SEABC Young Members Group Presents:

Presentation Competition

So You Think You Can

Give A Seminar? Come out and experience the sixth annual SEABC Young Members Presentation Competition! Join us as

six young engineers each give a 10 minute presentation on a topic of their choosing. Don’t miss out on

this chance to take in what the talented young structural engineers in our community have to offer!

Competitor Presentations (see following pages for abstracts)

Amer Abu-Khajil, Structural EIT - Bush, Bohlman & Partners

Reliability Assessment of Load Testing for Concrete Buildings

Justin Brown, EIT Structural Engineer - StructureCraft Builders Inc.

T3 Minneapolis – America’s First Modern Tall Timber Building

Kyle Sullivan, MS Student at Oregon State University / structural engineer at StructureCraft Builders Inc.

Behavior of Cross-Laminated Timber Diaphragm Panel-to-Panel Connections with Self-Tapping

Screws

Hossein Bajeh-kian, M.Eng., Structural EIT

Structural Engineering through Artificial Intelligence and Visualization: a vision for the future

François Pépin, M.Sc., P.Eng., ing. Bridge Engineer - COWI North America (formerly Buckland & Taylor)

The Story of Champlain Bridge Superbeam and Modular Truss

Konstantinos Voulpiotis, EIT, Structural Engineer - StructureCraft Builders Inc.

Geeking Out With Parametric Design Tools: Freeform Wood Structures

Date: Wednesday, February 15th, 2017, Refreshments 5:30pm-6:00pm

Competition 6:00pm-9:00pm

Followed by a social gathering at the Lennox Pub

Venue: Room C100, UBC Robson Square, 800 Robson Street, Vancouver, BC

Cost: Free for members, $10 for non-members

Distinguished Guest Presenter

Paul Fast, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., P.E., FIStructE, BK Berlin/Hessen, LEED AP,

Partner, Fast + Epp

Paul Fast is the founder of Fast + Epp, a Vancouver-based structural design firm

with offices in Frankfurt, New York, Seattle and Edmonton. He is a registered engi-

neer in Canadian, American and German jurisdictions and was named an hon-

ourary member of the Architectural Institute of British Columbia, and Fellow of the

Institution of Structural Engineers in the United Kingdom. In 2013, Paul received

the highest honour awarded annually by APEGBC, the R.A. McLachlan Award.

Paul has been recognized for his unconventional use of wood and emerged a leader in architectur-

ally-exposed structures, often pushing the design envelope to create hybrids of timber, concrete

and steel. Following a Europe-wide proposal call, Fast + Epp was selected to develop concepts to

save the legendary Mannheim Gridshell structure, conceived by Pritzkar Prize winning architect,

Frei Otto.

Paul’s presentation to SEABC Young Members Group will focus on the Mannheim Gridshell resto-

ration project, including the most recent efforts to save this historic engineering masterpiece

from the looming threat of bulldozers. (More page 4 ...)

SEABC Young Members Group Presents:

So You Think You Can Give A Seminar?

Competitor Presentations (1/2)

Competition Judges

Samson Chan, M. Eng., P. Eng., Infrastructure Engineering - SNC Lavalin Inc.

Bill Alcock, P.Eng. Struct.Eng., Vice President, Engineering and Quality Management for Sacré-Davey Engineering

Sudip Talukdar, Ph.D, Instructor, Program Coordinator, Civil Engineering School of Construction and the Environment, BCIT

Behavior of Cross-Laminated Timber Diaphragm Panel-to-Panel

Connections with Self-Tapping Screws Kyle Sullivan, MS Student at Oregon State University / Structural engineer - StructureCraft Buil-

ders Inc.

The goal of this project, which took place at Oregon State University from 2014 to 2016, is to contribute to the development of design methods for cross-laminated timber (CLT) diaphragms in the seismic load-resisting sys-tem for buildings. Monotonic and cyclic tests to determine strengths and stiffnesses of 2.44 m (8 ft) long shear connections with common self-tapping screws were performed. Understanding and quantifying the behavior of these shear connections will aid in developing design provisions in the National Design Specification for Wood Construction and the International Building Code so structural engineers can use CLT more confidently in lateral

force-resisting systems and extend the heights of wood buildings. Experimental strength-to-design strength ratios were in the range of 2 to 6. In the ASCE 41 acceptance criteria analysis, the m-factors for the Life Safety performance level in cyclic tests ranged from 1.6 to 1.8 for surface spline connections and from 0.9 to 1.7 for cyclic half-lap connections. The half-lap connections, where screws were installed in withdrawal, shear, shear, and withdrawal, perfor-med exceptionally well with both high, linear-elastic, initial stiffness, and ductile, post-peak behavior.

