Lab-5–Revit –Times and Locations

Location

This week’s lab will again be located in the CAEE CadLab in CAT-167.  It’s on the ground floor in the Southeast corner of the building.  CAT is the building to the North of Ludlow (where the food trucks are located)  - Link to Google Maps

Time

Because there are only a limited number of computers in the lab we’re again splitting each section in half, so each comes for only 1 hour.  You may exchange with a student from another section, but please do not come at a time different than the one to which you’re assigned.

 

Section 060 10:00-12:00
A-K	10:00
L-Z	11:00
Section 061 12:00-2:00
A-M	12:00
N-Z	1:00

Revit

We’ll be using the program Revit in the lab.  You’re welcome to download it for your laptop for free from http://students.autodesk.com.

• It’s a 3GB download and a 5GB Install
• You’ll need to register with Autodesk
• It’s for Windows Machines only

 

Answers to Several Questions

Questions:

1. Hello, I have one question about the Revit Lab. I followed the videos, made the Revit model and the output sheet. How do I convert the sheet to a PDF file from Rivet?
2. Also, we're supposed to submit the actual Rivet model, meaning we have to submit the actual file we made upon starting the Rivet videos? Just a little confused, hope you can clear that up thank you.

Response

#1 You need to “Print to PDF”.  On the machines in the lab there is a PDF printer installed – just choose it when you’re printing.

If you’re doing this on your own machine you’ll need to install a “PDF Printer”.  There are multiple free one available.  TechSupportAlert is a good recommendation source – Here’s their link to PDF Printers and tools.

#2 You are to submit three things for this assignment

• The actual Revit File
• The PDF of the “Sheet” that you’ve created
• The Word document defined in the assignment.

T-P Lab Data Available

The strain gauge data and a photo of the truck are now available as files attached to the assignment in BbLearn.  The files necessary for the lab are as follows:

File	Description
READ ME - Data Description - CAEE201.docx	Description of the data in the Excel file as well as info on where the strain gauge is located
LAB DATA CAEE201.xlsx	The actual data from the strain gauges.  See the description for what to do
Truck Event.jpg	Image of the truck
Truss Chord Diagram with Strain Gauges.png	Diagram (NTS) of where the strain gauges are located on the top chord.
T-P Lab Description 20121018.docx	The description of the lab with the questions to be answered.
Tacony-Palymra Drawings.pdf	Drawings extracted from the full report showing the structural members of the bridge.

Lab 2 response

Hi,

A few notes that have come up while grading the 2nd lab, you'll get individual responses hopefully tomorrow.

a) Please double-check to make sure your file loaded correctly, there should be a preview function where you can check.  Also, please be aware of the 10am deadline (and the 10% penalty for lateness) if you make additional attempts.

b) Understand the difference between line plots and scatter plots and when to use each.  The difference is NOT the connecting line between points (you can make scatter plots with connected points).  I've included a figure with the same x and y data with a line plot on the left and scatter on the right.  Here's another source for judging when to use each: http://blogs.office.com/b/microsoft-excel/archive/2011/08/30/line-or-scatter-chart.aspx

c) Significant figures and notation will be important ALL quarter.  Most people commented that the error in estimating depth of each soil type was significant, but then listed the total effective stress to 6 significant figures!

d)  Any time you use an equation, you must define your variables.  We don't know you understand what they mean unless you tell us.  Named variables are a good way to indicate this, but not the only way.

e)  Name and date EVERY tab and please name your file something like Lastname_nameoflab.xls (so mine would be Johnson_lab2.xls or Johnson_geotech.xls)

f) The extra credit: we do read the extra credit responses and get a very wide range of responses from "this was too easy" to "this was too hard".  Your feedback is welcomed and noted regardless of if you receive extra credit or not.  Since it is extra credit, we require above and beyond thought and effort to receive points.

