for experienced engineers. The course provides a background and the appropriate formulas for Helical Anchor/Pile foundation design. You will learn about bearing capacity in cohesive and non-cohesive soils for both uplift and compression and determining soil capacity from soil borings as well as the probe method.
132-Fundamentals of Helical Anchors/Piles, Part I
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course covers the fundamentals of Helical Anchors for deep foundations. This course is a good introductory course for engineers new to Helical Anchor design and is a good refresher for experienced engineers. The course gives a brief history and background of this type of foundation product. You will learn about corrosion, the correlation between torque and load capacity for Helical Anchors, column buckling, lateral capacity and aspects of soil mechanics as it applies to Helical Anchors.
By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing preliminary calculations relating to torque vs. capacity, friction capacity, column buckling, and lateral capacity.
252-Fundamentals of Foundation Design
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course covers the fundamentals of Foundation Design. This course is a good introductory course for engineers who wish to review the principles of foundation design and is a good refresher for experienced engineers. The course gives a background on soil mechanics and the design of shallow foundations. You will learn about bearing pressures, design of wall footings, design of an axially loaded two-way footing, bearing pressure under eccentrically loaded footings and basic reinforcing design for footings.
By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing preliminary calculations for shallow foundations and footing design.
328-Pile Supported Foundation Design
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course covers the design of pile supported foundations. This course is a good introductory course for engineers new to the design and analysis of pile cap design and is a good refresher for experienced engineers. The course gives a brief background of the types of piling utilize in deep foundations. You will learn about piling arrangement, pile load calculations due to axial loads and moments, direct shear, deep beam shear and punching shear as it applies to pile cap design.
By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing calculations relating to flexural reinforcement, pile cap thickness required to resist shear and procedures which are per the Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete (ACI 318-14).
376-An Introduction to Drilled Shaft Foundation Design
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing preliminary calculations relating to reinforcement design, Brom's Method for laterally loaded drilled shafts and gain an understanding of many of the construction techniques related to drilled shaft construction.
Course Description:
This course covers the basics of drilled shaft foundation design. An Introduction to Drilled Shaft Foundation Design is a good introductory course for engineers who have limited experience in drilled shaft foundation design and is a good refresher course for experienced engineers. The course gives a brief history and background of this type of foundation. You will learn how to design axial loaded drilled shaft foundations as well as methods required for the design of eccentrically loaded drilled shaft foundations.
423-A Practical Review of Statics
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing calculations relating to Force and Moment Systems, Free-Body Diagrams, Trusses, Flexible Cables, Analysis of Beams with Concentrated Loads and Distributed Loads, Centroids of Lines and Areas, Theorems of Pappus, Area Moments of Inertia, Fluid Statics and Friction.
Course Description:
This course covers the basics of statics. “A Practical Review
of Statics” is a good review course for engineers who
have been out of school for a while and is a good refresher course
for engineers who are recent graduates. The course gives a
comprehensive review of the basics of statics.
432-A Practical Review of Mechanics of Materials
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: By successfully completing this course, you should be comfortable performing calculations relating to Stress-Strain Diagrams & Axial Deformations, Stresses in Beams due to Bending Moments, Stresses in Beams due to Shear, Deflections in Beams, Columns, The Principles of Superposition and Torsion.
Course Description:
This course covers the basics of Mechanics of Materials. “A Practical Review of Mechanics of Materials” is a good review course for engineers who have been out of school for a while and is a good refresher course for engineers who are recent graduates. The course gives a comprehensive review of the basics of Mechanics of Materials.
169-Design of Drywells
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who are involved in land use projects requiring stormwater management. It will be useful for the design of both small and large-scale projects and especially on sites where space is at a premium.
The overall objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive guide to drywell design. It will provide information from the initial design phase right up through the installation of the drywell. In addition, it will provide the user with a guide as to how to size and locate a drywell as well as providing a discussion of where and when these features should or should not be used. Finally, it will guide the engineer through the necessary soil testing to properly locate and size the drywell.
171-Design of Sand Filters & Bioretention Systems
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who are involved in land use projects requiring stormwater control. It explains the problem of controlling stormwater quality and lists several methods that can be used to provide this control.
The overall objective of this course is to provide a comprehensive design guide to two major types of stormwater control features: sand filters and bioretention systems. It includes descriptions of each of these systems along with the limitations of each and the maintenance required for each. The course includes standard details and representative photos of both sand filters and bioretention systems.
174-Design of Infiltration & Extended Detention Basins
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who are involved in land use projects requiring stormwater control. It describes the design, installation, and maintenance of infiltration basins and extended detention basins. It also compares the effectiveness of these two types of systems and points out the limitations on the use of each.
The overall objective of this course is to provide an overview of both infiltration basins and extended detention basins. It also describes the process involved in retro-fitting an existing detention basin to enhance its stormwater quality control performance.
212-A Comparison of Runoff Estimation Techniques
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who deal with any kind of stormwater management. Two major types of models (The Rational method and the SCS Method) are discussed in detail. In addition, examples are provided for each technique and a comparison example is given in which a problem is solved independently using both methods.
The overall objective of this course is to provide a detailed guide to both the Rational Method and the SCS Method. In addition, a third method is also discussed with a design example. The course also includes a number of photographs which are provided to help the engineer decide on runoff coefficient values and to aid in the calculation of the time of concentration.
223-Soil Permeability Testing
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who design individual septic disposal systems or any other features (drywells, infiltration basins, etc.).
The overall objective of this course is to provide a detailed account of a variety of field and laboratory soil tests to determine soil suitability. It presents a cookbook type approach to these tests, specifying the materials needed and the methodology employed. After completing this course the engineer should be able to conduct all of the tests described in the course.
304-Floodplain Engineering - An Overview of Floodplain Management
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers work ion flood-prone areas. It describes many of the resources available to engineers working in these areas including how to access FEMA flood maps. In addition, there is a description of how to calculate hydrostatic, hydrodynamic, and other forces associated with flooding. Finally, some flood control projects are described and illustrated.
The overall objective of this course is to provide an overview of the different types of flooding and floodplains and help engineers to understand these phenomena.
299-Floodplain Engineering - Modeling Flood Profiles Using HEC-RAS - Part 1
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers are involved in flood studies or need to do work within a floodplain. HEC-RAS is the most up-to-date software for calculating flood profiles. It has the capability of determining multiple flood profiles and can deal with complicated stream conditions with multiple bridges and culverts.
The overall objective of this course is to provide an overview of the HEC-RAS program and to review in detail the basic input parameters. Photographs and diagrams are provided to help illustrate the concepts.
440-Floodplain Engineering - An Introduction to Stream Classification & Restoration
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who are involved in stream restoration projects. It describes several methodologies for classifying streams and introduces some of the design approaches used in stream restoration.
The overall objective of this course is to provide an introduction to the complex world of stream classification and stream restoration. It also describes the necessary on-going maintenance activities of stream restoration projects.
455-Culvert Design for Fish Passage
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers who are involved the design of new or replacement culverts (or other stream structures). It describes in detail the ways that culverts can present obstacles to fish passage and presents an overview of the design methodologies to overcome these problems. It also includes a discussion of fish ladders.
The overall objective of this course is to provide an overview of how fish react to culverts and other stream structures and how the engineer can design these features with fish passage in mind. When you complete this course you should be familiar with many of the methodologies employed in this field.
175-Programming Excel in Visual Basic Part 1: An Introduction
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is a hands-on, step-by-step, introduction to computer programming for engineers, scientists and business professionals. By the end of this course, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to develop their own creative customized applications to assist them in their analyses, design, computations, and data management, in their fields of specialty. Participants will be able to identify professional situations in which the application of computer programming methods will be of great advantage to their work and their organization.
This course uses screen captures and an easily readable click-by-click narrative, to present fundamental concepts of computer programming to engineers, scientists and business professionals. The programming language used is Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel, which is readily available in the Microsoft Office package. This course can be mastered by beginners with no programming experience as well as experienced professionals in need of a refresher, or looking to add a new programming language to their skillset.
This course is the first of a four-part series. A general overview of computers and computer programming languages is presented. A tour of the Excel VBA programming environment follows. The concept of variables is presented as it specifically relates to the VBA programming language.
