Question

As a designer of bridges, you have years of experience working with traditional materials (e.g. steel, concrete). You have been very successful and have risen to the role of “chief bridge engineer”. Your staff just designed a new bridge using composite materials composed of epoxy and graphite fibers. Although you have no experience with these materials, you are asked to sign off on the bridge plans because you are the chief engineer. According to the codes, should you sign off on the plans??

Answer 1

No the chief Engineer should not sign off the bridge plans.Only the Engineer who has the deep knowledge in the specific area is authorised to sign as per the codes.Any senior structural Engineer should have in depth knowledge about the properties of the materials used.If approved without proper knowledge,it may lead to design failure which is a serious issue.In this case though the chief Engineer has in depth knowledge in using traditional materials,he doesnt have the knowledge about the composite materials used in the bridge design by his staff.It should first be approved by some other senior Engineer who has in depth knowledge about the composite materials.