Again, please let us know if you have any questions, and I hope this helps!
-Anita

Tacony-Palmyra Bridge Visit – Friday 4/26/2013

 

MAP OF WHERE WE’LL WALK AND WHERE TO PARK IN NJ. 

This coming Friday we’ll visit the Tacony-Palmyra Bridge. 

• The visit will take the entire lab period for each lab section
• We’ll be traveling by Drexel bus, walking across the bridge making observations, and then returning to Drexel, all within the two hour lab period. 
• Below are the key facts for this visit.

Our Hosts

• Dr. Franklin Moon of our department has arranged the visit for us.  Some of his graduate students will join us and conduct tour groups.
• We are there through the courtesy of the Burlington County Bridge Commission, which owns the bridge.

Preparation

• Be sure you have signed the release form.  You cannot attend if you haven’t.
• Download and bring the appropriate materials from the Week-4 Lab assignment.
• Follow Dr. Moon’s instructions in his Wednesday lecture.

Timing

• We will leave PMOMPTLY on the hour at the start of each lab - 10:00 and 12:00.  We really will leave on time.
• To ensure that the bus has sufficient capacity stick with your assigned lab section.
• We expect to be back by 11:50 and 1:50 respectively.  If there’s a traffic problem we could be delayed, but at that time of day it should be OK.

Location

• The bus will leave from in front of the main building on Chestnut street, probably on the south side of the street.
  • Sometimes for traffic reasons the bus goes to Market street.  If that’s the case we’ll alert you by having someone on Chestnut to direct you.  That person will leave Chestnut at 10:00 or 12:00
• If you’re a commuter you can meet us at the Tacony Palmyra bridge.
  • The easiest parking lot is on the NJ side
  • We’ll be starting our walk from the PA side so you’ll want to walk across the bridge to meet us.
  • We’ll probably start walking from the PA side about 10:25 or 12:25

Wearing Apparel

• Wear a windbreaker (raingear if the weather threatens)
  • The bridge is always markedly cooler and windier than on the ground
• Wear flat shoes – heels will be a problem on some of the sidewalks.

Safety

• The bridge is a dangerous place, particularly if you lean into the traffic lanes – it’s extraordinarily tight.
• LISTEN TO THE SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS WHEN WE’RE THERE

Lab 3 pre-submission notes

Hi everyone,

Just a few notes on things that came up during lab on Friday:

a) When referencing the lecture slide #39 for calculations, make sure you're using the "Spring 2012/13" lecture, and not the "Fall 2012/13" lecture, which was posted on Blackboard earlier in the week.

b) Engineering notation in Excel.  Please note the difference between engineering notation and scientific notation - the exponent in engineering notation should be +/- 0, 3, or 6.  In Excel, you can still format your cells to be in engineering notation.  Go to Format Cells, custom, and choose ##0.0E+0 from the menu (or type it in yourself).  Here's an example of how numbers should look in each notation:

Number	Engineering	Scientific
1	1.0E+0	1.00E+00
10	10.0E+0	1.00E+01
100	100.0E+0	1.00E+02
1000	1.0E+3	1.00E+03
10000	10.0E+3	1.00E+04
100000	100.0E+3	1.00E+05
1000000	1.0E+6	1.00E+06
10000000	10.0E+6	1.00E+07
100000000	100.0E+6	1.00E+08
1000000000	1.0E+9	1.00E+09

c) Please note that an Excel file of your graded lab has been uploaded to Blackboard, you'll get this feedback for each lab.

Have a good weekend!
-Anita

Lab 3 Question

Here's a good question for everyone:

Q:      In lab three, we are given values for certain variables. It is noted that the properties are for each pier leg individually. Will this fact affect any calculations? For example, Question 3 asks for the potential energy on both pier legs, but property values for k is given for one pier leg. Question 4 also mentions both pier legs.

A:     Review Prof. Dasaro’s lecture to determine whether the two legs act independently or together.

         Assume that the properties of each pier leg are the same.

Good luck and see you all on Friday!