Each chapter presents the fundamentals and theory of the topics, with practical examples from real-world situations. The course presents two hands-on mini projects in which the concepts and methods learned are applied and discussed in detail. The examples and mini projects cover fields from engineering, project management, business, and government.
176-Programming Excel in Visual Basic Part 2: Branching, Looping, Message Boxes, Alerts
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is a hands-on, step-by-step, introduction to computer programming for engineers, scientists and business professionals. By the end of this course, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to develop their own creative customized applications to assist them in their analyses, design, computations, and data management, in their fields of specialty. Participants will be able to identify professional situations in which the application of computer programming methods will be of great advantage to their work and their organization.
This course uses screen captures and an easily readable click-by-click narrative, to present fundamental concepts of computer programming to engineers, scientists and business professionals. The programming language used is Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel, which is readily available in the Microsoft Office package. This course can be mastered by beginners with no programming experience as well as experienced professionals in need of a refresher, or looking to add a new programming language to their skillset.
This course is the second of a four-part series. In this course the topics, conditional statements, message boxes and alerts, and looping structures are presented. Computer Programming in Visual Basic (VBA) — Part 1 is not required as a pre-requisite to this course. It would however be helpful to understand the basic principles of computer programming as well as the fundamentals of the Excel VBA language as presented in Part 1 of this series.
Each chapter presents the fundamentals and theory of the topics, with practical examples from real-world situations. The course presents two hands-on mini projects in which the concepts and methods learned are applied and discussed in detail. The examples and mini projects cover fields from engineering, project management, business, and government.
177-Programming Excel in Visual Basic Part 3: Functions Procedures & String Variables
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is a hands-on, step-by-step, introduction to computer programming for engineers, scientists and business professionals. By the end of this course, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to develop their own creative customized applications to assist them in their analyses, design, computations, and data management, in their fields of specialty. Participants will be able to identify professional situations in which the application of computer programming methods will be of great advantage to their work and their organization.
This course uses screen captures and an easily readable click-by-click narrative, to present fundamental concepts of computer programming to engineers, scientists and business professionals. The programming language used is Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel, which is readily available in the Microsoft Office package. This course can be mastered by beginners with no programming experience as well as experienced professionals in need of a refresher, or looking to add a new programming language to their skillset.
This course is the third of a four-part series on computer programming in Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In this course, topics on functions and procedures, and working with string variables are covered. A tour of the VBA object library is also presented. Computer Programming in Visual Basic (VBA) — Part 1 and Part 2 are not required pre-requisites to this course. It would however be helpful to understand the basic principles of computer programming as well as the fundamentals of the Excel VBA language as presented in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series.
Each chapter presents the fundamentals and theory of the topics, with practical examples from real-world situations. The course presents two hands-on mini projects in which the concepts and methods learned are applied and discussed in detail. The examples and mini projects cover fields from engineering, project management, business, and government.
178-Programming Excel in Visual Basic Part 4: Errors, Arrays, Dialog Boxes, Charts
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is a hands-on, step-by-step, introduction to computer programming for engineers, scientists and business professionals. By the end of this course, participants will gain the knowledge and skills to develop their own creative customized applications to assist them in their analyses, design, computations, and data management, in their fields of specialty. Participants will be able to identify professional situations in which the application of computer programming methods will be of great advantage to their work and their organization.
This course uses screen captures and an easily readable click-by-click narrative, to present fundamental concepts of computer programming to engineers, scientists and business professionals. The programming language used is Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) in Excel, which is readily available in the Microsoft Office package. This course can be mastered by beginners with no programming experience as well as experienced professionals in need of a refresher, or looking to add a new programming language to their skillset.
This course is the fourth of a four-part series on computer programming in Excel Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). In this course the topics, error handling, arrays, dialog boxes, and charts and graphs are presented. Computer Programming in Visual Basic (VBA) — Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 are not required pre-requisites to this course. It would however be helpful to understand the basic principles of computer programming as well as the fundamentals of the Excel VBA language as presented in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this series.
Each chapter presents the fundamentals and theory of the topics, with practical examples from real-world situations. The course presents a hands-on mini project in which the concepts and methods learned are applied and discussed in detail.
415-What Wetlands Boards Expect from Engineers
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Engineers are prominent members of application teams seeking
permission to begin construction projects. When pursuing a Wetlands
Permit, many common issues arise across the United States. Some
approaches and techniques are more successful than others.
This
SUNCAM Course is written by a PE who developed his own subdivision
properties for years, representing himself before Boards and New England
Wetland Commissions as both the design professional civil engineer of
record and the developer land owner. In recent years, he has received
wetlands permits for geothermal and other construction jobs. Winning
strategies are shared with Engineers who may be approaching a Board or
Commission for the first time, or with Engineers who seek better
knowledge on proper terminology, what will occur at a meeting, or which
engineering design methods are effective.
The author's objective
is to familiarize you with meeting procedure, and for you to have more
efficient approvals the first time, without having to redesign and
resubmit plans, in accordance with regulations that control the process.
256-Building Rebar Inspection
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Building Rebar Inspection takes the reader through a journey across the reinforced concrete construction of a new school center. It starts with the inspection of typical foundation pile caps and grade beams. Walls, slabs and other component features are described and illustrated. Sample Forms are provided for Inspectors to use as models to get started. Even the beginning designer or related professional will gain insight into how their design or contracting function fits into the concrete work happening in the field.
294-Drones for Engineers
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Drone technology has leaped forward as the Federal Aviation Administration issued its part 107 rules for small unmanned aircraft system drones. About 40,000 remote pilots had been certified in the first year. Engineering firms have recognized the benefits accrued by using a stable airborne platform to see and document views necessary for their facility inspections. Surveyors see the photogrammetry business evolving as an inexpensive way to create topography maps. Construction companies are using drones to track project progress.
For engineers and firms interested in exploring drone use, this course gives an overview of drone uses. Whether developing an in-house drone program, purchasing a license to use drone software for a particular function, or subcontracting out work to a drone specialty company, knowing the drone basics presented here is essential.
434-Biological Odor Control Systems
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: Gain a practical understanding of biological odor control systems.
Course Description:
Engineers are increasingly being tasked with the design of odor control systems to limit the release of foul air and to reduce air pollution. This course focuses on biological treatment alternatives for odor control. The three types of biological odor control systems are biofilters, biotrickling filters, and bioscrubbers. This course covers important design details each of these systems.
The following topics are covered:
- Odor control options
- Biological treatment explained
- Biofilter beds
- Biotrickling filters
- Bioscrubbers
- Side-by-side comparison
437-Activated Carbon Odor Control Systems
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: Gain a practical understanding of activated carbon odor control systems
Course Description:
Activated carbon has been used for odor control purposes for nearly a century. Engineers from various disciplines can benefit from a better understanding of activated carbon odor control systems. This course covers important design details and includes example problems to prepare engineers for real world applications.
The following topics are covered:
- Odor control options
- Dry adsorption explained
- Types of activated carbon
- Common system configurations
- Sizing calculations
- Lifecycle cost
439-Industrial Pretreatment Standards
5 List: $112.50
Sale: $35.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers to provide a practical understanding of industrial pretreatment standards.
Course Description:
Most industrial and commercial facilities discharge wastewater that is subject to industrial pretreatment standards. This course focuses on requirements for indirect discharges to municipal sewer systems. The roles of national, state, and local pretreatment programs are explained. The course also clarifies how industrial users are categorized and how pollutant limits are established in permits.
The following topics are covered:
- Overview of industrial pretreatment
- Regulations
- National, state, and local pretreatment programs
- Types of industrial users
- Pollutant limits
- Inspection, sampling, and reporting requirements
444-Industrial Pretreatment Design
5 List: $112.50
Sale: $35.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers to provide a practical understanding of the design of industrial pretreatment systems.
Course Description:
It
is common for industrial and commercial facilities to pretreat
wastewater before discharge to a municipal sewer system. This course
provides valuable insights into the design of these wastewater
pretreatment systems. Design criteria and typical design steps are
explained so an engineer can tackle these challenging designs.
Example problems are provided to help with applying the information
in the course.
