Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

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Hi All,

I would like to extend a very gracious Thank you to** Ehsan Bhai **for giving us such valuable insight into the world of accountancy and taking so much time out for us all here in the Career forum. See you around inshallah, Ehsan Bhai, do drop by often and share your keemti advises with us .

**Time to introduce our next guest here … TLK will grace us with his presence this month, we have invited him to come over and give us a brief introduction of his career profile .which he will do shortly.

Please feel free to ask any questions you may have in mind …
**

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

By education I am a civil engineer (NED univ in Karachi used to have highest population of girls in Civil Engg dept so I picked CIvil engg.). I worked on constructions sites for a year after my bachelors in Pakistan before moving to USA for my Masters. My specialization was Structural Analysis and after my masters, I got a job in Autmotive industry, where I analyzed Automotive structures (Body, Chasis and Frame of cars and trucks).

SO what does a structural/civil engineer do in automotive company?

When you take a sharp turn in your car and it does not roll over, thank a civil engineer. When you drive at 100 miles an hour and your hood does not start shaking, when you crash your car and walk away alive, when you slam your door years after years and it does not fall off it hinges, when you turn the key of your trunk and it pops open but when you try to close it, you can literally do it using your pinky, when you hit a pot hole and your shock absorbers do not break your bones, when your car gives you high mileage because its panels are made out of light weight material; the magical material which is light enough to give high mileage, strong enough not to fail after years and years of usage, but bendable enough to collapse and adsorb energy during crash - thank a civil engineer.

After working several years in that industry, I moved to Aerospace industry. I do a similar job and now analyze airframe structure. The philosophy is little different though. Airplane structures are overly designed on purpose. They are fail-safe. That means that if the row of bolts that attaches the wings to the body failed, a secondary row of bolt is going to hold the structure in place. That secondary row will not see any loads till the first row fails, that means that for those of you who know their Statics 101, the secondary row will never be subjected to any pre-stress and there is no chance of yield or fatigue failure till it takes over the primary bolts.

more on this later based on questions.

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Wow , thats quite an extensive intro , thanks so much TLK …

I have a few questions please :

1- I have always thought when you guys work on creating designs .. isnt your career limited , coz once a design is over , what happens next? its not an ongoing process that the company will keep on creating designs .. doesnt you job then come to an end unless the company decided to do another design :konfused:

2- What is your working routine like , is this long hours work routine ? are you forced to work awkward hours ? travel alot etc etc .. whats it like being a structural engineer ?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

  1. CB, auto industry keeps bring new models every year and every company makes several different cars so in auto, its never ending. In Aerospace, we also do fleet, factory and supplier support. In case of an airplane/parts damage in factory or by the airline employees, we design and analyze the repair also. Each repair has to be FAA approved. You can google about how many commercial jets are in service and there are many small or large mishaps happen on almost daily basis that requires some kind of repair. Many of those repairs are listed in the airplane manual and airline mechanics take care of that, but many many are not listed (as you cant list or imagine every possible damage scenario) - and that is when structural engineer comes in.

  2. Work routine is pretty relaxed unless an airplane in service is involved as airlline has to ground the plane that cost them 10's or 100s of thousands of dollars a day, so they expect us to turn the solution in quickly. MY job does not require a whole lot if travel but that is going to change in next few weeks.

Being a structural engineer is not as glamorous as it sounds :D

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

HI TLK :wave:

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Great intro TLK...

Your post reminded me of my high school days studying A-Levels physics where I selected solid materials as my Physics option... force-extension graphs, stress-strain graphs and elastomers theory :D - good ole geeky days.

On to some questions: other than mathematical ability, are there other things that will tell you whether you have an aptitude in this area? is the work monotone and typically fosters depth of knowledge in a subject area? and for those who seek variety, is switching roles or industries the only way to bring in breadth of knowledge?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

So,incase of a mishap,do we blame You ?:@:(j/k)

Is it intresting & spontaneous? Or boring & routine?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

amaaazing.

what do you think of the 2nd law of thermodynamics?

Why are stars cool? (think speed of light :@:)

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Thank you for a wonderful introduction. some questions:

1) For design of an aircraft, what types of software does a structural engineer use (Autocad, Solidworks, finite element tools?)
2) Does one have to proficient in each of these, or can the engineer provide the equations that specialists in finite element tools can incorporate
3) Are wings riveted to body or are they nuts/bolts
4) Where do they use rivets (and which is stringer - nuts/bolts or rivets)
5) Is there a certain wind speed which the plane cannot handle - no mattery how good the design.