Competitor Presentations (1/2)

Reliability Assessment of Load Testing for Concrete Buildings Amer Abu-Khajil, Structural EIT - Bush, Bohlman & Partners

The practice of rehabilitating existing structures continues to experience growth in North America. Structural reha-bilitation is regularly undertaken to repair or renovate a building during its service life; rehabilitation ensures that buildings operate under safe conditions for their desired and possibly changing occupancy loads.

Engineers generally rely on existing drawings, site investigation findings, and engineering judgement to assess the serviceability and ultimate capacity of a structure. Another approach to evaluating an existing structure is through the use of a structural load test: the process of applying a prescribed load to a structure and assessing

the structure’s response to that load to prove the structure’s satisfactory performance.

The primary purpose of this presentation is to showcase an understanding of reliability-based load testing concepts in the context of the current provisions of the American Concrete Institute (ACI) code provisions. Based on these findings, enhanced diagnostic insight into the assessment of the outcomes of structural load testing were obtained. The presentation will outline two case-studies to represent pertinent applications of the research findings.

By approaching load testing from a reliability-based perspective, this research provided pertinent information for practitioners to make more informed deci-sions regarding the diagnosis and repair of a structure.

T3 Minneapolis – America’s First Modern Tall Timber Building

Justin Brown, EIT Structural Engineer - StructureCraft Builders Inc.

Tall wood construction in America is reborn with T3 Minneapolis (timber, transit, technology). At 220,000 sqft, T3 is the largest mass timber building in North America and it is purposed to attract contemporary tenants looking to embrace green construction techniques and seek the warmth of wood. T3 resides in the warehouse district of Minneapolis, connecting the future with the past where heavy timber buildings such as the 1908 Butler building gave precedent to past mass timber structures. From the exterior, T3’s rustic façade resembles its historic brick and timber warehouse neighbours. On the interi-or, however, exposed engineered wood products and structural connections reflect an organic and simplistic de-sign for modernity. T3’s timber structure is composed of glulam beams and columns with nail-laminated timber

floors and an exposed concrete topping. StructureCraft was engaged as design-assist builder for the timber superstructure. Nail-laminated timber (NLT) floor panels utilized dimensional 2x8 lum-ber to create over 1100 8ft x 20ft NLT panels. Glulam columns spanned two floors reducing piece counts and glulam beams were reinforced with self-tapping screws. Through full scale testing, the steel beam-column connection poundage was substantially reduced. This careful approach to structural detailing created both material and install efficiencies. The T3 timber superstructure was erected in 9.5 weeks.

This seminar will investigate the feasibility of tall wood timber structures as a competitive building system in modern structures. Exposed structural timber elements and connections create a unique building environment that is facilitated through thoughtful prefabrication and modular construction approaches.

SEABC Young Members Group Presents:

So You Think You Can Give A Seminar?

Competitor Presentations (2/2)

Competition Judges

Samson Chan, M. Eng., P. Eng., Infrastructure Engineering - SNC Lavalin Inc.

Bill Alcock, P.Eng. Struct.Eng., Vice President, Engineering and Quality Management for Sacré-Davey Engineering

Sudip Talukdar, Ph.D, Instructor, Program Coordinator, Civil Engineering School of Construction and the Environment, BCIT

Geeking Out With Parametric Design Tools: Freeform Wood Structures

Konstantinos Voulpiotis, EIT, Structural Engineer - StructureCraft Builders Inc.

This short presentation is about the use of 3-dimensional parametric design tools (Rhino and Grasshopper with several of its plugins), to design and build freeform wood structures. The main unique aspect of such structures is that no two pieces of wood are the same, rendering the use of parametric tools indispensable. Two example pro-jects from the author’s experience will complement the presentation: The Waiea Tower Feature Ceiling in Hono-lulu, Hawai’i, and the Wood Soffit of the New Central Library in Calgary.