The
following topics are covered:
Overview
of industrial pretreatment
Design
criteria and steps
Wastewater
assessments
Treatment
alternatives and comparisons
More
than 20 common treatment methods explained
Process
flow diagrams
462-Piping and Instrumentation Diagrams
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: Gain a practical understanding of piping and instrumentation diagrams (P&IDs).
Course Description:
Piping and instrumentation diagrams, also known as process and instrumentation diagrams, are commonly referred to as P&IDs. P&IDs illustrate the functional relationship of piping, instrumentation, equipment, and controllers. P&ID drawings are commonly made by process, controls, and electrical engineers. However, it is helpful for engineers of all disciplines to be able to read and understand P&IDs. This course summarizes P&IDs and includes examples to prepare engineers for real-world applications.
The following topics are covered:
- Overview of P&IDs
- Comparison of Engineering Diagrams
- Industry Standards
- Letter Designations
- Common Symbols
- Control Loops
- Examples
188-Fundamentals of Site Grading Design
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is developed to identify the fundamentals of site grading to those who are not experienced with site grading design, as well as a refresher to anyone who has worked in Civil Engineering and/or Land Development. Site grading is an important skill for any Civil Engineer to master associated with their required drainage design.
This course is intended to provide engineers, designers, and contractors with an introductory knowledge of grading terminology, some basic methods associated with grading, some guidelines / rules of thumb associated with grading and why they exist, as well as exposure to some problem areas that an engineer should pay special attention to when they perform grading design.
The student of this course should be able to approaching site grading with confidence that they have been exposed to the basics.
227-Earthwork Basics and a Traditional Calculation Method
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is developed to identify the basics of earthwork and to explain a "traditional" method of performing earthwork analysis via hand calculations. This study is for those who are not experienced with earthwork, earthwork calculations and earthwork equipment.
Additionally, it is intended to be a helpful a refresher and source to anyone who has worked in Civil Engineering and/or Land Development looking for a resource discussing earthwork basics. Earthwork analysis is an important topic for any Civil Engineer involved in roadway and land development to understand associated with their required design. This course will focus more on site analysis than on the analysis required to economically determine the elevation of highways through mountainous regions.
This course will also expose the student to the basic equipment used in the construction field associated with earthwork.
245-A Practical Introduction to Zoning and Entitlements
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is developed to introduce basic concepts of zoning and entitlements for those who are not experienced with land development, as well as a refresher to anyone who has worked in land development and/or has been exposed to zoning and entitlements requirements before. Understanding the basics of zoning and entitlements is important for any civil engineer who will be involved in a property development project.
This course can be used at a high level to help guide the due diligence process associated with confirming the risks associated with the required zoning and entitlements have been reasonably considered and explored. After taking this course, the engineer will be in a better position to guide their clients to more and more frequently successful projects with less and less surprises.
277-A Review of Site Features
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course provides a refresher to site-civil engineers and introduces the topic to engineers of other disciplines who are not familiar with site work.
The course identifies some nuances between various site features, and explains these distinctions. The course also identifies and explains some missteps associated with some site features and site feature detailing.
This course will benefit the experienced site development engineer who is looking for some reference or history associated with some site features, as well as those who may be inexperienced with land development. Understanding the basics of site features is important for any civil engineer who is involved in a property development project.
314-Reliability in Mission Critical Applications Part I - Electrical Systems
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is developed to provide an introduction to reliability associated with mission critical applications. This may also be considered a good refresher course for those who work in the electrical engineering field and have a familiarity with mission critical systems. Mission critical reliability is a useful topic for any Engineer to be familiar with associated with their interest in design of mission critical systems.
This course will review some electricity basics, it will provide an explanation of several electrical components important to providing redundancy, and it will establish definitions so as to help the reader understand how different levels of reliability can be and are frequently quantified.
The reader of this course should be able to use the tools gained to understand reliability in mission critical applications.
355-Reliability in Mission Critical Applications Part II - Mechanical Systems
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is developed to provide a continued introduction to reliability associated with mission critical applications. This may also be considered a good refresher course for those who work in the mechanical engineering field and have a familiarity with mission critical systems. Mission critical reliability is a useful topic for any Engineer to be familiar with associated with their interest in design of mission critical systems.
This course will review some cooling system basics, it will provide an explanation of several mechanical equipment components important to providing cooling and redundancy, and it will reiterate definitions identified in Part 1, so as to help to reader understand how different levels of reliability can be and are frequently quantified.
The reader of this course should be able to use the tools gained to understand reliability in mission critical applications; especially as relates to mechanical systems and primarily computer room type cooling systems.
373-The Citicorp Tower: Professional Ethics and Disaster Averted
1 List: $22.50
Sale: $11.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The first fundamental canon of engineering ethics from the National Society of Professional Engineers directs engineers to “hold paramount the health, safety, and welfare of the public.” In engineering, keeping people safe from harm means doing sound engineering calculations and having a full understanding of the possible real-world scenarios that engineering designs will face. The third fundamental canon states that engineers shall “issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner,” and the fourth holds that the engineers shall, “act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees”. The case of the Citicorp building in New York City raises questions about what kinds of calculations can be expected of an engineer, what kinds of agencies or groups should oversee design calculations, and what kinds of public statements an engineer is responsible to make. In this case, action was taken by engineers who recognized a problem and were able to avoid a possible catastrophe, but statements made to the public did not reflect the true danger of the situation.
This course satisfies one hour of the ethics training requirement for license renewal for the following state engineering boards: |
Delaware | 3-6 hours required |
District of Columbia | 1-hour required |
Florida | 1-hour required |
Indiana | 1-hour required |
Iowa | 2-hours required |
Louisiana | 2-hours required |
Maryland | 1-hour required |
Minnesota | 2-hour required |
Mississippi | 1-hour required |
New Jersey | 2-hours required |
New Mexico | 2-hours required |
New York | 1-hour required |
Ohio | 2-hours required (rules or ethics) |
Texas | 1-hour required |
Wisconsin | 2-hours required |
154-Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) in Engineering
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course introduces the engineer to the subject of "Free Open-Source Software" (FOSS). Materials from various sources are referenced widely throughout the course. Each source of software is described along with a "screen shot" of its source from the internet. Although there is a rich history of free distribution of software, some commercial ventures have striven to eliminate the practice, providing proprietary commercial and often copyrighted software products as an alternative. Commercial software has its advantages with deep and wide support that is sometimes lacking in the open-source community. However, the price of commercial software is often a barrier-to-entry for emerging "Small and Medium Enterprise" (SME). The materials are introduced by progressing from a general case of operating system software and general-purpose documentation, modeling, and system-level examples through ever-more specialized tools. As a particular case exemplified in this course, the "Silicon Renaissance Initiative" is used to counter the high-cost of Engineering Design Automation (EDA) software tools and the design flow for that use in Integrated Circuit (IC) design. As commercial tools often require hundreds of thousands of dollars investment to support the design effort, FOSS EDA tools offer an attractive alternative. In the USA, with its copyright enforcement, the SME may face competition from foreign entities with "illegal" copies of commercial software and thus cannot compete. This course illustrates both the general tools available and useful for any computer user and professional engineer with any practice specialty, as well as the professional engineer involved in designing electronic circuits.
265-Verilog for Digital Design
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
With the recognition of the Professional Engineering status for the practice of Computer Engineering in April of 2009, the practice of Control Systems Engineering in October of 2011, and the practice of Software Engineering in April of 2013, there has been the need for specialized continuing education courses related to these practices. Computer Engineering majors may have taken a course with some component of digital design without using Verilog, or may have had a course using the VHDL language. Control Systems engineers will find Verilog to be a useful tool for modeling and simulating real-time hardware and embedded systems for control applications, Software engineers can apply the principles of the concurrent parallel system representations available in Verilog for numerous applications. Other disciplines, including Electrical Engineers will also find the digital design practices encapsulated in Verilog useful all the way to the device level representations available in the language.
We assume that all readers are familiar with digital design concepts, but are interested in an introduction to the capabilities of the Verilog Design Language and how to use it in the design practice. Likewise, we assume that readers generally have rudimentary experience with computer languages, text editors, and general concepts of computer program compilation.
