Top 100 Structural Engineering Interview Questions (answers)

Read the 100 most frequently asked structural engineering interview questions and answers. It is ideal in preparing freshers and experienced civil engineers toward employment. Structural engineering is among the fundamental areas in civil engineering, which deals with analysis, design and construction of structures that have to endure numerous forces. Be it a fresher or an aged engineer reading this article and preparing to appear in the interview, having a command over frequently asked structural engineering questions is imperative.

100 Structural Engineering interview questions with answers

1. What does structural engineering mean?
   Structural engineering refers to a subset of civil engineering, which is involved with the design and evaluation of buildings, bridges in addition to the towers and dams so that they are safe and stable in addition to being able to support the loads, which have to be imposed on them.
2. Which are the main loads of structure design?
   Dead Load, Live Load, Wind Load, Earthquake Load, Snow Load, Temperature Load, Impact Load
3. What is factor of safety?
   A margin of safety is achieved by considering the factor of safety which is the ratio between the maximum and the intended design load.
4. What does it mean by moment of inertia?
   It is a geometrical characteristic that represents the reaction against the bend of a cross-section which is represented as I, in mm 4.
5. What is shear force?
   Shear force is an internal action which acts parallelepipedally to the cross-section of structural element.
6. What is a bending moment?
   Bending moment is the internal moment creating the bending in a structural element, it is measured in kNm.
7. What then is a fixed beam?
   A fixed beam has both ends restrained thus no movement will occur other than a straight line.
8. What is simple supported beam?
   It is a beam with moment resistance null and supported at both of its extremes and permits rotation.
9. What is a cantilever?
   A pivot and beam at one end, the other end is open.
10. What are structural supports?
    Fixed support, Pinned support, Roller support, Hinge support

structural engineering interview questions: Materials and Properties

11. What is steel modulus of elasticity?
    About 200 GPa or 2 x 100000 N/mm 2.
12. Why would structural engineers use steel?
    It is scored because of its high tensile strength, ductility and predictable stress-strain characteristics.
13. What does Poisson Ratio mean?
    It is the ratio of the lateral strain to the longitudinal strain usually having a value of 0.3 in steel.
14. So what is creep?
    Weakness during continuous stress.
15. What does the word shrinkage mean?
    Shrinking caused by loss of moisture principally in concrete.

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Interview questions on structural engineering: Concrete Technology

16. It is the grade of concrete.
    It denotes the strength, e.g. M20 is strength of 20 MPa (20 Megapascal) after 28 days.
17. What is water-cement ratio?
    The weight ratio of water to cement that influences strength and the workability.
18. What is curing?
    Conservation of moisture in concrete so that it may hydrate and gain strength.
19. What is slump test?
    It is a measure of concrete workability.
20. What does segregation mean in concrete?
    Isolation of the coarse aggregates of the mixture, lower quality.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Structural Analysis

21. What is a determinate structure?
    A building in which the internal forces are calculable by equilibrium equations only.
22. What is a statically indeterminate framework?
    One having its number of unknown forces greater than the number of equations of equilibrium.
23. What is buckling?
    Abrupt sideways bending caused by compressive longitudinal force.
24. What is Euler formula?
    Applied in the determination of buckling load of a column:
    The value of P = πEI / (KL) 2
25. What is a moment connection?
    A link that cannot rotate and conveys moment among the members.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Codes and Standards of Design

26. Answer: So just what is IS 456?
    Indian Standard construction of plain and reinforced concrete.
27. This IS 800?
    Indian Standard General construction in steel.
28. What are the reasons behind load combinations?
    To take worst case scenarios of load acting together.
29. What does a design mix ?
    Activities in proportioning the materials depending on the strength and durability.
30. What is ductility of structures?
    The notion of the structure to deform in the absence of failure.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Steel Structures

31. What is a Gusset plate?
    A plate which links beams and columns or members in trusses.
32. What role are played by a base plate?
    Redistributes the load of the column to base.
33. What is bolted connection?
    Connection by means of bolts, as being the most convenient both to assemble and to maintain.
34. What are the HSFG bolts?
    Friction Grip High Strength Bolts that supports the load by creating friction.
35. What do you understand by welding?
    Welding together materials whereby they are heated together, popular in steel buildings.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Concrete Reinforcement

36. What is the use of steel in RCC?
    It adheres well to concrete and it has close thermal expansion.
37. What is lap length?
    Length of junction between two bars no shorter than necessary to carry load.
38. So what is anchorage length?
    Rebar which is needed to transmit stress to concrete.
39. What is cover RCC?
    The gap between reinforcement, and the surface, prevents corrosion.
40. What is the length of development?
    The distance built up to full strength of a bar.

