Structural engineers often are asked to judge the adequacy of a beam or column under present loads or potential loads of a contemplated modification. This typically requires field measurements and a trip to the office to check references. Now, there is an Android app for making quick calls on the spot.
Kip Ping, president of Pinnacle Engineering, Cincinnati, Ohio, developed the app, which is called I-Search. It is offered by Structurx LLC, a company Ping set up to create the "useful, intuitive" structural-engineering software that he says he has developed as a hobby since the late 1980s. Previous titles were for only in-house use. This product, he says, is the "first real piece of software that's out there for people to use."