USA, Florida Professional Engineer

There are existing metric standards for bar size designations and pipe sizing designations. These should be used. As a matter of fact many reinforcing bar supplies are in metric standard and just conform to or exceed the US designation standard. As a Professional Civil Engineer or a Contractor you would already be extremely familiar with the reinforcement designation standards, and should have some familiarity with metric designation standards for water pipes. For example a #3 rebar is approximately equivalent to a no. 10 metric bar by ASTM standard.

A reputable contractor will be able to make any necessary conversions.

CLEARLY indicate units of measure in all plans and all pertinent correspondence.

It is probably better to use the system requested by the client, since imperial units are only really used in the US and even then inconsistently. Reputable contractors and engineers in the Us will know both systems, outside of the US where only metric units are used, they may have no knowledge basis. In essence it would be like writing a specification in mandarin for an client in minnesota who requested english, versus writing a specification in english for a undesignated client in hong kong.

Thank you. I mis-read the original post. Agree;d a conversion TO metric would be advisable.

As for Mandarin to Minnesota......that's a bit dramatic an analogy for me. It does get the point across though.

I DO NOT KNOW THE METRIC BUT IF YOU NEED METRIC SIZING IN TANKS OIL STORAGE SO TO SPEAK LOOK IN MY WEB PG WWW.DORNTANKS.COM WE HAVE SOME METRIC SIZES ON SOME THINGS

you need to get more information because in some countries( metric syst.) you are able to use usa syst. for steel bars and plumbing sizes. nelson corzo ------------------- ferlita engineering tampa/fl. nelson@ferlita-engineering.com

However, if a client specifically requested that the plans be prepared in metric system units, he should prepare the plans in metric system units. We are not talking about a major change, and since most universities teach in and many US and States agencies require metric system units, and the NCEES tests have been predominantly in metric system units for the last 15 years, he should be familiar with them as a licensed professional engineer.

Follow the Facilities construction data book available in sage,