engineering

James Amrhein

James Amrhein is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand James Amrhein rather than just read about it. In short: James E. Amrhein was an American civil engineer and structural engineer who served as the executive director of the Masonry Institute of America as such he wrote most of the handbooks on masonry engineering, installation, and inspection.

Key takeaways

James Amrhein belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect James Amrhein to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of James Amrhein from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

James E. Amrhein was an American civil engineer and structural engineer who served as the executive director of the Masonry Institute of America as such he wrote most of the handbooks on masonry engineering, installation, and inspection.

Biography

Amrhein was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 5, 1923 to Joseph and Kunigunda Amrhein and graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School before earning his BCE at Manhattan College and his MCE at Columbia University, graduating as a member of Tau Beta Pi and Chi Epsilon. During World War II Amrhein was a Lieutenant in the Seabees seeing service in Iwo Jima as well as during the occupation of Japan. He would continue to serve through the Korean War, where he worked to construct bases at Cubi Point and Subic Bay in the Philippines. He was a member of the Structural Engineers Association of Southern California, the SEAOC College of Fellows, was the founder of the Masonry Society, as well as being a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Concrete Institute and the International Code Council while also serving for 6 years on the Long Beach planning and zoning commission. From 1989 to 1990 Amrhein served as the President the Masonry Institute of America having been the executive director for the prior 26 years, as such he served as co-chair for the first North American Masonry Conference. Amrhein worked as a supervising structural engineer at the Portland Cement Association before joining the Masonry Institute of America, winning the Steven B. Barnes Award for his research on “Tall Slender Wall Performance.” He was also a professor at the California State University at Long Beach from 1961 to 1988.

Personal life James was married to Laurette Amrhein for 56 years, the couple had 4 children: Christopher, a professor of soil and environmental science at the University of California Riverside, Michele a chemical engineer, Mark a geotechnical engineer, and Bruce a biomedical engineer. He died on May 22, 2011 and is buried in the Riverside National Cemetery.

Bibliography Amrhein wrote 10 books and 32 technical reports, including:

Masonry Design Manual. 3rd Edition (January 1979) Reinforced masonry engineering handbook: Clay and concrete masonry (January 1983) ISBN 0-940116-05-7 Marble and Stone Slab Veneer (January 1989) ISBN 0-940116-15-4 Reinforced Grouted Brick Masonry (January 1991) ISBN 0-940116-19-7 Masonry Veneer (January 1994) ISBN 0-940116-23-5 Masonry Codes and Specifications, 1994 (January 1994) ISBN 0-940116-11-1 Tall slender walls: Estimating curves for area of steel for reinforced masonry (January 1994) ISBN 0-940116-26-X Residential Masonry Fireplace and Chimney Handbook (January 1995) ISBN 0-940116-29-4 Reinforcing steel in masonry: Details, construction, specifications (January 1999) ISBN 0-940116-33-2 Reinforced Concrete Masonry Construction Inspector's Handbook, 6th Edition (January 2006) ISBN 0-940116-47-2

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with James Amrhein

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what James Amrhein claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to James Amrhein before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about James Amrhein ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of James Amrhein

In research: James Amrhein appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses James Amrhein in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: James Amrhein is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1923 births, 2011 deaths, American civil engineers, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for James Amrhein outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study James Amrhein in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what James Amrhein means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain James Amrhein out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is James Amrhein in simple terms?

Why does James Amrhein matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study James Amrhein?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on James Amrhein.