We lead the reader through installation of Free, Open Source Software tools to enter designs, compile and display results, then take the reader through the Behavioral, RTL, and Structural levels of abstraction available, illustrating with simple examples. This course is not exhaustive on the topic but makes a case for the value and usage of Verilog in Digital Design.
270-Fundamentals of Linux For the Professional Engineer
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
With the recognition of the Professional Engineer (PE) status for the practice of Computer Engineering in April of 2009, the practice of Control Systems Engineering in October of 2011, and the practice of Software Engineering in April of 2013, there has been the need for specialized continuing education courses related to these practices.
In some curricula, the operating system employed is assumed to be learned by the student without a formal course. We have chosen to examine Linux because it is a Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) system and as such we can delve into any and all of its components to draw examples.
Also, as software is increasingly included as an integral part of the practice of all disciplines of Professional Engineering practices and it is the legal responsibility of the PE that all results are correct, all disciplines face the need for understanding the tools they employ.
In recent years, the computer community has become acutely aware of the possibility of malicious attacks on software; most often through internet connections of the operating system. This course offers an overview of the Linux operating system discussing its operation and structure and why it is perceived to be less vulnerable to cyber-attacks.
This course introduces the origins of Linux along with the Free-Software and Open-Source developments leading to todays distributions. We discuss the relation of the Linux kernel to popular distributions and two examples from the diverse suite of distributions. Using the bootstrap process involved in loading the Linux kernel, we discuss the memory management, I/O bus hardware interface and file system loading. In a set of appendices, we show how the VirtualBox application is used to support virtual machines and demonstrate concurrent installations of two Linux distributions. We contrast those distributions into the arena of the shell interface, shell programming, process management, communications and applications support.
We introduce many of the topics germane to the study of operating system software in the context of a Free Open-Source Software environment and equip the student with sufficient knowledge to answer basic why and how questions about operating systems software.
208-Future Highways - Automated Vehicles
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
It has been approximately 100 years since the motorized vehicle replaced the horse and buggy. The future of highway transportation is now undergoing another major revolution as engineers across numerous disciplines (transportation, automotive, technology, etc.) work towards moving the responsibility of driving the automobile from human to machine, see figure. The development of cars driven completely without aid by a human driver (i.e., driverless cars), commonly referred to as 'automated' vehicles, will certainly give more appropriate meaning to the term 'auto'-mobile.

Example of a future highway (Source: USDOT)
In this course, you will learn about:
- the terminology being used in the field of automated highway vehicles,
- examples of government legislation being implemented to facilitate the future of automated vehicles,
- the technologies being used in automated vehicles,
- automated vehicle engineering research and standards under development, and
- potential impacts of automated vehicles on traffic flow and roadway design.
344-The Highway Capacity Manual - 6th Edition: Overview and What's New
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The 6th Edition of the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) was released in 2016 and is now the standard for both the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam and Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam. The title of this new HCM is "HCM 6th Edition: A Guide for Multimodal Mobility Analysis". This edition of the HCM provides methods for evaluating multimodal operations of freeways, highways, and arterial streets. The focus of this course is on providing a general overview of the content and organization of the HCM 6th edition and highlighting revisions/updates from the previous edition of the HCM (HCM 2010). The course does not provide detailed coverage of analysis methodology elements. Due to the volume of material covered in the HCM, some general knowledge of the document(s) may be helpful to completing this course, but it is not required.
Highway Capacity Manual 6th Edition Cover
Source: Transportation Research Board
In this course, you will learn about:
- HCM edition history
- Why the HCM title was changed
- Why the need for a new HCM edition
- HCM 6th edition structure — revised
chapter layout design to help practitioners use the manual
- New HCM analysis methodology capabilities
- Future directions/updates to the HCM
395-Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD): Introduction and Overview of Signs
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (1) provides national standards and guidance with respect to location, shape, size, and color for roadway signs, markings, and signals. Such guidance and standards are intended to enhance transportation safety and efficiency and provide uniformity of such devices to drivers across of the United States.
Figure 1. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2009 Edition Cover
In this course, you will learn about:
- General guidelines for traffic control devices
- How to utilize the MUTCD effectively
- Sign functions and purposes
- Sign types and designs
- General sign guidance on shapes, color, dimensions, location and more
Source of artwork is the MUTCD 2009 Edition and photos are by Scott or Leslie Washburn,
unless noted otherwise..
403-Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD): Overview of Pavement Markings
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (1) provides national standards and
guidance with respect to location, shape, size, and color for roadway signs, markings, and signals.
Such guidance and standards are intended to enhance transportation safety and efficiency and provide uniformity of such devices to
drivers across the United States.
Figure 1. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2009 Edition Cover
In this course, you will learn about:
- General guidelines for pavement markings
- Pavement marking functions and purposes
- Pavement marking types and designs
Source of artwork is the MUTCD 2009 Edition and photos are by Scott or Leslie Washburn, unless notd otherwise.
464-Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD): Overview of Highway Traffic Signals
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) (1) provides national standards and
guidance with respect to location, shape, size, and color for roadway signs, markings, and signals.
Such guidance and standards are intended to enhance transportation safety and efficiency and provide uniformity of such devices to
drivers across the United States.
Figure 1. Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices 2009 Edition Cover
In this course, you will learn about:
- General guidelines for highway traffic signals
- Highway traffic signal functions and purposes
- Highway traffic signal types and designs
341-Accelerated Bridge Program - Intro to Prefabricated Bridge Unit (PBU) Construction
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A brief introduction to Prefabricated Bridge Unit Construction covering Casting Units, Crane Erection of Units, SPMT Erection of Units, Brige Slide Erection of Units, & Finishing items.
After completion the reader should have: a basic understanding of these methods of bridge construction and the associated equipment needed, a basic understanding of which construction methods and equipment choices are more suitable for specific bridge applications, and lastly, a basic understanding of how these choices can affect the cost, schedule, quality, and safety of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail each process will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this type of bridge construction.
380-Accelerated Bridge Program - Intro to GRS-IBS Abutment Construction
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A brief introduction to Geosynthetic Reinforced Soil Integrated Bridge System Construction.
After completion the reader should have: a basic understanding of this method of bridge construction and the associated equipment needed, a basic understanding of which construction methods and equipment choices are more suitable for specific bridge applications, and lastly, a basic understanding of how these choices can affect the cost, schedule, quality, and safety of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail each process will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this type of bridge construction.
149-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 1 - An Introduction
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A brief introduction to Precast Segmental Bridge Construction covering Casting Segments, Precast Substructure Erection, Precast Superstructure Erection — Span-by-Span Method, and Precast Superstructure Erection — Balanced Cantilever Method.
After completion the reader should have: a basic understanding of these methods of bridge construction and the associated equipment needed, a basic understanding of which construction methods and equipment choices are more suitable for specific bridge applications, and lastly, a basic understanding of how these choices can affect the cost, schedule, quality, and safety of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail each process will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of this type of bridge construction.
229-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 2 - Span by Span Erection Method
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A follow on course to Precast Segmental Bridge Construction — An Introduction providing more detailed information on the Span-by-Span method of erection. Topics covered in the course include: Erection Equipment, Lifting and Transporting Segments, Truss Placement, Erection Geometry, Span Erection, and Stressing and Grouting.
After completion the reader should have: a better understanding of the span-by-span method of bridge construction and the associated equipment needed, an understanding of the staging and some details of the phases to complete bridge spans, and lastly, the understanding of the method will assist the engineer in cost, schedule, quality, and safety decisions of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail other segmental bridge processes will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each type of bridge construction.
230-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 3 - Stressing and Grouting
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A follow on course to Precast Segmental Bridge Construction — An Introduction providing more detailed information on the Post-tensioning Stressing and Grouting operations. Topics covered in the course include: Brief introduction narrative, Common Terms and Definitions, Stressing operations outline, and Grouting operations outline.
After completion the reader should have: a better understanding of the post-tensioning stressing and grouting operations and the associated equipment needed, an understanding of the staging and some details of the phases to complete bridge spans, testing requirements and procedures, and lastly, the understanding of these operations will assist the engineer in cost, schedule, quality, and safety decisions of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail other segmental bridge processes will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each type of bridge construction.
