NASCC Wrap-Up: Engineering Evolution

In the shadow of the St. Louis Arch – itself a testament to steel construction – the NASCC Steel Conference concluded today.  Amid the presentations on cutting-edge research, practical construction techniques, and design theory, one thing stood out to me:  evolution.

When I hear the word “steel,” it evokes black and white images of a historic industry.  Rockefeller and Carnegie.  The Eiffel tower.  The famous poster of workers high above New York City.  With steel being so solid and so physical, at first glance it doesn’t feel like part of a modern industry.

 

 

That mindset couldn’t be farther from the truth.  The steel industry today is a new frontier.  As experienced manual labor supplies dwindle, high-tech machines have been created to mark, cut, and assemble steel.  Calculations that used to take weeks by hand are now done by engineering software programs in seconds.  Everything is becoming faster and more integrated and, of course, computer-based.

At the Bentley booth, I engaged in a lively discussion about whether software would eventually eliminate the need for a structural engineer.  I said no, and not just because I want to believe in my job security.  There will always be a need for the engineer to assess the most appropriate system and verify that the computer output is practical. 

However, everything else is amazingly automated and becoming more so.  Within Bentley products, for example, an engineer can now design a steel system in RAM or STAAD, use the same model to perform connection design in RAM Connection, transfer the 3D model via ISM to create documentation and fabrication drawings in ProSteel, and control all the file data in ProjectWise.

I, for one, welcome our computer overlords advances.  With them, steel continues to push the engineering envelope and keep pace with the rest of the world.