First principles for the field
Start from the thing that must be true.
A primer names every technical word once, asks you to commit your model, then closes on the record that would prove the work was done. It will not invent this plant’s megawatts or sheet numbers.
This plant
All 76 questionsIslanded, behind-the-meter, simple-cycle, computing load. Start at Plant identity if the three facts are not yet in your head. Physics first. Then the document that would prove it.
Start here
Plant identity
Islanded, behind-the-meter, computing load. Every unusual drawing traces to those three.
09
The machine
Brayton cycle, back-work, derate, Wobbe, SCR on hot exhaust. A turbine is not 'a turbine.'
09
The island
Frequency is shaft speed. Fault current decays. 51V, droop, black start, sync.
08
Piping and BOP
Pipe class literacy, B31.1, WPS/PQR/WPQ, pickling, nozzle loads, hydro extent.
08
Civil and foundations
Expansive clay, drilled piers, hot-weather concrete, PEMB setting-plan loop.
08
Controls and loops
P&ID as a narrative. Loop check ≠ functional test ≠ logic test. Two overspeeds.
08
Construction execution
IFC versus permit set. RFI as design-intent. Hold versus witness. Diagrammatic drawings.
08
Commissioning
Area to system. Six milestones. Lube-oil flush as schedule risk. Real trips, not simulated.
06
Operations
Part-load heat rate versus spinning reserve. Surge. Hours versus starts. Peak demand plus peak ambient.
06
Codes and permits
B31.1 versus B31.3. NFPA 56 before gas. PSD/BACT. Aqueous ammonia thresholds. IEEE literacy.
The shop floor
All 120 questionsElectricity, piping, pumps, switchgear. The physics the plant sits on, asked the way a millwright asks it.
18
Electricity
Charge, a closed loop, energy per charge, and a fault path that is not a magical sink.
16
Mechanical piping
Pressure is force on an area. Flow is volume per time. They are not the same word.
15
Pumps
A pump adds energy. It does not suck. Atmosphere pushes. Cavitation is boiling.
13
Switchgear
Opening a circuit means stretching and cooling an arc that wants to keep conducting.
14
Engines
A heat engine: squeeze a mixture, burn it, let the expansion push, throw the leftovers out.
12
Air compressors
Work squeezed into a gas becomes heat. Water in the lines is that air cooling down.
16
Network and controls
Measure, compare to what you wanted, move an actuator. Current loops survive long wire.
16
Owner's-rep
You do not swing the wrench. You decide whether the work happened — from a record, not a feeling.
How a primer reads
The methodThree finished examples of the stack — purpose, law, instance, then vocabulary. Instant. Use them to see the page before you wait on a new question.
Flight
How do planes fly?
A plane stays up because its wings continuously throw air downward, and the air pushes the wings upward with equal force — hard enough to cancel the plane's weight.
Construction
What to look for in a rebar pour
A rebar pour is the last moment you can see whether steel is sitting where tension will try to tear the concrete apart — so you check position, cover, cleanliness, and the path the wet concrete will take, for reasons that come from how the two materials share load.
Light
Why is the sky blue?
The sky is blue because sunlight is a mix of colors, air molecules scatter the shorter (bluer) waves much more than the longer (redder) ones, and your eyes, looking away from the sun, collect that scattered blue from every direction.