Pennsylvania Structural and Ethics 24 PDH Discount Package 3

This online engineering PDH course aims at identifying the key variables necessary in estimating the impact of regular washing of steel bridges on the paint and service life, recommending methods for recording data in order to most effectively estimate the benefits of bridge washing, and developing a framework to assess the impact of bridge washing on paint life.

Thirty years ago, when the environmental rules changed, the WSDOT stopped annual cleaning of steel truss bridges. Some cleaning was done after this time only to assist inspection crews or to determine what the cost would be to hand clean a steel truss bridge. WSDOT is investigating the feasibility of an annual steel truss bridge washing program. A pilot study was implemented in 2011 that will help to determine the benefits and environmental impacts of such a program.

This work builds on the pilot study to identify current bridge washing practices around the country and to select the measurements necessary to determine whether more regular washing has positive cost benefits. The research summarized in this course is a first step towards understanding and quantifying the benefits of a more regular bridge washing program on paint life and corrosion.

This online engineering PDH course provides guidelines on how to attach Electrical equipment to a building to minimize earthquake damage. It presents examples of anchoring and using special devices called seismic restraint devices. These devices include vibration isolation systems, cable or strut suspension systems, roof attachment systems and steel shapes.

This 5 PDH online course is applicable to structural and electrical engineers, architects, contractors, building professionals, and other technical personnel dealing with the planning, design and installation of electrical equipment.

This online engineering PDH course provides guidelines on how to attach mechanical equipment to a building to minimize earthquake damage. It presents examples of anchoring and using special devices called seismic restraint devices. These devices include vibration isolation systems, cable or strut suspension systems, roof attachment systems and steel shapes.

This 5 PDH online course is applicable to structural and mechanical engineers, architects, contractors, building professionals, and other technical personnel dealing with the planning, design and installation of mechanical equipment.

This online engineering PDH course delivers the best practices for repair and retrofit of fatigue cracks in steel bridges.

This course is also a guide for owners and consulting engineers to use for design and detailing of repairs and retrofits for fatigue cracks. It should be used in conjunction with existing specifications, codes, and engineering judgment. In addition to designing and executing the repairs and/or retrofits, there are numerous other steps involved in the inspection and assessment of a cracked bridge member.

When cracks are discovered in bridge elements (members or connections) in service, fatigue is usually the cause. Fatigue is the formation of a crack due to cyclic service loads. Fracture may be defined as rupture in tension or rapid extension of a crack, leading to gross deformation, loss of function or serviceability, or complete separation of the component. Periodic in-service inspection provides an opportunity to assure safety by detecting cracks before they grow to a critical size. The Federal Highway Administration has mandated a twenty-four month inspection interval for all highway bridges located on public roads which is intended to detect problems before they become critical to structural performance.

This engineering online PDH course will establish conditions under which, when an engineering failure has occurred, it can be attributed to negligence.    

Five causes of failure are proposed: negligence, rare failure mode, overlooked failure mode, new (previously unrecognized) failure mode, and incorrect assessment of a known risk. Negligence is the only cause that involves failing in an ethical duty.  These concepts are illustrated with five case studies of failures ranging from gross negligence to absolutely unforeseeable events: 1) the Great Boston Molasses Flood of 1919, for which a new possible cause was identified 95 years later (2014); 2) a building collapse in Bangladesh in which over 1,000 people died—one of the worst structural engineering disasters in history; 3) a meteorite strike of a private residence; 4) the crash of the British-French Concorde supersonic airliner, caused by an unlikely tire blow-out; and 5) radiation overdoses received by patients treated by the Thorac-25 medical linear accelerator, caused by errors in the software controlling the machine.