Kim

Lab 1 general response

Hey everyone,

Sorry that these labs are taking longer than expected to grade, but we're most of the way through, so here's a few notes from the first set of grading:

1) The purpose of the memo is not to evaluate the quality of the lab but to speak clearly about what work was done.  Think of if you were working somewhere and your boss came up to you at the end of the week and asks "Why should I pay you this week?  What was done?"  Remember to talk about all the pieces of the sticky note, that is our rubric.  Also remember to change the to/from headers and be professional: do NOT speak in the first person, and do NOT use casual tone.

2) Read ALL directions, especially the yellow sticky note. Rounding and formatting points add up very quickly.

3) Please ask questions when you have them.  Many people mentioned not understanding concepts, but I didn't get any emails to that effect.  The other side of that is being prepared for lab.  Even just going through the lab, reading the directions, and looking up words you don't know before you arrive on Friday can be really helpful.

4) As Prof. Mitchell mentioned in class, your name and date should be in the spaces provided on EVERY tab.  Additionally, it helps us out a lot if you put your last name in the title of the document when you upload it.

Also: tomorrow is Drexel Research Day!  Check out http://www.drexelresearchday.com/ for more info.  Its a great way to explore the field you've chosen or look for a new one!

Happy Wednesday!

-Anita

Effective Stress Calculations–Assistance

I’ve added to the files associated with the Week-2 lab a copy of the lecture notes by Dr. Sjoblom from this fall.  The slides on p36-43 provide information about the equation and methods for calculating the effective stress.  This may help anyone who has questions about the rationale for the lab.

The earlier slides have some neat photos of soils-related conditions.

10:00 Fridays - Time for Lab Submissions

ALL lab submissions for both sections are due by 10:00 the Friday following the lab (except the last one).  For this first week we’ll not deduct for lateness, but we will in future.

Week 2 Discussion Grading Feedback

Hello all and happy week 2.

After grading all of the discussion posts for the week 2 discussion assignment (Geotechnical Engineering), I wanted to give some feedback so improvements can be made over the next discussion posts.

Overall, the content and detail of the discussion posts were great, so I applaud your hard work with finding interesting articles to research.  However, the majority of students were missing some items we are looking for in the discussion posts.I was very lenient on the grades since this was your first discussion grade, and next week I won't be as nice.  Please look below at my findings to improve your grade moving forward.

• Reminder to reply to 3 or more student posts in the discussion thread per week.  This can be on a similar topic or something completely different to your major or topic you wrote about.  I would prefer if you would reply directly to the student's post, but if you want to embed your comments within your own discussion post at the end, that will suffice too.
• Be conscious of the layout of your discussion  post.  Try to treat these posts as mini-engineering reports.  This means that the font, size and color of the text should be the same throughout the post.  I would encourage everyone to use the grading requirements (Most Interesting, Most Confusing, Special Question, Response to Others (if placing within post)) as headings to organize your thoughts better.  This will help you check off the graded items, as well as help the grader find exactly what you were trying to write about in a clear method.  As aspiring engineers, project managers, or business leaders, you must be able to write clear and effectively with proper formatting. 
• Reminder to write about the special question as a supplement to your discussion post.  This past week, the special topic was similar to the typical expectations of a discussion post (Most interesting about the topic), but keep in mind that following weeks special questions are different and I will be looking for you to write about them.

Keep up the hard work and as always, let me know if you have any questions.

-Taylor Derr

How to Round in Excel

Question

I'm having trouble with rounding numbers in significant figures.
I was trying to round to 2 significant figures maintaining the equations I used, but I could not find way to do that.
Can I just get the numbers and round it myself?
But this way I wouldn't be able to show how I got the answers.

 

Answer

Excel help is pretty good on this.  On the PC the first answer when I searched (F1) for “rounding” the first article that appeared has extensive help on how to achieve multiple types of rounding.  that same article is available in this link.

