Term: Structural engineer
Education and Licensing:
– Structural engineers typically hold a civil engineering bachelor’s degree, often followed by a master’s degree specializing in structural engineering.
– Core subjects in structural engineering education include strength of materials, structural analysis, material science, and numerical analysis.
– Licensing requirements include university education, work experience, exams, and continuing education.
– Some universities offer separate undergraduate degrees in structural engineering.
– In the U.S., structural engineers must be licensed in each state where they practice, with specific licensure for structural engineering in some states.
– The UK’s Institution of Structural Engineers grants Chartered Structural Engineer status through a comprehensive process.
Responsibilities and Considerations:
– Structural engineers design structures to resist various loads like gravity, wind, seismic forces, and traffic.
– They ensure buildings and bridges are strong, stable, and stiff enough to prevent failure or excessive deflection.
– Human comfort, fatigue, and material durability are key considerations in structural design.
– Structural engineers collaborate with architects, civil engineers, and other professionals to meet safety and performance standards.
– Their work aims to prevent loss of life or injury by designing safe and stable structures.
Specializations and Industries:
– Structural engineers design a wide range of structures, including buildings, bridges, oil rigs, satellites, aircraft, and ships.
– Most work in the construction industry, with roles in aerospace, automobile, and shipbuilding sectors.
– Specialized structures like schools, hospitals, and skyscrapers often require licensed structural engineers.
– They play a crucial role in ensuring the safety, stability, and durability of various structures.
Role in Society and Professional Organizations:
– Structural engineers contribute to society by designing safe, stable, and durable structures.
– Professional organizations like the Institution of Structural Engineers provide support and professional development opportunities.
– Collaboration with other engineering disciplines is common in the construction industry.
– Their work is essential for ensuring the safety and functionality of buildings, bridges, and other structures.
Career and Remuneration:
– Structural engineers’ salaries vary by sector within the construction industry globally.
– In the UK, structural engineers earn an average wage of £35,009, with variations in different sectors.
– Public sector engineers earn an average of £37,083 annually, while commercial project engineers earn £43,947 per year.
– In the Middle East, structural engineers earn an average of £45,083, higher than the UK and EU average.
Structural engineers analyze, design, plan, and research structural components and structural systems to achieve design goals and ensure the safety and comfort of users or occupants. Their work takes account mainly of safety, technical, economic, and environmental concerns, but they may also consider aesthetic and social factors.
| Occupation | |
|---|---|
| Names | Structural Engineer, Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer |
Occupation type | Profession |
Activity sectors | Engineering |
| Description | |
| Competencies | Design, analysis, critical thinking, engineering ethics, project management, engineering economics, creativity, problem solving |
Related jobs | Civil engineering, architect, project manager |
Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty discipline within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right. In the United States, most practicing structural engineers are currently licensed as civil engineers, but the situation varies from state to state. Some states have a separate license for structural engineers who are required to design special or high-risk structures such as schools, hospitals, or skyscrapers. In the United Kingdom, most structural engineers in the building industry are members of the Institution of Structural Engineers or the Institution of Civil Engineers.
Typical structures designed by a structural engineer include buildings, towers, stadiums, and bridges. Other structures such as oil rigs, space satellites, aircraft, and ships may also be designed by a structural engineer. Most structural engineers are employed in the construction industry, however, there are also structural engineers in the aerospace, automobile, and shipbuilding industries. In the construction industry, they work closely with architects, civil engineers, mechanical engineers, electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, and construction managers.
Structural engineers ensure that buildings and bridges are built to be strong enough and stable enough to resist all appropriate structural loads (e.g., gravity, wind, snow, rain, seismic (earthquake), earth pressure, temperature, and traffic) to prevent or reduce the loss of life or injury. They also design structures to be stiff enough to not deflect or vibrate beyond acceptable limits. Human comfort is an issue that is regularly considered limited. Fatigue is also an important consideration for bridges and aircraft design or for other structures that experience many stress cycles over their lifetimes. Consideration is also given to the durability of materials against possible deterioration which may impair performance over the design lifetime.