233-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 4 - Balanced Cantilever Erection Method
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A follow on course to Precast Segmental Bridge Construction — An Introduction providing more detailed information on the Balanced Cantilever method of erection. Topics covered in the course include: Erection Equipment, Lifting and Transporting Segments, "Table-Top" Fabrication and Erection, Erection Geometry, Balanced Cantilever Erection, and Stressing and Grouting.
After completion the reader should have: a better understanding of the balanced cantilever method of bridge construction and the associated equipment needed, an understanding of the staging and some details of the phases to complete bridge spans, and lastly, the understanding of the method will assist the engineer in cost, schedule, quality, and safety decisions of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail other segmental bridge processes will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each type of bridge construction.
264-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 5 - Precast Segment Manufacturing
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
A follow-on course to Precast Segmental Bridge Construction — An Introduction providing more detailed information on manufacturing bridge precast segments. Topics covered in the course include: Casting Equipment, Site Selection, Segment Formwork, Lifting and Transporting Segments, Concrete Placing and Finishing, Casting Geometry, and Stressing and Grouting.
After completion the reader should have a better understanding of the manufacturing and the associated equipment needed to precast bridge segments for erection, and an understanding of the staging and some details for acceptance of precast materials. Lastly, the understanding of the pre-casting method will assist the engineer in cost, schedule, quality, and safety decisions of a project.
From better understanding of the construction methods, engineers can account for better access and staging areas, and more efficient bridge designs to suit a construction method that is advantageous to the project.
Future courses that further detail other segmental bridge processes will be available to provide a more comprehensive understanding of each type of bridge construction.
357-Transformers - What Every Engineer Should Know
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: The purpose of the course is to give non Electrical and novice Electrical engineers a basic understanding of transformers.
Course Description:
The course starts with the basic theory of operation to simple calculations and then considerations when specifying a transformer.
016-Assessing Environmental Contamination I
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course is intended for engineers, geologist, scientists, and technicians who supervise and conduct environmental field investigations intended to detect, delineate, and remediate contaminated volumes of soil and groundwater. It will be useful to those who are new to such work, but those who are experienced in environmental science should also find the information useful, simply because of the ongoing technical advances in this field.
Dynamic sampling is an investigative strategy that offers the ability to screen contaminant levels in soil and groundwater semi-quantitatively, while still in the field. This strategy virtually eliminates surprises that can occur from the traditional delay in receiving laboratory results. If contaminants are discovered in an area thought to be free of problems, the work plan can be revised dynamically, at the moment.
The membrane interface probe (MIP) is a powerful high-resolution screening tool capable of providing both volatile organic contaminant and soil conductivity data in real time. The MIP provides a real-time vertical log of volatile organic contamination and conductivity with depth. An MIP, used as part of a dynamic sampling strategy, can result in contamination assessments and remediations with significant cost savings, increased time efficiency, and superior outcomes.
173-Interior Lighting Design The Fundamentals
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course will aid architects, engineers, interior designers and anyone involved in the design of lighting systems. It begins with the basics of light and color, and progresses into the anatomy of the eye and how humans are able to see images.
The course focuses primarily on fluorescent linear lighting, typical in most commercial buildings, and the correct selection of lamps and ballasts to meet Owner requirements and energy codes. A systematic calculation using the Zonal Cavity Method applies all of the concepts discussed in the course. Also addressed in the course is how scotopically enhanced lighting affects the lighting calculations. The course ends with a checklist of items to investigate to avoid some of the problems that could be inherent in the lighting design.
170-Horizontal Curve Design To Prevent the Rollover of Heavy Trucks
1 List: $22.50
Sale: $11.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Heavy trucks, such as tractor-trailers and tanker trucks could rollover at speeds that are less than the design speed of the curve they are traveling on. Friction factors that have been established for design of horizontal curves may not be satisfactory for heavy trucks. This course will provide the highway engineer with the information necessary to check horizontal curves against the special needs of heavy trucks.
179-Interchange Ramp Characteristics - Selection and Design
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course will give the highway/interchange designer information that will aid them in producing a safe and economical interchange design.
The types of mainline ramp terminals are reviewed, so that the most appropriate terminal, for a specific project can be selected. There is also a section on connection ramps and loop ramps. The question, can a two-lane loop ramp replace an expensive connection ramp, is addressed in this course.
Due to economic and environmental constraints, most new or reconstructed interchanges are forced to be designed using minimum criteria. Therefore, also included is a section on the propensity of heavy trucks to rollover on small radius curves. This material is also covered separately in 170-Horizontal Curve Design To Prevent the Rollover of Heavy Trucks.
200-Design of Suburban Highways
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Suburban arterial and collector highways are often the most difficult to design. They serve densely populated residential areas that are usually bordered by continuous commercial development. This type of environment creates numerous closely spaced driveways and intersections. These roadways must not only accommodate vehicular traffic including, passenger cars, trucks and buses, but also provide for bicyclists and comply with the ADA requirements for pedestrians.
This course will provide the Highway Engineer with information that will aid in designing an economical and safe suburban highway.
158-Industrial Floor Framing for Vibrating Equipment
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Industrial structures frequently house vibrating equipment such as blowers, centrifuges, vibrating screens, etc. Floors that support this type of equipment must not only be sufficiently strong to carry the weight of the equipment but must also have elastic properties that result in a specific natural frequency. If the natural frequency of the floor is too close to the operating frequency of the equipment, the floor will vibrate excessively, causing discomfort to people that stand on the floor or, in more severe situations, resulting in damaged equipment.
The purpose of this course is to introduce practical methods available for finding natural frequencies of beams, to describe guidelines used in the design of industrial floor framing and to illustrate the principles discussed with design examples.
The course describes some of the methods available for obtaining values for the natural frequencies of beams. Methods vary from simply matching the situation at hand with published values in the literature, to simplified hand calculations, to use of computer programs. This course will provide a background that should result in a better understanding of the modeling requirements of computer programs and consequently lead to their proper application. Parameters important in the design of supports for vibrating equipment are presented, and typical values commonly used in industrial practice are described. Finally, two floor framing design examples are given. The first is of a floor that supports a vibrating screen; it is an example of "high tuning". The second is of a floor that supports a blower/fan; it is an example of "low tuning".
182-Feedback Control System Fundamentals
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course discusses many fundamental concepts associated with classical feedback control theory. Feedback control measures the state of a physical system or device with a sensing system. The measured state is fed-back and compared to a desired state and the error used by a controller to reduce the difference between the actual and desired states. An example of a feedback control system is the central heating and air conditioning system for a home, or building. A thermostat or temperature sensor is the feedback sensor that measures the room temperature and compares it to the desired temperature or set point, calculating a difference or error. If the temperature is less than the set point, the error is used by the controller to force more heat into the room. When the set point is reached, the error is zero or below an error threshold and the controller will stop heating the room. Another example is the speed control in most of today's automobiles. The speed of the vehicle is measured and compared to a desired speed. Based on the difference between actual speed and the set point, acceleration or braking is applied to the automobile drive to null the error and maintain the desired speed.
Classical control deals directly with the differential equations that describe the dynamics of a plant or process. These equations are transformed into frequency dependent transfer functions. The transfer function is the ratio of two frequency dependent polynomials whose roots describe the response of the plant in a frequency domain. The controller or compensator shapes the closed feedback loop response, given the plant response, to achieve the control performance objectives. Classical feedback control design and analysis tends to require a good foundation in mathematics, however the purpose of this course is not to dwell on the math, although examples are provided, but to provide the basic design and analysis concepts.
The topics covered begin with a description of the basic block diagram in section 2. The relationships between time and frequency domain representations of the block diagram elements are discussed in section 3 followed by the key feedback relationships derived from the block diagram algebra in section 4. Control loop stability and methods to determine stability margins are described in section 5 followed by a discussion of specifying control loop performance in section 6. A couple of control loop design methods are provided in section 7. The basic theory is then applied to two examples; a home heating system in section 8 and motion control applications in section 9. Converting to a digital sample data controller is discussed in section 10; as related to the motion control example in section 9.