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

If you want to settle in pakistan ;do you have any chances of having A good career in automotive or aerospace industry according to your ability and expectations?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

NED => TLK is nerd.

therefore Monk calls you Boss.

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

what do u like most and least about your current role, this line of work, and what are your views of long term prospects and direction for someone who may be evaluating structural engineering in general or with auto or aerospace in particular.

lastly, can you tell US commuter airlines their planes are ugly and they should take a cue from virgin americas cabin. Thank You.

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

TLK bro app serious kab hotay hain ?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Did you always dream of becoming an engineer?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Tough questions dude. Everyone requires a detail answer but I will be short. I dont think that structural engineering requires any aptitude other than interest of Physics in general. I mean if you hate physics, then maybe this field is not for you. Work gets monotone prettty fast because big companies put you in a specific group and you are required to do the similar job over and over. Luckily in same companies, rotational opportunities are avaialble so you can switch groups if you want to. I kind of like to say yes to your last question, however as a structural engineer, you deal with design, manufacturing, tooling and test engineering people, and that gives you a good perspective of how you can accommodate everyone's need and demands. It is because in the industry I worked in, structure leads the product development. Product wont go forward if it fails the structural integrity so everyone has to listen to us :D. In auto, it was design and economics that lead the product develeopmnent.

Actually yes. In case of structural failure, FAA comes after the structural engineers who passed the design

It does get routined but not so boring.

you are in wrong forum lady. :D

  1. Software use depends upon the company. We use Catia and Nastran/Patran
  2. No you dont have to be proficient in every tool. You just need to have good theoretical knowledge. Tools change and then you have to learn that tool .
  3. Wings are attached to what we call wing box through bolts. Wing bix sits in the belly of plane and have one wing on each side. wing box is then attached to the airframe.
  4. Stringers are riveted to the skin. Rivets are used to attach panels to the main structure. Think of your car fender that is attached to the frame of your car.
  5. Planes can handle pretty much every speed. Its the landing during cross wind that could get tricky.
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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Hi Niks :wave:

I think Pakistan has lots of politics in every industry. But keeping politics aside, every airline of Pakistan needs maintenance engineers and those are structural engineers. About cars, I am not sure as they are only assembled in Pakistan, not designed and analyzed.

He calls me boss because I am a nerd?

Most would be the satisfaction of seeing your product flying. Least is the fact that how insignificant you are in the bigger scheme of things and nothing will stop if you are not there anymore (I guess that is true in almost every industry). Structural engineering in general is a very diversified field and almost all the manufactures need at least one if not a team of structural engineer. Shell of your cell phone, golf club that you play with, our homes, bridges, toys, furniture .. you name it, needs some kind of structural engineering. This field has good prospects, unfortunately your salary is based on which industry/company you work for. Between Auto and Aero, Aero pays much better.

Iss waqt hoon.

not :smiley:

oh no. I took enginnering cause I used to hate biology :smiley:

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

So do you review the structural design on paper, during the development phase, or does your work also involve inspecting the finished product? Do you have to like "pass" every plane manufactured on the site?

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

First one in general. Analysis is a way of validating the design before official drawing release.

Second is more of a quality and process control. However if accidents happen (mechanic dropped a heavy tool on the wing during manufacturing and ripped a whole through the panel) that requires a structural repair, then we inspect the final repair

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Ok cool! That’s exactly how the pharmaceutical industry works. :hehe: The chemists design drugs, the techs manufacture them, QA/QC approve the final product for release unless something goes wrong in which case the chemists have to be called in for an investigation. There’s one difference though… chemistry is not torturous unlike physics. :snooty:

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Re: Sneak Peak Series - Our Guest is TLK

Great post TLK, I went into school taking Electrical Engineering but did not graduate. In my first year courses I had to take a bit of everything (chemical, mechanical, civil, electrical) and I have to say I liked my Statics and Dynamics courses the most. Had I not been biased towards my choice of faculty I would have definitely gone into Civil Engineering. Instead I choice Electrical and realized a bit too late it wasn't for me.