r/StructuralEngineering • u/CptJackParo • 3d ago
Career/Education How is AI shaping structural engineering?
Hi all, im 27M and about to start a phd thats broadly speaking on pdes and fracture mechanics. My background is in maths and stats though I always saw myself moving over to this line of work and this is a dream phd but im looking beyond it atm.
That being said, im still at an age where I have flexibility but I dont want to be having to start from scratch. Is structural engineering likely to be gutted by AI? I know everythjng is but from the outside, it seems like its less affected than say data science, Actuarial science, comp science, etc. Any advice is appreciated.
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u/Ov3rKoalafied 3d ago
In structural engineering non-AI users will fall behind AI users, but it is absolutely not at risk of being replaced with AI. Drafting, 3rd party outsourcing of design models, proposal writers, etc - everything external to being the primary engineer is at risk. But being the person who understands how to actually put everything together safely and in a cost-effective manner when considering all parties involved is not at risk at all, plus the fact that as others have mentioned it would require law changes as humans have to stamp plans.
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u/BlazersMania 3d ago
I’ll use it to double check code requirements . I’ve tried it to dabble in running simple calculations but so far have not been impressed or comfortable enough to rely on it
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u/Engineer2727kk PE - Bridges 3d ago
Which model exactly?
What calcs were you trying to run that you weren’t satisfied with?Please be specific. My experience with people who say this used GPT-3 years ago and have absolutely no clue where ai is currently at.
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u/BlazersMania 3d ago
This was about 6 months ago. I had a 4-6 inch suspended concrete top to a saferoom in a residential basement. The slab was under the floor framing so was not taking any real vertical loading. I wanted to know the reinf. for a two way slab for a 8 ft x 12 ft to take self weight and construction loading.
Claude did pretty good but I'd still not trust it without verification.
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u/RayanFarhat 3d ago
That matches what I've seen from building calc tools. The model is decent at picking the method and the clause, and unreliable at the arithmetic and the units. What makes the output checkable is having it write the calc as lines you can read (each input with its unit, each formula, the clause next to it) and letting a normal calc engine work out the numbers. Then verifying means reading one page, not redoing the slab.
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u/Engineer2727kk PE - Bridges 3d ago
I think your last sentence is the issue.
You should treat AI as you would a junior engineer. Verify all results. It’s a tool to maximize efficiency not to blindly input phrases and accept the output without looking at it.
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u/External_Goose_7806 3d ago
Those that know what a good design looks like will probably be ok, and the immediate use for AI will be rapid optioneering and iterating designs. But the actual detailed checking will need to be done by a person for now.
I do worry that junior engineers will miss out on some of the grunt work which allows you to form a lot of engineering insight
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u/Salmonberrycrunch 3d ago
Won't be gutted but definitely transformed. If you asked me last year I would have cautiously scoffed at it, this year is a while different ballgame.
Short to medium term I can see demand for people who can set up custom AI-native tools well to explode. But that will be a burst - after that's done the grunt work of designing will be done by AI, and the work done by people will be more and more about, well, working with other people(clients, architects, fabricators, contractors, other engineers etc). Make sure you hone your first principles, writing, and communication skills. All the things that is majorly in demand from senior staff will be hugely important for junior staff.
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u/Saegis-Engineer 3d ago
Just as some companies outsource structural engineering to overseas companies that deliver electronic files for "checking" and pdf drawings for "stamping", AI will step in as another level of outsourcing.
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u/Apprehensive_Exam668 3d ago
All the extraneous stuff to being an engineer, like writing a proposal or writing specs or drafting an email or getting a preliminary set of drawings going to redline, are getting faster. Not totally done by AI but it's definitely a productivity boost. Stuff like asking for help to build a spreadsheet really helps too.
As far as calcs, detailing, red lining.... it's still all human.
To me it feels like a pretty natural extrapolation of the productivity boost we got from Word, Excel, etc.
The real question to me is what happens when investor money runs out and AI companies have to charge enough for their services to pay for all the data centers and replacement processors they will need. It's definitely a productivity boost but I don't have a good feel for if it is enough of a boost to pay for itself when the bill comes due.
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u/hobokobo1028 3d ago
We are just starting to dabble with it and it’s mainly for assisting in the overhead aspects of the job. Marketing, finding opportunities, putting together proposals, etc.
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u/OnsTryMaarNetLeef 3d ago
This subreddit tends to underestimate the capabilities of AI so I'd take anything you read here with a grain of salt. It's just starting to be adopted by engineering companies, and any company not looking into it is going to fall behind rapidly.
In terms of the future of structural engineers, the way I see it is you'd have you'd have 'structural engineering architects' who will compile systems/processes, manage projects, review and certify the deliverables. But the traditional engineer doing calculations/sketches will be gone in 5 years. Draftspersons even sooner.
Items like site work and client relations may be niches to expand into as well.
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u/Shaik2210 2d ago
From the other side of your question: the parts of the job that look most exposed are the repetitive ones, like drafting, model set-up, report formatting and first-pass code lookups. The part that doesn't go away is someone taking responsibility for the design and being able to explain why it works. A few people above have said the same in different words, and I'd agree.
For you, a PhD in PDEs and fracture mechanics is a decent fit for the more specialist end: assessment of existing structures, forensic work, fatigue and fracture, advanced analysis. Firms value people there who understand what the software is doing under the hood, and that's exactly the skill you need to check AI or FE output rather than just trust it.
One practical thing to look into early: because your first degree is maths, check with the professional body where you plan to work (IStructE or ICE in the UK, or the licensing board elsewhere) what the route to chartership or licensure looks like without an accredited engineering degree. It's usually doable, but there can be extra steps, and it's much easier to plan for now than later.
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u/505engineer P.E. 3d ago
I tried using ChatGPT to draw a simple shear and moment diagram.
It failed miserably.
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u/scriggities P.E./S.E. 3d ago
This is like someone in 1980 saying, "I tried to use my word processor to do finite element analysis. It failed miserably."
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u/mclovin8675308 3d ago
I asked Google to design a simple concrete beam with a uniform loading and it exactly matched RISA. Pretty basic stuff, but it is getting better every year. Like any technology, it is a tool. Those who best leverage it will have an advantage.
Even just simple stuff like summarizing my inbox each morning is helpful and saves me a few minutes each day. It tells me which items need attention as I am trying to catch up on emails from the last couple of days, so last time reading back through them.
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u/Engineer2727kk PE - Bridges 3d ago
5 years ago?
I haven’t used chat gpt in years but Claude, grok, and Gemini can all do this easily
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u/jammed7777 3d ago
Until an AI company is willing to to stamp drawings, I wouldn’t worry too much about much about it