291-Proportional, Integral, and Derivative Controller Design Part 1
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
In this course, the design and application of Proportional plus Integral plus Derivative (PID) controller's is discussed. Some familiarity with feedback control may help in providing a better understanding of the course material. PID control is a technique used extensively in feedback control systems. Its origins date back to the 19th century, being used for governor speed control, and since then in numerous applications with a wide variety of actuators and sensors. The controller is simple structure; being the sum of three terms as the name implies. The PID structure provides for a fairly wide range of tuning adjustment in a feedback control loop, especially for relatively simple processes. A PID uses the error, it's integral and derivative to derive a control signal driving the error to a null state. The controller can be structured in many configurations; P-only, PI, PD, PID, plus others to be discussed. PID control is central to most process control systems; but can also be found in numerous applications other than process control ranging from positioning control loops to pointing, tracking and platform stabilization control loops. The PID can also be integrated with higher level control strategies such as model predictive control, adaptive controllers and fuzzy logic control described in Part 2 of the course.
Starting with an introduction in section 1.0, topics covered are a description of the basic feedback control loop block diagram in section 2 and how the PID relates to the control loop. The relationships between time and frequency domain representations of the block diagram elements are discussed in section 3 followed by the key feedback relationships derived from the block diagram algebra in section 4. The PID control algorithm is described in section 5 which includes the frequency domain characterization of the PID (5.1), the effect of each PID term has on response (5.2) and finally different forms of the PID used in actual applications. In section 6 a discussion of specifying control loop performance is presented. PID control loop design methods are provided in section 7. The basic theory is applied to an example; a home heating system, in section 8.
292-Proportional, Integral, and Derivative Controller Design Part 2
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
As discussed in Part 1, PID controllers are used in many control applications; possibly the most common form of feedback control compensation. The versatility of the PID may reside is a fairly simple control structure, easy to implement in software or hardware, offering loop gain adjustment, an integrator to reduce or null servo error, and the phase lead of a derivative improve loop stability or act as a predictive element. This PID structure provides for a fairly wide range of tuning adjustment in a feedback control loop, especially for relatively simple processes. The controller can be configured in many configurations; P-only, PI, PD, PID, plus others are discussed. This part of the course focusses on the digital implementation of the PID controller and its implementation with higher level control strategies; adaptive controllers and fuzzy logic control.
Starting with an introduction in section 1.0, topics covered are a summary of the basic feedback control loop block diagram relationships in section 2. The PID control algorithm, as presented in Part 1, is summarized in section 3 followed by the digital implementation of the PID within the constraints of a sampled control system. The building temperature control example, used in Part 1, is analyzed again in section 4.0 but now using a digital PI controller. Section 5.0 provides another example for a motion control application using a digital PD controller. Finally section 6.0 describes implementation of the PID within a model reference adaptive control (MRAC) architecture and also configured with a fuzzy logic controller (FLC).
358-Sightline Control Basics for Geo-Pointing and Locating - Part 1
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: Describe theory and system level architectures
Course Description:
This is a three part course discussing geo-pointing and locating. With the proliferation of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) coupled with advancements in camera and inertial measurement sensor technology; this is fast becoming a technology used in many applications requiring geo-referenced imagery. Historical applications for military and civilian surveillance and navigation are fairly well documented and continue to grow. But the
technology is now the cornerstone for numerous situational awareness applications such as environmental, fire protection, road/bridge surveillance, maintenance and protection. It may even be part of your pizza delivery service, which for those of you with bevy of children could be a sobering thought.
The course is organized as three topics; the first addresses generic sightline control (SLC). As geo-locating requires geo-pointing and pointing requires maintaining a stable line of sight (LOS) to a targeted object or area, then an understanding of SLC is important. The second topic focusses on the geo-pointing problem given a stable sightline to the object to be geo-located. Finally the basics of geo-location, using direct and image geo-registration, are described. Many SLC sections in Part 1.0 require some background in control theory as well as mathematical operations with vectors and matrices. For those interested in geo-pointing and location at a system level; these sections will be somewhat tedious. However, it is not essential to follow all the math but it is important to understand the need for it and how it plays into an overall solution. Similarly there is a lot of detailed discussion on pointing techniques, for example one section is dedicated to using mirrors for pointing. The details may not be critical, but it is important to understand that with all the benefits obtained using a pointing mirror, they also have characteristics that must be understood and accounted for in the design or one will be in for a rather unpleasant surprise. Pointing design should follow a top down design procedure; beginning with requirements through HW and SW design and implementation. However given cost and schedule constraints, one is often forced into an off the shelf design with compromised performance. Understanding the design requirements, however, should not be compromised so related performance can be quantified and improved in future designs. The purpose of the course is to lay a framework for understanding this design process. There should be sufficient math detail for those interested at the equation level but hopefully adequate course structure for those not so inclined to still follow the overall design process. Test questions are at a system level. The course has a two part structure; Part 1.0 covers SLC basics and geo-pointing, Part 2.0 provides a brief review of Part 1.0 followed by a focus on geo-locating, and finally Part 3.0 describes camera sensor characteristics and requirements for geo-locating.
359-Sightline Control Basics for Geo-Pointing and Locating - Part 2
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: Describe theory and system level architectures
Course Description:
This part of the course will apply the sightline control (SLC) fundamentals described in Part 1.0 to the geo-pointing and location problem. Initially Section 1.0 Part 1.0 is reviewed, particularly pointing performance
requirements which directly impact geo-pointing and location performance. Geo-pointing is then described, effectively delving deeper into the material begun in section 8.0 in Part 1.0 of the course. Geo-pointing errors are related back to the SLC pointing problem with its limitations serving as a foundation for pursuing different geo-location approaches. Geo-location techniques are generally categorized as either direct or image geo-registration derived. The errors associated with the pointing solution for direct geo-pointing provide a basis for examining geo-location techniques that use image geo-registration to improve performance.
Image geo-registration is also used in many applications that require geo-referenced sensed imagery as well as location; discussed in Section 4.0 of Part 2.0 of the course. As this is effectively a technology in itself, only the salient aspects of the process are reviewed but should provide a source for further study and investigation, if of interest. Regardless of the geo-location technique used, however, geo-pointing will generally be part of the solution. If not the solution, it will provide coarse location estimates for the image geo-registration process. A substantial amount of image spatial processing is required to obtain an accurate solution to an image geo-registered location and the processing is described at a functional system level to capture the overall design process. The benefits that image geo-registration provides beyond that of location are significant since it can used to obtain situational awareness as defined for many applications. Military and civilian surveillance is an obvious application, but even the use of image information within the transportation infrastructure for highway and bridge maintenance management, damage and structural deterioration assessment, traffic pattern analysis and control, etc. is a growing application. The goal of this part of the course is to provide a system level functional description of the geo-location process and how performance relates back to that of geo-pointing with SLC. The camera sensor requirements for image geo-registration location are discussed in Part 3.0, the last part of the course.
360-Sightline Control Basics for Geo-Pointing and Locating - Part 3
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: Provide design algorithm approach for geo-pointing and locating providing a basis more detailed design
Course Description:
This final part of the course discusses sensor characteristics and requirements for geo-location image geo-registration, as described in Part 2.0 section 4.0 of the course. The focus is primarily on cameras and sensors whose response is in the visible and near infrared wavelength spectrum. Sensor characteristics that drive sensitivity and noise as well as camera sensor and optics parameters that determine scene coverage and resolution are all reviewed in this section. In total the three part course should provide an overview of geo-pointing and locating sufficient to plan for such an application and detailed design areas that require further investigation and study to perform an actual design.
409-Understanding Sensors Part 1 - Sensor Technology
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Sensors provide status information on our environment, homes, cars, and equipment we use. They are a part of nearly all walks of life and essential elements of control and safety systems. Part 1 of the course discusses sensor technology while Part 2 describes sensor networks and fusion of sensor network data. The sensor is a device that detects and/or measures the state of a physical quantity such as temperature, pressure, force, flow, or level. Measurements are converted to an observation media such as an electrical signal or mechanical, hydraulic, or pneumatic motion providing knowledge of the physical quantity’s state. They may also interface directly to an actuator. The sensor measurement function is performed by several components that constitute a sensing system. This system, termed a sensor node when integrated into a network, is comprised of a sensing element, signal conditioning and possibly processing components, power supply and some form of output; a simple display, meter, or now with the internet many sensors and associated processing interconnect through a wireless communication network. Sensor technology, networking, and fusion is of growing importance in most engineering and scientific applications and this two-part course discusses these topics.
