Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.

“Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.” is a core task performed by Civil Engineers. Among the occupation's 17 rated tasks, workers place it 13th by importance (#5 most important). About 71% of workers say it is relevant to their job.

This is a single occupation-specific task statement from O*NET. The figures below describe how central the task is to the job and what independent studies measure about AI and this kind of work — not a prediction that the task will be automated.

Work activities this task rolls up to

O*NET groups concrete tasks into broader work activities shared across many occupations.

• Determine resource needs of projects or operations. in Making Decisions and Solving Problems

AI exposure

The OpenAI / Eloundou “GPTs are GPTs” study rates this task E2. Exposure with tools — software built on top of a language model (not the model alone) could cut the time by at least half.

Exposure measures whether a model could meaningfully speed the task up — it is an estimate of overlap with model capabilities, not a measure of whether the work will be done by software. The study's intermediate score (β) for this task is 0.50. Automation potential label: T3.

Other tasks in this occupation

• Direct engineering activities, ensuring compliance with environmental, safety, or other governmental regulations. · importance 4.3
• Test soils or materials to determine the adequacy and strength of foundations, concrete, asphalt, or steel. · importance 4.2
• Inspect project sites to monitor progress and ensure conformance to design specifications and safety or sanitation standards. · importance 4.0
• Manage and direct the construction, operations, or maintenance activities at project site. · importance 4.0
• Plan and design transportation or hydraulic systems or structures, using computer-assisted design or drawing tools. · importance 3.9
• Provide technical advice to industrial or managerial personnel regarding design, construction, program modifications, or structural repairs. · importance 3.7
• Analyze survey reports, maps, drawings, blueprints, aerial photography, or other topographical or geologic data. · importance 3.7
• Direct or participate in surveying to lay out installations or establish reference points, grades, or elevations to guide construction. · importance 3.7
• Identify environmental risks and develop risk management strategies for civil engineering projects. · importance 3.6
• Estimate quantities and cost of materials, equipment, or labor to determine project feasibility. · importance 3.5
• Prepare or present public reports on topics such as bid proposals, deeds, environmental impact statements, or property and right-of-way descriptions. · importance 3.5
• Conduct studies of traffic patterns or environmental conditions to identify engineering problems and assess potential project impact. · importance 3.1
• Design energy-efficient or environmentally sound civil structures. · importance 3.0
• Develop or implement engineering solutions to clean up industrial accidents or other contaminated sites. · importance 2.9

See all tasks on the Civil Engineers page.

Sources for this page

Every figure above traces to a named public dataset and the exact release below — not hand-written opinion. See the full methodology for what each measure does and does not mean.

• O*NET 30.3 U.S. Department of Labor / National Center for O*NET Development
• “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130 OpenAI / academic

Data compiled June 2, 2026. Figures are estimates, not advice.

@misc{singulariki-task-147,
  title  = {Compute load and grade requirements, water flow rates, or material stress factors to determine design specifications.},
  author = {{Singulariki}},
  year   = {2026},
  note   = {O*NET 30.3; “GPTs are GPTs” (Eloundou et al.) arXiv 2303.10130. Accessed June 7, 2026},
  url    = {https://singulariki.com/tasks/task-147}
}