Tips Archives - Being Brunel
More Engineering with Excel
May 14, 2016 4
The one thing that unites all engineers across the globe is a love of Excel. In fact, it’s more than a love, it’s an obsession- the things I’ve seen some engineers achieve with Excel…Read More
Getting Chartered: The Last 5%
July 16, 2015
If you’re working in a design office (like me), then you will likely have heard the old adage that it’s the last 5% of the work that takes 90% of the time. Achieving chartered status with the Institution of Civil…Read More
Terry Pratchett
March 16, 2015 5
I doubt it’ll come as a surprise to anyone (what with the title of the post an’ all), but I’m a fairly massive Terry Pratchett fan- in fact, for those of you who have been paying attention these last few years, there’s…Read More
Maths In The Head
July 13, 2014 1
It turns out there is one thing that everyone knows about engineers: We Do Maths. I’ve lost count of the amount of times friends have simply deferred any arthritic to my good-self because “you’re an…Read More
Visualising Your Engineering Niche
May 13, 2014 4
While the math and the software always came fairly easy to me, it wasn’t long into my career that I noticed something was wrong- I didn’t like design. It came to me clearly and soundly. Whenever…Read More
Fermi Estimates Preliminary Design
February 23, 2014 4
Enrico Fermi was a physicist who was renowned for making good approximations with no actual data, and a Fermi estimate is a method for making a ball-park guess that might actually be right…Read More
Starting Out With Being Brunel
October 25, 2013 1
As I’m sure some of you have sussed, the article that should have been here on Monday this week is taking considerably longer than usual. Reluctant as I am to skip a week or rush it through; I’ve, instead, been … Read More
The Visual Guide to the Eurocodes
September 2, 2013 1
The best I can manage is a recommendation: The Visual Guide to the Eurocodes Supporting Documentation. This free (to CIS subscribers) PDF not only lists, but includes weblinks…Read More
reddit: Ask Engineers
July 1, 2013
For each day of this week I’ll pick-up, promote and try to answer a reddit engineering question from the /r/AskEngineers subreddit. If you think you know the answer, follow the link and share your 2 cents (or pence…).Read More
Fundamentals: Plane Stress and Strain
May 20, 2013 1
What do Daniel Shenton and Civil Engineers have in common? They both believe that the world is flat. In the case of Mr Shenton, it’s because he’s belligerently antiquated; but for engineers it’s because working in two…Read More