410-Understanding Sensors Part 2 - Sensor Networks
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Part 2 begins with a description of two additional sensors that will continue to play an important role in the evolving sensor networking technology; micro electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) and fiber optic sensors. Then sensor networking architecture and the transmission of measured data to a sensor fusion algorithm is examined. Finally, sensor fusion technology is described. Finally, sensor fusion technology is described. Sensor fusion enhances the knowledge base of the quantities of interest as well as the interaction between them. This part of the course will cover all aspects of the networked sensing system; the sensor node, the communication network, network topologies and wireless sensor networks (WSN), communication network layered protocols, and finally fusion algorithms and processing techniques. Spurred by innovations in the smart phone, the Internet, MEMS, the IoT and the Cloud, devices are becoming smart and capable of user control, monitoring, and communication from remote locations. Network connectivity, person to person, machine to machine, device to device and combinations thereof is expanding at a fast rate making an understanding of sensor networks and fusion of growing importance.
180-Asbestos Fundamentals
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
The reader will learn what asbestos is, how it is used, and how it becomes dangerous to humans. You will have a basic understanding of asbestos in construction, the methods used to abate it, and the requirements of the United States (US) law for doing so. You will also learn how certain demolitions and renovations are regulated by US law in order to protect the public and the industry workers. Throughout the course material there will be comments regarding the desirable green or sustainable philosophy. An environmentally friendly ideology, action, standard, or process, which is more stringent than the law or regular construction standards and has a higher sensitivity toward human life or health will be herein deemed to be "green".
066-Ball Bearing Technology
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course provides, with ample illustration, technological information on all phases of ball bearings. It starts out with the basics such as description, theory of operation, sizes, and types. The features and capabilities of the three different kinds of ball bearings are described along with an explanation of the compromise that is involved in the design of inner and outer ring pathway curvature and shoulder height. Next, a discussion follows of how ball bearing operating life is calculated and why it is given as a probability number and how preloading spindle bearings can improve the accuracy of manufacturing machines. Finally, bearing seals, material, and lubrication methods are given along with an explanation of how the use of double sealed ball bearings can be an advantage to the machine designer. Every effort has been made to provide step-by-step, easy to read material with factual information and descriptive illustrations to enhance the student's knowledge of ball bearing technology.
Since ball bearings are used in a wide variety of product, this course will provide useful information to a wide variety of engineering disciplines including Mechanical, Electrical, Automotive, Civil, Manufacturing, and any other with a Machine Design option or having an interest in mechanical products. There is always a need for new faces and new ideas in the bearing industry to improve product performance in such demanding fields such as high speed aircraft and space vehicles where light weight and extremely harsh environments continually push the performance of today's products to their limit. Even more earthly environments such as wind turbines are proving to be a design challenge to the bearing engineer because of unexpected and sometimes hard to explain failures that are occurring in ever increasingly sized megawatt units.
090-Introduction to Gear Technology
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Much scientific study and development work has been completed on gears. Formulas have been developed and standards established to make gear design and application as easy an endeavour as possible. The gear tooth has been so successfully perfected that, when two gears mesh, almost perfect rolling takes place. Most gears operate in the high 90% range similar to anti-friction bearings where virtual pure rolling does take place.
This course provides, with ample illustration, established technological information on gears. It has almost as many pages of illustrations as it does text. It starts out with terminology and types of gears. Next the type of material used and the method of manufacture are explained. A sample problem is posed whereby allowable transmitted horsepower formulae for tooth bending and pitting are used to evaluate a simple gearset. The gearset is then revaluated with several design options and the results compared to baseline data. Gear mounting is examined by solving an equation for gear rim design and an equation for shaft size. Finally drawings are presented and expert analysis given for gears in power transmission devices.
This course is written in an effort to make it attractive to Mechanical Engineers or anyone else with a technical discipline that is interested in broadening their background in mechanical power transmission basics. The field is full of opportunities and challenges especially in the aerospace industry where new gear variations have been developed that perform beyond the limits of today's existing designs and the search is on for even better concepts that will deliver even more power with less weight for future generation vehicle use.
099-Roller Bearing Technology
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Roller bearings, along with ball bearings, are designed and manufactured to such perfection they operate in the high 90% efficiency range and are known as "anti-friction" devices. This course provides engineering information on the two different types of roller bearings; cylindrical roller bearings and tapered roller bearings. Engineering information is provided with easy to follow text and an ample amount of descriptive illustrations. Detailed explanations of both types of bearings are given along with material and manufacturing methods. The advantages of using the many different configurations of cylindrical roller bearings and the unique design and operating characteristics of tapered roller bearings are revealed. There are pertinent sample problems of each that teach how to calculate predicted design life under a number of different operation conditions. Recommend lubricants are given for different operating conditions along with a unique graph on how to calculate lubricant viscosity for various size bearings operating at a variety of speeds and temperatures. Finally, sketches are given of both types in actual applications with expert analysis of each.
Since roller bearings are used in a wide variety of product, this course will provide useful information to a wide variety of engineering disciplines including Mechanical, Electrical, Automotive, Civil, and Manufacturing and any other with a Machine Design option or having an interest in mechanical products. There is always a need in the bearing industry for new faces and new ideas to meet the challenge of designing higher performing products for use in the aircraft, space vehicle, and wind turbine industries.
105-Automotive Bearing Technology
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course deals with the application of anti-friction bearings in automotive vehicles. It contains pertinent text along with and an ample number of illustrative sketches to provide the student with an easy grasp of the subject matter. It explains the use of bearings in manual and automatic transmissions. It has an in depth discussion of vehicle wheel bearings. Wheel bearings are considered safety items by the auto manufacturers and their design and manufacture is of vital importance to passenger well being. There is a discussion regarding the new "Integral Spindle Wheel Bearing" which was designed and mass-produced by one of the major U.S. car companies. Integral spindle wheel bearings are incorporated in the new front-drive light weight passenger cars and are considered a major engineering and manufacturing break through. Finally, there is information presented on the special design aspects of engine coolant pump bearings and an explanation of the operation of the drive axle differential system. The bulk of the mathematical equations for this course are contained at the end in the form of Appendix pages for reader convenience.
085-Introduction to Daylighting
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
This course provides the basic understanding of daylighting, beginning from its origins: the history of its use throughout time, why we stopped using daylight for its benefits and why we are seeing resurgence.
Successful integrated building design includes utilizing daylight for its positive benefits, and which may include lowering energy costs by reducing the required HVAC system size of a building, a closer connection with the outside for those working and living in a building, and reducing environmental impact, specifically carbon emissions.
Daylighting may contribute to a building achieving LEED certification, and this course discusses the LEED system, version 3, and the rating systems under Building Design and Construction (BD+C) and Existing Building: Operations and Maintenance (EBOM).
098-LEED for Existing Buildings
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Today's built environment is being scrutinized due to current economic conditions, reduced availability of non-renewal resources, and tenant requests for healthier workspaces. This combination has changed the way we build, operate, and manage our buildings.
LEED® certified buildings are one way in which the places we work are meeting expectations of building owners, mangers, and the people who work in them. LEED for Existing Buildings, Operations and Maintenance (EB:O&M), is one standard within the LEED family of certifications, which specifically addresses the operational activities of the current inventory of commercial buildings in the United States, and sets guidance for increase profitability and sought after real estate.
This paper will introduce the LEED - EB:O&M rating system, demonstrate the benefits of a certified building, offer examples of how to successfully design a project, and provide examples of Federal, State, and Local Incentives related to sustainable buildings.
289-Shoring and Reshoring Fundamentals
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
"Shoring and Reshoring Fundamentals" provides an overview of what every engineer and construction professional should know about shoring, reshoring, and backshoring. The user will learn common terms, the difference between shoring, reshoring, and backshoring and why the distinction is important. At the end of the course, the user will have a basic understanding of the various materials used in shoring and reshoring as well as a basic grasp of the concrete construction sequencing. This course is written to appeal to a wide range of engineering professionals and no special prerequisites should be required.
