Upcoming Seminars
Waterfront Facility Inspection & Rehabilitation Engineering Design
April 30, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Bill Dubbs
More information coming soon!
Sustainability and the Structural Engineer
May 07, 2025 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Sara Means
Structural materials such as steel and concrete account for more than 10% of the global carbon emissions, and structural engineers have a responsibility to reduce these carbon emissions in the built environment. This presentation will give an introduction to embodied carbon. What is embodied carbon, how do you calculate it, and how do you reduce it? We will discuss which materials are most sustainable and how to reduce embodied carbon in your projects. We will also give an overview of a simple Life Cycle Assessment.
Past Seminars
7
The Structural Innovations of Mercedes-Benz Stadium
Speaker: Brendan Walsh, Buro Happold Engineering
The multi-purpose Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the new home of the Atlanta Falcons (NFL) and Atlanta United (MLS) accommodates 80,000 fans and occupies almost two million square feet near downtown Atlanta. Costing approximately $1.5 billion to construct, the stadium contains many innovative design features including an unprecedented 8-panel cantilevered retractable roof, one of the largest scoreboards in sports, the longest two-way structure in the US, the first use of single skin ETFE in the US, and the first LEED Platinum credential for an NFL stadium.
11
Effects of Thermal Perturbations on the Equilibrium of the Subsurface
Speaker: Professor Alessandro Rotta Loria
Geomaterials, geostructures and geosystems are subjected to continuous thermal perturbations. In the context of geoenergy exploitations that involve the harvesting or storage of thermal energy from or in the subsurface, these perturbations vary and last from seconds to decades. Complex and coupled phenomena are associated with the previous perturbations, such as heat transfer, mass transfer and deformation.
2
Structural and Geotechnical Engineering Failure Investigations and Legal Disputes
Speaker: Dr. Christine Beyzaei and Dr. Ezra Jampole
In an ideal world, an engineer’s involvement in a structure would end after construction is finished. But the reality is that many structures are subject to costly litigation or arbitration because of allegations of inadequate design or performance. Additionally, when a structure is subjected to extreme loading, insurance disputes arise regarding the source of damage and who is responsible. This talk will review the types of legal disputes that structural engineers can find themselves in and how expert witnesses are used to sort through the issues and provide independent opinions.
An Introduction to ASCE41-17: Seismic Evaluation and Retrofit of Existing Buildings
February 26, 2020 - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Reza Moradi
ASCE41-17 is a current US standard for seismic evaluation and retrofitting of existing buildings. Performance based method is used in ASCE 41 which is different in a number of ways from prescriptive method used in ASCE 7. In this presentation, the main differences between performance bases and prescriptive methods are discussed. Also, an overview of ASCE 41-17 including the specification in its three tiers and methodologies in its linear and nonlinear analysis approach is presented.
Numerical Modeling of Earthquake-Induced Ground Deformations
April 10, 2019 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Professor Katerina Ziotopoulou
Non-linear dynamic analyses (NDAs) are widely used in engineering practice to evaluate the seismic performance of geotechnical structures affected by liquefaction or cyclic softening.
Full-Scale Five-Story Building Shake Table Test
April 03, 2019 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Michelle Chen
Intense earthquake ground motions can be devastating to communities, and can lead to years and even decades of recovery. It is observed in recent earthquakes that nonstructural components, which make up a large part of a building’s cost, are vulnerable to seismic damage.
Materials and Processing for Aerostructures, Emerging Technologies and Future Needs
April 01, 2019 - 12:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Teresa Kruckenberg
This presentation will cover the conventional materials, processing and design applications for aerostructures such as nacelles and flight control surfaces. Examples of emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing, nanomaterials, prognostic health management, ultra-
Test-Based Uncertainty Quantification and Propagation Using Hurty/Craig-Bampton Substructure Representations
March 13, 2019 - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Daniel C. Kammer
This work presents a method for uncertainty propagation that is consistent with the “building-block approach” in which components of a system are tested and validated individually instead of an integrated vehicle test and validation being performed.
Analyze Uncertainties Associated with GMPE for PSHA
March 11, 2019 - 1:00 pm
Speaker: Dr. Chin-Hsiung Loh
In probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA), the standard practice is to se¬lect a set of appropriate ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) and assign weights on the logic tree, especially for regions where strong motion data are sparse and where no indigenous GMPE exists.
Uncertainty Quantification of Complex Systems via Multi-fidelity Modeling
March 04, 2019 - 11:00 am
Speaker: Professor Alireza Doostan
Realistic analysis and design optimization of complex engineering systems require not only a fine understanding and modeling of the underlying physics and their interactions but also recognition of intrinsic uncertainties and their influences on the quantities of interest.