The structural engineering design section within the engineering department of a regional natural gas corporation has developed procedures for the detailed design of laying down underground natural gas pipelines. A project is recently approved for installing a 500 mile (2,640,000 feet) pipeline in Western PA. The estimated number of engineering hours needed to accomplish the detailed design of the first 10 mile section of this project is 126 hours. Assuming a 95% learning curve:
(a) What is your estimate of the number of engineering hours needed for the detailed design of the 8th 10-mile section of the project?
(b) What is your estimate of the number of engineering hours needed for the detailed design of the last 10-mile section of the project?
(c) What is your estimate of the average number of engineering hours needed for the detailed design of the first five 10-mile sections?
(d) What is your estimate of the number of engineering hours needed for the detailed design of the first half of the project?
(e) What is your estimate of the total number of engineering hours needed for the detailed design of the entire project?