226-Introduction to Thermal Imaging
2 List: $45.00
Sale: $17.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Modern day technology allows us to see in the dark. Thermal imaging is the technology that identifies and records images that are not visible by the human eye by using specialized equipment. These images represent the infrared radiation emitted by the object.
This course will provide a background on the discovery of infrared energy and an overview of the electromagnetic spectrum. It will define key terms and concepts related to thermal imaging. It will explain the types of thermal imaging equipment and night vision technologies.
Traditionally used in military and security operations, thermal imaging has expanded to other industries. Examples will be provided for the application of thermal imaging in the manufacturing and healthcare industries as well as building inspections. Finally, this course will distinguish between the levels of professional certifications for thermographers.
199-Forensic Analysis Involving Fugitive Natural Gas and Propane
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Engineers are frequently called upon to perform forensic analyses of the origin and cause of explosions and fires involving fuel gas systems that use either natural gas or propane. This course will consider those cases where the natural gas or propane vapor has escaped from its normal confinement and caused an explosion or fire or both.
This course will focus on two critical components of the engineer's expertise that may be brought to bear in such a forensic analysis. These concern the understanding of (1) how a fuel gas behaves when it is released from confinement, and (2) how the observed explosion damage may relate to the concentration of the fugitive gas and rate of release of the fugitive gas. Giving the engineer an understanding of these two areas of knowledge, from both a qualitative and a quantitative standpoint, will be the objective of this course.
259-An Introduction to Heat Transfer in Structure Fires
5 List: $112.50
Sale: $35.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Besides the fire triangle (fuel, heat, oxygen), heat transfer is the driving factor behind how fires start, grow, and potentially threaten life and property. This course provides and introduction to methods for calculating conduction, convection, and radiation which occur in a typical structure fire. Methods are presented for calculating temperatures and velocities in side of compartments during a fire and how to calculate the activation time for a sprinkler head. A brief introduction into modern computer fire models is presented and an excel file is included with the course material which has been programmed to complete the equations used in the course.
Learning objectives:
Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:
- Describe the role heat transfer plays in structure fires.
- Use hand calculations and computer programs to estimate the heat flux to objects from a fire.
- Use hand calculations and computer programs to estimate the ignition time for objects based on a given heat flux.
- Use hand calculations and computer programs to estimate the temperature inside of structures containing a fire.
- Describe the different kinds of computer fire models and their limitations.
402-External Ballistics Primer for Engineers - Part I: Aerodynamics & Projectile Motion
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This course was written to introduce engineers of any discipline to the basics of external ballistics. The engineer will gain a general understanding of many of the factors, effects and forces which affect the flight path of a projectile in unpowered flight.
Course Description:
The intriguing subject of this primer explores the characteristics of the unpowered portion of flight of a projectile on a ballistic trajectory, or external ballistics. It was created for the broad range of engineers who have an interest in learning the basics of external ballistics. In order to accurately describe the factors, which affect the trajectory of an object on a ballistic flight path and the path itself, an engineer will rely on rigorous calculations, computer simulations and experimental data. For the purposes of this primer, gun related pun intended, we only resort to a conceptual understanding of the mechanics, augmented by the use of simplified equations including mentions of some of the governing equations with focuses on some specialized cases. The focus areas are kept concise so that tangential topics such as orbital mechanics are generally not treated. The course has been broken into two parts. Part I targets the aerodynamic characteristics of general projectiles in flight and relevant factors which affect its flight path. In Part II we dive into the use of associated measurement hardware an engineer or ballistician might use to characterize flight paths and conclude with a spotlight on the physics of the ballistic pendulum.
411-External Ballistics Primer for Engineers - Part II: Test Equipment
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This course was written to introduce engineers of any discipline to the basics of external ballistics. The engineer will gain a general understanding of many of the factors, effects and forces which affect the flight path of a projectile in unpowered flight.
Course Description:
In part one of this external ballistics course several factors were introduced which affect the flight of a ballistic projectile. Some basic equations were presented that are useful to a great many engineers outside of ballistics for making approximations with a fair bit of accuracy. Several flow regimes that a ballistic projectile may pass through were also treated, though there were cases that were omitted for either lack of space or complexity. Fast forward to part deux. Projectiles launched from earth generally move through air for most or all of their flight, which means understanding the properties of that air is very important. Besides air there are other flightpath modifiers including Coriolis’ effects, so many times it is important to know the direction the projectile is headed in and its speed. The list of measurement equipment used in relation to external ballistics research is extensive, however there are tools which may be more noteworthy or common than others. The balance of this part of the full course delivers descriptions and general information of some of the equipment used to measure atmospheric air pressure, humidity, windspeed, wind direction, projectile speed and direction. There are also a few characteristic comparisons in table form appended to a handful of the sections.
The tools that follow are used throughout much of engineering and research rather than being confined to external ballistics, so it is likely you have used at least some of them in relation to your own work.
405-Structural Nonlinearity - Part 1 - Defining Nonlinearity
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
What is structural nonlinearity? The notion of linearity has become so ingrained in the practice of structural engineering that the term nonlinearity feels shadowy and ominous, vague and unconventional. Nonlinearity means that the structural behavior will be different, but how? What constitutes nonlinearity and what are the different types?
There are multiple components, conditions, and behavior that all fit under the umbrella of structural nonlinearity. The terminology surrounding nonlinearity can be overwhelming – P-delta, inelastic behavior, softening/stiffening, large deflections, physical nonlinearity, follower forces, nonprismatic, directionality, etc.
What are all the different types of nonlinearity that are possible in structural analysis? Why are they different and when do they need to be included? This course aims to introduce the full range of structural nonlinearity, describe their behavior and effects, and provide insight into when nonlinearities should be included in analyses.
Note: The content in this series of courses is advanced and requires a solid understanding of structural behavior and considerable experience with linear structural analyses. The reader should be familiar with beam theory, determinacy and internal stability of structures, strength of materials, and should be experienced in idealizing real-world structures and have exposure to some more advanced concepts such as plastic hinging.
421-Structural Nonlinearity - Part 2 - Analysis Methods
3 List: $67.50
Sale: $23.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Only a small sliver of real-world behavior is linear, so mentioning nonlinear analysis without any context is opaque if not ungraspable. The term nonlinear analysis relates as much information as suggesting a “special tool” or a “custom solution”. There are several different analysis methods that can solve structural nonlinearity and they have curious and indistinct names that have been informally adopted by the industry. What types of nonlinearities can MNO or 3rd-order analysis solve? Which of a simulation analysis or an analysis using a geometric stiffness matrix is an approximation? How does a 2nd-order analysis work?
This course surveys the current analysis methods capable of solving structural nonlinearity. This course presents the types of nonlinearity that each method can solve and introduces concepts such as recursion, kinematics, iterative analyses, benchmark problems, and discretization. The discussions are anchored by numerous illustrative diagrams and detailed examples of how iterative analyses converge.
Note: The content in this series of courses is advanced and
requires considerable experience with linear structural analysis and
a solid understanding of structural behavior. It is recommended that
the preceding courses in this series be completed prior to taking
this course.
422-Structural Nonlinearity - Part 3 - Analyzing Nonlinearity
4 List: $90.00
Sale: $29.95
Course Objectives: This continuing education course is written specifically for professional engineers with the objective of relating to and enhancing the practice of engineering.
Course Description:
Nonlinear analyses can be formidable, unpredictable, and tricky to perform proficiently. Performing a nonlinear analysis can be likened to returning to a city you once knew many years ago that has since grown and changed beyond recognition. Landmarks and routes may feel familiar in bouts, and you may be able to tenuously find your way just to hit a dead end or arrive somewhere surprisingly foreign to you. Think of this course as a map kiosk with advice on what to expect and how to navigate nonlinear analyses.
This course describes how nonlinearities can be analyzed once they are identified in a structural system. The course content includes guidance on idealization, nuances of analyzing each nonlinearity type, and general recommendations for analysis.
The course closes with several detailed examples where the reader is walked through the analyses of several types of nonlinearity, each crafted to show analysis protocols, help illustrate confusing aspects, and highlight potential pitfalls.
Note: The content in this series of courses is advanced and
requires considerable experience with linear structural analysis and
a solid understanding of structural behavior. It is recommended that
the preceding courses in this series be completed prior to taking
this course.