The tools were used in three primary ways:

To design the form of the structures: a full 3D model, from the architectural overall surface shape down to locating the screws. Plugins for Grasshop-

per such as Kangaroo (Dynamic Relaxation) were very useful.

To check the structural performance of the designed form: from full FEA modeling down to checking section depths. Plugins for Grasshopper such as

Karamba (FEA) were very useful.

To extract information and organize it in a construction-friendly manner: cutting schedules, CNC drawings, surveys, and more. Native Grasshopper

was extremely powerful for such uses. Both projects involve bespoke panels that have been cut and assembled in the Lower Mainland using Computer Numerical Control (CNC), and shipped to their respective sites in containers or timber crates. The presentation will also touch on the steep learning curve of using the above mentioned tools, the lessons learnt, and most importantly the exciting future opportunities they can offer when used by multidisciplinary teams in the construction industry.

The Story of Champlain Bridge Superbeam and Modular François Pepin, M.Sc., P.Eng., ing. Bridge Engineer - COWI North America

Built in 1962 between the south shore of Montreal and Nun’s Island, the 3.5km long Champlain Bridge carries over 160,000 vehicles per day. The bridge's essential post-tensioned girders in the 50 approach spans began to show signs of corrosion in the 1980s, and continued to deteriorate over the next 30 years. The Crown Corporation managing the bridge - Jacques Cartier and Champlain Bridges Incorporated (JCCBI) - completed numerous pro-jects in order to maintain the bridge and, in 2009, requested COWI North America (formerly known as Buckland & Taylor) to design components for a two-stage plan that would help support the bridge should the ongoing corro-

sion lead to any sudden and significant girder deterioration.

This eventuality did take place in November 2013, when a large flexural crack appeared in one of the girders. This necessitated the closure of four of the bridge's six lanes. Working closely with JCCBI, the two-stage plan was promptly initiated and the bridge was safely stabilized with the initial installation of a steel Superbeam within two weeks. Once the weather permitted, this was discreetly replaced by the installation of a long-term steel support truss, which allowed the bridge to safely open in its full capacity to the public in the Spring of 2014.

This presentation will tell the storyline from the details that led to the premature degradation of the approach spans to the emergency repair development and implementation.

For this work, COWI North America was awarded the Lieutenant Governor's award of Excellence in 2015.

Structural Engineering through Artificial Intelligence and Visualization:

a vision for the future Hossein Bajeh-kian, M.Sc., Structural EIT Advancements in technology have resulted in monumental amounts of computational power and communication over the last decades. Analysis of major complex structures that used to take countless man-hours is now done with the least effort and only a handful of staff members. Innovations in microprocessor technology now allow for tremendous amount of calculations to be done within minutes. As such, it is expected that there will be an evolu-tion towards unified and integrated systems of 3D modeling and analysis, which will mitigate the need for tabula-tions and written reference.

The integration of the traditional practice of structural engineering into the ever-growing field of technology will redefine what means to be a structural engineer in the 21st century and beyond. All of the aforementioned point out in a natural progression towards the following: systematic design approaches using powerful graphical 3D representation of structures via virtual reality (VR) environments and efficient pro-gramming and analysis of typical structures through utilization of artificial intelligence.

SEABC Young Members Group Presents:

So You Think You Can Give A Seminar?

Distinguished Guest Presenter

Saving an Engineering Marvel – the Mannheim Gridshell

Paul Fast, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., P.E., FIStructE, BK Berlin/Hessen, LEED AP, Partner, Fast + Epp

Conceived by the Pritzkar Prize winning architect Frei

Otto, the Mannheim Gridshell is an engineering marvel

under threat. Originally designed as a temporary pavilion

for the 1974 Mannheim Gartenschau, the free-form

structure was granted heritage status by the German

government in the 1990s for its spectacular design and

daring engineering.

Unfortunately, however, the building has fallen into terrible

disrepair. Following a Europe-wide proposal call, Fast + Epp

Structural Engineers was selected to develop concepts to

save the building. Partner Paul Fast will discuss some of the

complexities of the restoration project and his firm’s efforts

save this historic engineering masterpiece from bulldozers.