171-Design of Sand Filters & Bioretention Systems
4 $9.95 This is our Featured Course of the week.
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.
169-Design of Drywells
2 $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.
174-Design of Infiltration & Extended Detention Basins
4 $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 a comprehensive design guide to constructed stormwater wetlands. A design of vegetated filter strips is also included as well as a discussion of water budget calculations. The course describes a variety of types of constructed wetlands and includes a discussion of adaptations that need to be made to them in unusual situations.
212-A Comparison of Runoff Estimation Techniques
4 $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 $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 $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 $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.
321-What Every Engineer Should Know About Endangered Species
4 $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 as an overview of the Endangered Species Act and how it relates to land development projects. This knowledge is helpful in the early planning stages of a development and can prevent costly delays as the project progresses
The overall objective of this course is to provide a basic understanding of what endangered species are and how their presence can affect land development. The course includes information as to where an engineer can gain preliminary data on this topic for a specific project.
259-An Introduction to Heat Transfer in Structure Fires
5 $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.
289-Shoring and Reshoring Fundamentals
2 $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.
175-Programming Excel in Visual Basic Part 1: An Introduction
4 $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 $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 $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 $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.
188-Fundamentals of Site Grading Design
2 $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 $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 $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 $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 $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.
221-What Wetlands Boards Expect from Engineers
3 $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:
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 $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 $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.
132-Fundamentals of Helical Anchors/Piles
4 $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 $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 $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).
149-Precast Segmental Bridge Construction - Part 1 - An Introduction
3 $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 $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 $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 $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 $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.
341-Accelerated Bridge Program - Intro to Prefabricated Bridge Unit (PBU) Construction
3 $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.
208-Future Highways - Automated Vehicles
4 $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 $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
154-Free Open-Source Software (FOSS) in Engineering
4 $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 $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 $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 today’s 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.
016-Assessing Environmental Contamination I
4 $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.
180-Asbestos Fundamentals
4 $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".
173-Interior Lighting Design The Fundamentals
4 $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 $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 $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 $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.
085-Introduction to Daylighting
2 $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 $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.
226-Introduction to Thermal Imaging
2 $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.
205-Introduction to Designing Machine Control Systems, Part 1
4 $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 an introduction for designing Machine Control Systems. Eight systematic design steps are presented to help guide the design process towards the goal of developing safe and reliable control systems.
For engineers of other disciplines, information is included that will help provide back ground information where projects incorporate Machine Control Systems. For the novice, a number of topics are presented that will be a guide for further in depth study. Philosophical design issues are presented for those with previous controls design experience. The reader should have at least a working understanding of electricity.
This is the first part of a two part series. Part 1 presents overall system design issues up to the supply power into Control Cabinets. Part 2 addresses aspects of design from inside of the control cabinet out to the field wiring.
206-Introduction to Designing Machine Control Systems, Part 2
5 $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:
This course is the second part of a two part series, as an introduction for designing Machine Control Systems for the design Engineer. Part 1 presents overall system design techniques up to Control Cabinets design. Part 2 presents Control Cabinet design and field wiring issues.
While this presentation is not comprehensive, the goal is to provide enough background for further in-depth studies in a wide range of related topics. The reader should have at least a working understanding of electricity.
The three major goals for every control system should be safety, reliability, and the ease of troubleshooting. To meet these goals, seven basic steps (see outline below) are presented to help guide the design engineer through the design and implementation of Control Systems. The Steps for Part 1 and Part 2 are outlined below.
066-Ball Bearing Technology
3 $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 $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 $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 $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.
199-Forensic Analysis Involving Fugitive Natural Gas and Propane
4 $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.
158-Industrial Floor Framing for Vibrating Equipment
4 $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 $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 $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 $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).
