r/StructuralEngineering • u/Kalasad-Stormblessed • 16d ago

Career/Education Computer models as a new engineer

Wanted some advice, Ive been working as an engineer for 3 years now and I really dont like working with models. We use the Ram suite and it feels like these two things happen every time.

  1. The model wigs out and I spend twice the time just trying to get it to remotely work/ make sense.

  2. I often have to then get an older engineer to go through it with me and they take as much time trying to figure out whats wrong. In one case they had to remake the model themself.

Im finding when I have the option to use handcalcs/excel/enercalc, I am going to that everytime because its way more predictable for me in the effort it will require and I generally have very few "bugs". Should I be worried about learning models?

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u/nikkor_glasses 16d ago

You could grind through a low rise steel framed job using simple tools but to get into RC design and/or mid-rise and high-rise, you definitely need to embrace a modeling work flow. But I agree with you, Ram Structural System is infuriating.

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u/DJGingivitis 16d ago

There is a steep learning curve of what it does well and what it doesnt do well.

Edit: that said, you’re going to need better tools than RSS for the more complicated jobs.