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Interview questions on structural engineering: Structural Components

41. What is column?
    A member which is mainly in compression and vertical.
42. What does a beam mean?
    A horizontal withstanding bending.
43. What is a slab?
    A flat plate of bottom or roof.
44. So what is a shear wall?
    Vertical member to overcome the lateral loads such as wind and earthquakes.
45. What is a truss?
    A triangular-based structure used to distribute the load.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Foundations

46. What is the meaning of a shallow foundation?
    Transfer loads to near surface soil e.g. spread footing).
47. What is deep foundation?
    Shifts to greater layers of soil (e.g. pile foundations).
48. What does bearing capacity of soil mean?
    The ability of soil to propose the weight of the foundation.
49. Whats settlement?
    Sinking of structure because of compression by soil.
50. What is under-reamed pile?
    One of the types of piles which has an extended base in case of expansive soils.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Engineering of earthquake and wind

51. Base isolation: What is it?
    A method towards lowering of seismic forces through isolating the building against ground shaking.
52. What is seismic zone?
    A zone, which is categorized, according to seismic activity.
53. What is means ductile detailing?
    Offering proper reinforcement to seismic performance.
54. What is wind load?
    Depending on the wind pressure, the pressure exerted lateral loads on the structure.
55. What is drift in buildings?
    Horizontal movement in a two story structure under lateral forces.

Structural Software

56. List typical architectural design programs.
    STAAD.Pro, ETABS, SAP2000, SAFE, AutoCAD, Revit
57. What is the purpose of ETABS?
    Multistorey building designing and analysis.
58. So what is SAFE?
    Slab and foundation studies and design.
59. So what is BIM?
    Building Information Modeling, also known as building information modeling, which is a representation of building information especially in digital form.
60. What is finite element method (FEM)?
    Analysis of structures by computer.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Construction Techniques

61. How is pre-stressed concrete?
    Concrete, in which stress is imposed prior to loading that opposes the applied loads.
62. What is Tensioning?
    Tension used on already hardened concrete.
63. What is shuttering?
    The temporary support to receive the concrete until it hardens.
64. So what is formwork?
    Forms that the concrete is poured into.
65. What is scaffolding?
    Scaffold constructed to hold workers and materials during the process of the construction.

On-the-Job Site Skill interview questions on civil engineering

66. What is bar bending schedule (BBS)?
    A table of specifications of cut length, shape and bending of reinforcement bars.
67. What is the way to check concrete strength on site?
    Compressive strength test by cube, or cylinder.
68. What is Concrete compaction?
    The elimination of air hollows to make it denser and stronger.
69. What is called honeycombing?
    Holes in concrete because of inadequate compacting.
70. What is the site tie of reinforcement?
    Manually or mechanically operating with small, or, binding wires.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Codes and Guidelines

71. What is a limit state design?
    Philosophy of design in which structure is safe against ultimate and service loads.
72. What are limits of serviceability?
    Such conditions include deffection, cracking, or vibration that do not affect the safety.
73. What is method of working stress?
    Earlier design practice on elastic theory and allowable stresses.
74. Partial safety factors, what are they?
    Factors to be imposed on loads and materials to enable them to be ensured safe.
75. What does detailing in drawings mean?
    To describe the dimension, shape, location and interconnections of every element.

Interview questions on structural engineering: Miscellaneous

76. What is building diaphragm?
    Lateral loads to vertical elements such as horizontal elements (e.g. slabs).
77. What is punching shear?
    Failures in shears in the slab or foundations about the column.
78. What is a tie beam?
    A beam to join footings or columns to minimize the lateral movement.
79. What is thermal expanding?
    Variation in volume with change of temperature.
80. What is beams camber?
    Counter act deflection given as upward curve.

Advanced Topics

81. What does it mean by load path?
    The path followed by loads that start at the application point to foundation.
82. What is a structural redundancy?
    More options or alternate routes to take the load in case of failure.
83. So what is progressive collapse?
    Structural member chain problem failure.
84. What is a diaphragm Action?
    Two cases where exertion by floor slabs is directed against shear walls or frames.
85. What is a torsion of beams?
    Strain of beam by eccentric loading.

Professional and Ethical

86. What are the ways of ensuring safety in design?
    They can be done through adherence to codes, application of FoS, assessment of all load cases and verification of detailing.
87. What is value engineering?
    Enhancing performance and lowering the costs without sacrificing the quality.
88. What is your strategy in managing drawing errors?
    Find, fix and discuss changes with adjustments.
89. What does QA/QC stand in structural works?
    Quality Assurance and Control to confirm that project is addressed according to specifications.
90. What do you do to keep current on the field?
    With the help of the code, seminars, journals, and permanent studying.

Interview and Behavioral

91. What do you want to be a structural engineer?
    (/Get your personal response prepared concerning your passion, skills, and goals.)
92. What is your approach to handle tight deadlines?
    Through effective organizing, scheduling and porosi plac2.
93. Write what is a problem project.
    Describe objectives of project, yours and issue resolution.
94. What are you doing to make sure you talk to other disciplines?
    Frequent meetings, well documented and BIM tools.
95. Which are your strengths as a structural engineer?
    Precision, computer skills, analytical skills, and team building.
96. What are you doing next 5 years?
    Cite the development of skills, leadership and contribution to projects.
97. What is your experience of site visit?
    Talk about inspections, audit, and check quality of the execution and drawings.
98. How about instructions that are contradictory?
    Explain to the senior engineers, reference codes and propose a sensible solution.
99. What is your philosophy of design?
    Cost effective, safe, sustainable and practical.
100. Why are you a good candidate?
     Sum up your credentials, enthusiasm and what you have to contribute to the team.

Conclusion

These are top 100 structural engineering interview questions and answers which span a great number of ideas both in theory and practicality and knowledge about behavior as well. To perfect these fresher or structural engineer interview questions will be very successful at interviewing. It is important to keep codes current and still have practical skills by keeping exposed in the software and on-site to keep up with your profession.

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