Calculation Sets

Engineering calculation sets comprise the original work sheets produced in the course of a project. These calculations include such things as mass and energy balances, experimental tests, sizing of equipment items, design of components, and estimation of economics. When completed, these calculations remain as the permanent record of how the engineers on the project arrived at the final project report or design. If properly organized, these calculations can be followed and understood by any competent engineer trained in the same discipline.

Definition

For convenience, a calculation set is defined as a set of calculations which are organized as a unit and can stand alone. Each engineer defines what encompasses a calculation set for the problem at hand. In some cases a set is concerned with parts of the process and in other cases a set is for a single item of equipment or part of a process. A calculation set appears wherever the subsection Calculations appears in a Project Notebook/File/Report outline.

The Need for Calculations - Reviews

The needs to review calculations are many. During reviews of experimental projects, questions as to the experimental conditions and other details.  During patent applications, to determine if the claims are valid.  During design, questions arise which must be answered concerning calculations previously made. During startup, problems may arise which require consulting the calculations before arriving at a course of action. After startup, there may be the need to modify the plant to suit some new objective, and again the calculations are needed. Later on, the decision may be made to duplicate the existing facility, or scale it up, or design one similar to it, and the calculations will eliminate the need for doing this work over again.

The Need for Organized Calculations

In any of these cases, the calculations must be well organized in order for someone else (and even the originator) to follow and understand them. There is nothing more irritating and frustrating than having to review poorly organized definitions, assumptions, references, computations, and conclusions.

Guides and Specifications

Each calculation set should be self-explanatory, able to stand alone, and meet the criteria given in the following documents:

• Calculation Set Format
• Calculation Set Specifications
• Calculation Set Checklist