Lab 1 pre-submission comments

Hi everyone,

Just a few comments that came up on Friday during lab.  Please note that:

1) Lab is due on Friday by the start of your section.  Submission is online
2) You should format your title for submission as "Lastname_labname.xls" so mine would be something like "Johnson_Lab1.xls" or "Johnson_CAEEcalcs.xls"
3) Read ALL directions; using named variables and the appropriate significant figures are important (use scientific notation where necessary)
4) Question 4: note that "Letters in last name" is used in later fields, so you and your friend with a different last name will get different answers - that's okay
5) Question 4: Cell C14 should be in Lb
6) If you have questions, feel free to contact Kim or myself, but if there is an issue involving lab attendance, please email both of us, as we might switch sections some days.
7) Include "CAEE 201" in the title of any emails

Thanks, and good luck!

Number of Bridges by Owner, 1996-2006

Question #6 on the first lab requires you to find some data on the number of brdiges by different owner types over a period of years.  There is a reference to the source given in the question instructions, but since the lab was originally prepared the link has changed.

This link goes to the necessary table.

I updated the Excel spreadsheet at 6:30PM on 4/2/2013 so you may not need this post.

Anita Johnson, TA

Hi and welcome to CAEE 201.  I'm a 1st year Environmental Engineering PhD student and I'll be your other TA for the quarter.  I completed my bachelor's at UC San Diego, and then spent a few years working at Scripps Institution of Oceanography studying atmospheric aerosols.  My current research is very similar, I work on developing air sampling instrumentation and performing chamber experiments with outdoor air pollutants.  I also do some work with indoor air quality in collaboration with architectural engineers to improve the health of building occupants.  The more time I spend at Drexel, the more I see the connections between civil, architectural, and environmental engineering.  I believe this course is a great way to combine the three areas of study while highlighting the differences between them.

I'm a native Californian; I stereotypically wear flip-flops all year long and use "dude" entirely too often.  I'm a huge San Francisco Giants fan, and am very excited for the new season.

Feel free to contact me at amj98@drexel.edu or I have virtual office hours at my gchat, AnitaJtheTA.  I'm only on when I'm available to answer questions, so if you see me on, feel free to ask!  I try to be online before deadlines, so probably Sunday and Thursday evenings for now.  I'll let you know here if I make a more concrete commitment to certain hours.

Kimberlee Marcellus, TA

Hi Everyone, and welcome to CAEE 201.  I'm happy to be a part of this class and look forward to working with all of you.  I'm a third year Civil Engineering PhD candidate, and my research interests focus on construction waste materials management in the built environment using the tools of Industrial Ecology.  This past summer I spent 10 weeks in Nagoya University in Japan on an NSF fellowship conducting a study utilizing Graphical Information Systems (GIS) to determine waste flows that would be generated by the buildings in University City.

I graduated from Drexel with a bachelor and master degree in Civil Engineering.  I worked in industry for 13 years a project manager for a commercial construction company, focusing on sustainable construction.  I'm from the suburbs of Philadelphia and have studied and worked in industry here locally.  Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineers play a strong role in building the systems that help our cities grow and breathe!

You have chosen a great department with strong alumni ties to local industry, please feel free to contact me by email at st93mvl8@drexel.edu, or schedule an appointment to meet with me.  Good luck!

About the Grader - Taylor Derr

Welcome all to CAEE-201!  For the spring term, I (Taylor Derr) will be one of the graders for the course.  I am currently a 5 year undergraduate senior, majoring in Architectural Engineering with a structural concentration.  This course is a great introduction to things you may be studying in the next couple years here at Drexel.  For those who are yet undecided of where you want to go with your career, this course helps expose you to all aspects of civil, architectural and environmental engineering.  I was in your position three years ago, and I can honestly say that CAEE-201 helped solidify my choice to become a structural engineer.  If you have any questions in the course, or what you can expect for courses down the road, feel free to email me at ted36@drexel.edu.  I'd be happy to help!